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Miniature chair
This miniature chair is made from Laburnum and commissioned by Cymdeithas Ceredigion to be given as a prize at their Eisteddfod. Deceptively simple but this chair was actually very tricky to make. The two sides had to match, the back had to be in proportion, the sapwood had to line up perfectly between them all and there could be no sapwood at the back of the seat or where the back and seat meet. I had sawn, planed and seasoned four to five times this amount of slices but these were the only four that would work together. They had been seasoning for a year as wood cut in this…
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Cadair Cymdeithas Ceredigion
Cymdeithas Ceredigion has honoured me over the last three years by asking me to make a chair to be awarded as a prize in their Eisteddfod. The first year was for a full sized chair. Last year and this year I was asked to make a miniature chair. This is the chair I made this year and a brief description which went with it along with the translation. Tresi Aur Ond ai dyna’r enw? Beth am Feillion Sbaen, Coed Sbaen, Bedwen Sbaen? Mae’r enwau ‘na i gyd wedi dod o ardal De Ceredigion. Chwedl glywais i oedd i’r pren ddod i mewn i Aberaeron yn y 1860au fel “balast” mewn…
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Turning Mushrooms
Phil came to stay last weekend. Having taken to wood turning like a duck to water when he first tried, naturally he wanted to have a go again. (I, of course, expect everyone who tries their hand at turning to love it but suprisingly not everyone does.) When I asked Phil what he’d like to turn he said “mushrooms and earrings”. I was delighted at this. Something a bit different – where he could choose the design as they weren’t something I’d been making for ten years unlike the bowls. Years ago I’d made mushroom shaped nightlights and boxes where the top was the cap of the mushroom but I’d…
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Laburnum Tea Lights
Had a lovely morning in the workshop turning a couple of branches of Laburnum into Tea lights. Christmas is coming. I know, autumn is only just here but in business one needs to think ahead! This Laburnum came from trimming around the electricity wires. Keeping them clear is essential work. They are only branches so the trees will still be growing. I’ve had them for years so they are very dry which is important for the tea-lights because a large bulk of wood is still left. If it was turned green/fresh it could crack or shrink badly. The sapwood has a little spalting in it. Spalting is where fungus has…
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Laburnum in Ceredigion
Laburnum hedges turn great swathes of this area yellow in May. Some roads become golden tunnels. Field after field are surrounded by branches dripping with Golden Chains. I don’t know that it is true but the story that I was told when I was young growing up in this area is that the Laburnum came here in the 1860s from Spain. It was used as ballast and was then used as cheap fencing posts. It took root. There are many hedges where the Laburnum trees are about 9′ (3m) apart which is just the right distance for fencing. Ceredigion was one of the last areas to be enclosed (the process…