Green wood working class

Near my house is a lovely area.  It used to be a wholesale market and has recently been regenerated.  It is made up of a series of units occupied by artists/crafters, along with a Handmade shop (where I took the lampworking class), cafe, brewery and tap room; and a Vietnamese cooking school.  New units are constantly opening up.  One that opened a while ago, and that I've been eyeing up, is By Our Hands.  Martin owns the business and runs workshops making things from green wood using traditional tools.  There is no electricity in this workshop, no machines, nothing modern!  

I went along with Zach, who was also interested in learning a bit of woodwork, to make a "something".  Martin runs stool making and spoon carving workshops, but this one was an Introduction to Greenwork and we were to make a spatula, or something simple.  We started off with logs and an axe.  I managed to damage Zach at this stage, I hit him with the axe!  Luckily it was the handle that hit him, and no, I didn't aim for him!  

After chopping off a chunk of wood to work with, we carried on with the axes, stripping the bark.  Zach moved over to the other side of the room...  He actually carried on using the axe to shape his spatula/spoon, but I found my comfort zone with a draw knife.

I worked sitting astride this bench.  The wood was clamped in the top and held in place by pressure from my feet on the pedals.  Much like driving a sewing machine! 

I used the draw knife to skim and slice bits off the wood to get the shape I wanted for my spatula.  I really enjoyed this!

When I had a good shape, I was handed the knife shown above and a leather apron and the close-up work began.  Whittling, I suppose you could call it.  I then attacked it with sandpaper and a bit of oil and...

Ta-dah!  It's a spatula.  Yes, really, it is!  I carved that from a log.  I'm very proud!

Here's the other side.  Not the best shape in the world, but hey, it was my first time and we only had 3 hours!  I didn't take a photo of Zach's spoon - although we weren't supposed to be carving spoons, he was so good with the tools and wood that he was allowed to give it a go.

Detail of the base of the handle.

Martin carved this crochet hook for me - to show me the possibilities.  I guess I need to get myself a knife!  And a tree...

We both LOVED this workshop and will be going back to the make a stool workshop at some point.  I also want to try wood turning.  So far I've made a clock on a scroll saw; made a picture frame from scratch; made a bent hazelwood chair and laid a floor.  These are some of my favourite workshops, maybe I should give up the day job and become a carpenter!!

Bentwood chair - part 2

In my last post I talked about the first day of the Bentwood chair making class I attended at Rural Antics.  Today I'll talk about the second day and finishing the chair.

Having finished the arms, it was time to start the back! We had several very long hazel sticks that we were using for the curved part of the back.  To start we only put one of these in place and fixed it.  Then was time to add the cross struts of the back, and time to get creative.  I really wanted forked and bent pieces so I had a good old search through the pile of hazel the tutor had brought with him.

The sticks were nailed into place at the curved piece and the base, but left long to add in additional curved pieces afterwards.

Sorry, blurry photo!  But I think you can see what I'm showing.  This was adding in the other curved pieces.  Each one had to be nailed at each and every joint so this took a while!  Several times I used a nail that was too long.  Because they were threaded nails, they were nigh-on impossible to remove, so instead they were riveted by placing a steel hammer on the pointed end that was sticking through and hammering the back to make a flat "plate" at the front.

Finally the seat was added - lengths of thickish wood all cut to the same length and nailed in place.  Then everything was rasped to neaten the edges.

I was worried about getting it home and thought I might have to send my dad with his big car, but this fit in the boot of a Ford Focus, I only had to remove the parcel shelf!  I never measured it, but I do know that the back legs are 24", the front legs 17" and the long piece at the back going from side to side is 24" so that should give you an idea of the size.

It is an outdoor chair but it's currently sitting in my dining room.  I will put it outside, but thought I'd wait until all these blizzards we keep having finish to give it a chance of surviving!  The tutor said the life-span will be about 5 years if we look after them.  I'm not sure if I'll be able to bring it in in winters, but I do intend to coat it in Danish oil to help it last longer.

Just thought I'd show you from all angles!

I thoroughly enjoyed this class and intend to sign up for the make a stool workshop at some point.  I couldn't believe how much I enjoyed sawing, drilling and nailing and the satisfaction of building a chair was immense!

Bentwood chair - part 1

It's been ages since I last wrote a post, and this one has been sitting in my drafts folder.  Life seems to be getting busy again, especially as I went to 3 gigs last week! I'm still struggling a little with work / life / craft balance, but I hope this will improve once my craft room is finished.

At the beginning of March, I attended a 2-day craft class at Rural Antics to make a Bentwood chair.  After the stained glass window I made a few years ago, this is probably my biggest project to date!  We started on a freezing-cold and snowy Saturday in the barn.  We were provided with loads of hazel sticks and we had to cut them down.  Above is my first cut with the saw!

The wooden structure is the saw horse we used to cut our sticks.  Here are the first four that I cut - the legs.  The fronts are shorter than the backs.

After cutting, we rasped the ends using a small tool which looks a bit like a cheese grater.  This smoothed off the ends and took the bark from round the sides of the end, giving a lovely finish and helping to prevent the wood from soaking up too much moisture.  

Next up were the cross struts for the sides of the chair.   We were selecting thicknesses of stick as appropriate to the function of that piece, and also how we wanted the chair to look overall.

Then came the drilling and hammering!  I LOVED this part.  Actually, I loved the sawing and rasping too...  The drill made a pilot hole, then long threaded nails were used to hold the chair securely.

Here are my two side panels against the saw horse to give you an idea of scale.  As I was making this, I was posting on Facebook and got a lot of comments as to whether I was making a child's chair or a chair for a gnome.  It's actually a full-size chair and is pretty big!

Balancing the sides to drill and hammer in the back and front struts was tricky to say the least!  With it propped against the wall, I actually had to enlist the help of another course-goer to keep it steady while I worked.

The back-bar is one of the focal points of the chair so that piece of stick was selected with great care.  I wanted a piece that wasn't uniform and straight.  I found the perfect stick and then had to do a bit of sawing, rasping and chiselling to make sure it sat firmly on the back legs.

At this point the backs had to be strapped up to make sure they didn't ping off when we started adding the pieces of bent wood.  As we were basically using bits of twig that were bent to shape, they would exert an upwards pressure on the chair back, so we strapped them up and then periodically checked to make sure the nails hadn't come loose.

Then came the arms.  We chose long, straightish pieces of hazel that were relatively thin and bent and pushed them into place.  At this point, they are just held in place by magic, but afterwards I did nail them all together.

At this point, it was after 4 on Saturday and time for us to go home.  We were all exhausted!  We went back the next day to finish the chair, so I will put that in a separate post (and try not to leave it so long before I publish it!)

Manor House picture framing

Wednesday at The Manor House Hotel was busy, a full morning of pottery and a full afternoon of picture framing.  When I saw this advertised in the brochure, I knew I wanted to make a frame for my crewel piece.  It's not an unusual size, so I'm sure I could have found a pre-made frame to fit, but I like the idea of making my own for it.  After stuffing ourselves with a buffet lunch, we toddled off to the picture framing room.

We started by chosing which wood we wanted for the frame, and which mount board for the mount.  Then we worked in pairs to cut the wood to size and mitre the edges.  We used this piece of kit.

It's a great big saw set up on a mitring-template-type-thing.  I should have asked Mr CA what it's called but that might have ended in a 3-hour lecture on types of saws...

It was manual and it was HARD work.  My arm went dead towards the end and I could hardly get any power from it.  Or I'm just a wimp.  You decide.  Here are my pieces mitred.

When the pieces are cut, you use a jig, a tiny spot of wood glue and some special V-shaped staples to hold the corners together.  I enjoyed this bit.

And ta-dah - sounds quick but actually took hours! - a finished frame.

I forgot to take photos of the mount cutting.  It is done with a cutting mat and fixed ruler and a special 45-degree knife.  I did nick the corners a little, but I'm pleased with it anyway.

Mr CA said my mitres were "very good".  High praise indeed from the wood-worker extraordinaire.  

I wanted to show you a picture of the embroidery in the frame, but alas, I haven't got round to lacing it into the mount board yet.  I'll try to remember to show you when it's done.

There's a special stapler-type machine to put those lift-up thingies in with.  See how I've got all the technical terms down?

Next up: candle making.


As before, I'm linking up to Something New for 2014 and taking over the whole linky party! 

  

Manor House scroll saw

After pottering and silk painting, it was time for a wood work class at The Manor House Hotel.  We were to use a machine to cut out a piece of wood.  This is a scroll saw.  Mr CA (who is a trained wood machinest type person) says it's not a scroll saw, it's a fret saw.  I don't care what it's called.

It is not a machine that you programme, then sit down with a cuppa, it's a hand-guided machine. Much like a sewing machine except there is no foot pedal, the needle is a blade and no thread is involved.  It's bloody good fun.  We started with practice pieces, triangles and curves.

Then moved on to our patterns.  I chose a bunny.  What a surprise.  The pattern was spray glued to the wood, then it put it in the machine and followed the line to cut it out.

Simple!  Actually, it was.  I found it quite easy and was pleased with what I did.  Mum wasn't so happy with it and screamed "help! help!" the entire time the machine was running!  Here's Mr. Bunny.  I tidied him up with some sandpaper.

Then I oiled him with Danish oil.  He's made from poplar and I chose a uniform piece as the colours vary through the wood from a light wood colour (descriptive, I know) to green.  The tutor then drilled a hole through him for me.

He gave us some clock parts and I put him together when I got home.  How cute!  I think I'll hang him above my computer.

More woodworking in the next post - we move on to picture framing.


First time on a scroll saw - so I'm linking to Something New for 2014

  

Where Wendy thinks she's a carpenter...

... or rather a carpenter's assistant.  

I may have mentioned once or twice that I have 4 lovely bunnies at home.  They live in two pairs in two hutch/run combinations bought from Pets At Home.  Colin and Ellis's hutch was literally falling apart and I wanted all 4 to have more space.  Cue two playhouses from B&Q and one husband who's a trained joiner/draftsman... 

Boxing day saw me holding and passing and carrying.  I did a bit of hammering too.

New Year's Day saw me drilling (first time ever!), screwing (screws into wood, minds out of gutters ladies), sawing, sanding and hinging.  Yes, hinging is a real word.

The playhouses are 4' x 4' and 4' high, so we added an extra floor.  We also had to cut the holes for the mesh window and for constant access to the run.  The whole thing is on a timber raft to keep it off the floor and level it out in our slopey garden. 

The lids to the run lift off for easy access (for me, not the buns!)

They have a sleeping area with space to sit on top as bunnies like to do.  The panel at the front lifts out so I can reach in to clean them out.  The hammer won't be staying.  

Mr CA also built them each a staircase!  Tiff is getting fat and they're all getting old and I worried they wouldn't be able to manage a ramp for much longer.


Want to see them in-situ?

We brought the buns home from my parents' where they'd been staying for the weekend whilst we sorted out the hutches.  They were understandably quite nervous at first.

After a short while, Tiff and Harry were running up and down the stairs, crossing each other on the way.

Ellis sat upstairs for a long time before venturing back down.

Photo above is of a contented Tiff, Ellis wouldn't have her photo taken!

Colin... well, Colin was angry.  And scared.  And confused.  He's still angry with me now and keeps thumping his back feet at me.  Poor Colin in his great big house with his new toys and a floor that doesn't stink of wee (yet!) !

Poooooor Colin!