Glastonbury is the biggest outdoor festival of the performing arts in the World. It is so very special. I first visited around 1984 when there were small free festivals all over the country. Most folk walked in to Glastonbury for free though I think some paid. Today it’s attended by around 175,000 people and tickets cost £225, a huge metal fence…
Sheffield has always been famous for high quality knives, now there is a new name to look out for and his work is very exciting. Regular blog readers will have been familiar with the work of Trevor Ablett and his death was a sad loss but I have great news. Michael May is a young knife maker who has served his…
In 2003 UNESCO created an important convention for safeguarding heritage, 168 of the worlds 198 countries have signed up to the convention but a few are being left behind including the UK. The UK used to lead the world in heritage management and our heritage is one of the main reasons tourists visit us so what is going on? UNESCO say “Cultural heritage does…
Tonight was the last in Julia Bradbury’s series of “walks with a view” and she led viewers around my home valley of Edale. On the way she stopped by the workshop and helped turn a bowl. You can see the program on ITV player here not sure how long it will be live for or if it is visible outside the…
The story of a spoon. Some folk think it’s a lot of effort to make a spoon, it’s nothing compared to this. Or you could learn to carve gorgeous functional sculptures that are a joy to use or give to friends. Lets take a tiny step toward a world of zero carbon spoons. This one is carved by my amazingly…
This week I have been making another batch of spooncarving knife blades, or perhaps I should say blade blanks as the bulk of the time in a finished blade is actually in the final sharpening processes. Anyway these are the blades at the first stage of bending, these ones are all right handers. I bend them all at 20 degrees…
As the year draws to a close I tend to become reflective and to check I am really doing what I want to do with my life. This year I am more reflective than normal, a couple of weeks ago a friend of mine died after a short illness. Paul was a lovely, lovely man, he was one of those…
Nearly three years ago I was visited by a lovely chap by the name of Rob Penn. He was fascinated by trees and was on an interesting journey. He had had an ash tree felled and was trying to get as many things as possible made from the one tree. He was planning a book and this week the book…
How can a maker rebel against the worst excesses of consumerism yet still make a living from making and selling stuff? This is a dilemma I struggle with. The Western world is too full of stuff, most of it produced in far off lands with working conditions and environmental practices we outlawed years ago. Most of it is designed to…
North House Folk School is a very special place. I taught a course here last year and was delighted to be asked back to share my knowledge of bowlturning and take part in the fresh cut symposium. I was so busy teaching I don’t seem to have many photos so these are just a small selection with other more general…
