I have been making some replicas of Tudor bowls from the Mary Rose, Henry VIIIs ship which sank in 1545. I spent many years helping the archaeologists studying the originals to understand how they were made and wrote up the chapters in the book “Before the Mast” After turning them on my pole lathe I let them dry for about…
The past 2 weeks I have been turning in the workshop and loving it. This little bunch are in maple, sycamore, ash and hawthorn. The smaller ones are my normal size 3.5″ at the rim, these are perfect for a dram on your own or at their best passing round a group of friends perhaps round the fire, wonderful. I…
We have been working with the producers of this new BBC series since February and are quite excited about how it is looking. Today Paul Martin and crew came to film in my workshop for an episode which will air in October. He made a bowl and I carved the spoon, by the end of the day he was tired…
My little tribute to the Olympics, well as a bowlturner how could I not? And I also wanted to share daughter Jojo’s latest spoon done entirely on her own, I am really very proud of her.
I was just coresponding with someone about traditional Scandinavian turned vessels and wanted to post a link to pictures of snibbskål online, I couldn’t find any so thought I would share some pics I took in museums in Sweden in 2003, turns out I remembered the spelling wrong and can now add links to lots of great pictures. Google translates…
Today I have been making quaichs, the traditional vessel for drinking whisky. I have often wondered how many cuts on the lathe it takes to turn a bowl, today I know, 696 cuts on the lathe. Each depression of the treadle spins the quaich 3 revolutions and I make a spiral cut with the tool. Then the quaich spins back.…
Over the last week or two I have been snapping meals before eating. All done under artificial light quick snaps but hopefully give an idea of what it’s like living with wooden tableware. One big difference is the sound, no harsh scratching of metal on porcelain and a lovely woody noise as you set the table. Wood does also keep…
Just a few snap from last weeks bowl carving course. Some nice bowls and a really nice bunch of folk. We don’t normally carve round bowls since it involves a lot of cutting across end grain but this time everyone wanted to try. It was hard work and a lot of hands were worn through but the results were good.…
This week I am in full production mode in the workshop and thoroughly enjoying it. These are beech bowls, perfect for soup or cereal. They are turned green then stacked for the air to circulate whilst they dry, it takes about 6 weeks. I think it is sad so few turners make bowls to eat from it is such a…
