This 10 minute film was made to celebrate the craft skills awards, it includes film from the finalists workshops with their insights into why they do what they do and what it means to work in craft. The awards judges (I was one) also add their thoughts, I think all together it gives a good overview of what it means to work…
I heard Trevor Marchant give this talk at a conference last year and it is fantastic in that it shows a serious academic with a genuine understanding and reverence for the skills involved in traditional crafts and how they are passed on from generation to generation in traditional cultures. I am delighted to discover that Trevor has been elevated to the position…
These are my work clogs. They are about 10 years old and going strong, the thick supple leather is like saddle leather and the stitching unbustable. The wooden soles are great so long as you keep something underneath them. I am not good at the stitch in time saves nine stuff and wore through the treads and have been walking…
The last three days I have been teaching a bowl carving course, these are the bowls we made Here is the early stage Steve adzing out the hollow everyone made two bowls, the first is a standard design just to get to grips with the tools and techniques. Once that is done we start again with a larger piece of…
With my Heritage Crafts Association hat on I helped organise 18 different craftspeople demonstrating over the 18 days of the Ideal Home Show in London. Here are some pictures.Phil Gregson Wheelwright Wendy Shorter Upholstery Beth Tilston Scyther a bunch more of Phil with my daughter Jojo helping out
I just posted these off tot heir new home St Fagans museum of Welsh Life. They are copies of iron age bowls found at the Glastonbury lake villages. I have been very very familiar with the drawings for many years but never made them up before and as is often the case the finished artefact is very very different in 3d than…
This place is a real find and just down the road from me at Stoney Middleton. Folk know about them in the USA, Japan and London, I have driven past the door thousands of times but only just heard they were there, so join me on a tour of William Lennon bootmakers. They have been making boots in this old…
I love ash trees, in particular weeping ash is one of my all time favourites though rarely planted today. Ash timber is incredibly versatile, strong and springy, over the years it has been used for all manner of things including the felloes (rims) of wooden wheels, axe and hammer handles, all manner of sports goods from hocky sticks to…
Last year this video did the rounds on the internet, you may have seen it before, if you haven’t then you are in for a treat.[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXO-jKksQkM] I absolutely loved it at the time and now I love it all the more and this is why. I just found the facebook page for Marquese Scott and there are lots of similar vids,…
So much else going on I rarely get the chance to post images of work here any more so here are a few pics of what I have been up to. This week I went to collect wood. There was a gorgeous looking beech log I have had my eye on for a while but when I cut it open…
