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Origin – A Makers’ Co-operative
Origin, a maker’s co-operative in Carmarthen, is a shop I am very involved with as many of you who have “liked” my Facebook page will know. Origin is a wonderful shop and I am so pleased and proud to be part of it. And it is such a really nice bunch of people. When I first joined Origin last year I spent time looking at all the work of the other makers, trying to memorize the products to help customers. I felt humbled by the wealth of talent. And then I thought about the hours of work and the years of experience, designing, altering, developing of skills and styles that…
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The Sap is Rising
This time of year is so wonderful yet intense, isn’t it? The sap is rising, the garden is getting sorted, everything is growing, the birds are nesting, the days, though getting longer, are way too short. I can hardly drag myself in from the garden before dark but then I’m so exhausted in the morning it is hard to drag myself out of bed. I have a wonderful commission with the wood turning so that has to take priority. When I feel I can allow myself to stop it is straight out to the garden. I can see the vegetable garden as I am wood turning which is both wonderful and…
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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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The Secret Ballot
The Secret Ballot The secret ballot is something I think we all take for granted nowadays, whatever our political leanings or even if we feel that “whoever we vote for the government gets in”. However, we don’t have to go very far back in time when the secret ballot was but a dream in some people’s vision for a more democratic future. Troad Allan (Lock out). This Unitarian chapel became famous in 1876 as the congregation were locked out of the chapel and the graveyard for three years. The landlord, John Lloyd, Alltrodyn was a Tory and he felt that the minister Gwilym Marles Thomas, who incidentally was Dylan Thomas’…
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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…