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…
At our recent SPOONFEST event one of the highlights for me was having Jogge Sundqvist come and speak about his craft, the way it is routed in tradition yet he has found his own 21st expression of that tradition. I along with Jogge and many other carvers owe a debt of gratitude not only to the many generations that carved…
Vintage David Attenborough showing how the Dogon people in Mali approach wood carving from part one the seven-part series “The Tribal Eye”. (1975) The felling of the limb is impressive as is the finish straight from the elbow adzes and the strong bold design. Stick with it to 8 1/2 minutes in and Attenborough’s comments on art object vs living…
In a couple of weeks I shall be speaking at the V&A on the subject of the place of traditional craft skills in the 21st century. It’s part of a panel discussion with eminent speakers from the world of Art and Design, Sir Nicholas Goodison Tanya Harrod, Sir Christopher Frayling amongst others. I will be rather in awe but hope…
Last weekend I watched Phill Gregson tyring a wheel at the National Forest woodfair. This is the culmination of one of the most iconic traditional woodworking crafts. Wheelwrighting has everything, understanding of the raw material, oak for the spokes, elm for the hub or nave, ash for the rim or fellows (pronounced fellies). The wheel is dished rather than flat…
I fell in love with the crooked knife 20 years ago when I watched Cesar’s bark canoe the most incredible wood craft film showing César Newashish, a 67-year-old Attikamek building a canoe with three tools, a cheap axe, a pen knife and a crooked knife. Apparently simple tools like these can often be surprisingly complex to get working properly with…
Sunrise on Sunday morning over the SPOONFEST campsite some of the wood we had gathered, I had planned to add notes about what each species was good for but ran out of time. We had over a dozen species of wood ranging from lime and horse chestnut to hornbeam, field maple and cherry. I was a bit disappointed nobody made…
Roy Underhill should need no introduction, I remember first seeing his books on traditional woodcrafts many years ago and wishing his TV series was available in the UK. Well the good news is that the early episodes are now available either online or as DVD. A good time then for an interview with Roy to see what makes him tick,…
We are so lucky that folk years ago filmed these for us and also that folk today are uploading them and making them available for free.Alex Stewart cooper [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTb2zVpQGg4] I love this one Elizabeth Proper “it’s just a job, ya gotta eat” “I just like working wood that’s all”[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3egz1xnW_wA] and 90n yr old tinsmith John Forshee[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfXutrIS1HY]
