Just wanted to share a couple of snaps taken out of my back garden last week. I love the way the landscape changes as the light moves across the hills spotlighting different areas. These two shots show features spanning 2500 years of human activity. Looking south we see Mam Tor or mother hill an iron age hill fort. The paralel…
I just heard that I have been shortlisted for the Balvenie/Country Living artisan of the year award. Some of the past winners can be seen on the Balvenie website here http://www.thebalvenie.com/en-gb/art_awards_interview.php There are some wonderful craftspeople represented there and the commitment and passion for their crafts shines out. Since starting to make quaiches a few years ago I have been…
I just came across this rather nice article written in respect of folk music but change a few names and it could equally well apply to traditional crafts. “In 1931 H.G. Wells wrote “In England we have come to rely upon a comfortable time-lag of fifty years or a century, intervening between the perception that something ought to be done…
I just checked the blog and see the counter has popped over 50,000 views, quite amazing since I only added it 6 month or so ago. Anyway I thought it was time to reward my regular readers with a little giveaway. Today I have been turning nice sycamore porringers, the shape of this one but they will finish the same…
Its very easy not to take advantage of what is outside your door, so many folk in London rarely go to museums, galleries and theatre and to be honest I don’t often walk in the hills around our home, I never cease to appreciate and draw inspiration from the scenery around me but I guess I get a lot of…
I live where I do because I have a deep connection with the natural landscape and being in beautiful places is very important to me. I never take the scenery for granted and in fact when you live in a hilly place everyday the light changes the view and highlights things you have never noticed before. Yesterdy was even more…
One of the beauties of being self employed is being free to catch rare opportunities when they present themselves. Today school was closed so all the village kids were at home. They spent the morning sledging then they all came to ours for lunch and a film. Afterwards a bunch of us dads got together and went up the hill…
This week I have been working in a nice woodland on a bridge project and Ollie my 11 year old has been coming out with me and making sculptures in a Richard Long/Golsworthy sort of style. This sort of play is all about interacting with the environment and the benefits are very deep for adults too.
The swallows are now happily sitting on the nest whilst I turn 4 feet away. Today I went to collect timber and brought home a large bur maple tree perfect for making mazers from. Bur wood is heavier and denser than straight grained wood of the same species and it is very eneficient to use since it has lots of…
I think this has to better than any environmental business award. I have swallows nesting 5 feet away from my lathe. They nest in my workshop most years and are using the same nest they used last year. So far she has laid 3 eggs but has not started sitting yet. last year it was a joy to be turning…
