Shavings And Splinters

It was Matthews birthday yesterday so we all went to the cinema to watch the new Bond movie, Skyfall . It was brilliant . Today I headed into the shed to try and organise the chaos that that a few rapid projects can cause .  After an hour or so of tidying there was order once again . But then a chunk of sycamore caught my eye and I had to hack out a little spoon . Here's how it went, then I had to tidy up again but what's a few shavings and splinters   :)

A Bit Different

A couple of weeks ago, I was asked to make two flower stands for either side of a door for a wedding ceremony . I asked what style, a uniform look or rustic, and she chose rustic! 2 column's each with an open front so that the flowers can cascade from the top to bottom .
 So armed with a lump of wood , 70 hazel stems of around 3' long and a roll of copper wire, that my dad gave me years ago that seems to never end.
  I cut some circles 9" and 6", then glued and nailed these together this gave me a good block to nail the hazel stems to. I drilled a hole for the first stem and wedged it in place I figured this would give a bit more strength then pre drilled and tacked on the other stems when I was happy with the opening . I then made a loop of hazel around 6" or so and wired all the stems to this, then more wire tied in to any close bigger gaps .  A little bit of trimming up and they were done.
 A bit different to what I normally make but I enjoyed the challenge I hope these add a little rustic charm to her big day:)

Paring Down The Kuska

I spent an hour this afternoon paring down the kuska that I started last week, so that the bowl will have good even thickness, its pretty much finished now. But it needs to dry out before any finishing is done . I drew blood only once so thats a bonus ! I suppose. Now take a look at how the kuska is coming along  :)

A Little Notion

After a good walk this morning see previous post, I got a little notion to carve a spoon so I headed to the shed with a bit of Rowan ( mountain ash ) and started hacking away and a while later a spoon started to emerge. Rowan is pretty hard to carve but with time and care it works out.  A bit of Silver Birch nearly ended up in the firewood pile but I saved it at the last minute and thought that a kuska cup would be a good reprieve for this bit of birch so with my twy cam I started to shape out the bowl of this little cup then I cut around the bowl and shaped the outside with an  axe then a drawknife and finally my little frosts 106 carving knife. The kuska cup will still take a while to finish  here it is so far :)

A Fireweed Walk

I didn't really feel up to scratch all week, so I was glad of a beautiful frosty morning instead of all the rain of late. So I strolled out among the tree's to soak up the autumn sun, good for the spirit a visit into the woods I would say, all the fall colours now really glowing. I stopped to look up through a Silver Birch up to a sky that you could dive into . And the fireweed  really lives up to its name at this time off the year, take a walk with me and see :)