One of my most popular Youtube videos is one in which I explain how to play rolls on the fiddle. Rolls are a form of ornamentation on the Irish fiddle. This video, currently has about 6000 views, which isn’t masses for a Youtube video. But it is quite a lot for a 20 minute tutorial …
I’m staying in Norway with my folks-in-law. I’ve finished all the leather pieces that I brought with me, and so I’m carving some spoons from a birch log. I haven’t brought any carving tools, but my partner’s father, Alf, used to make knives when he was younger, and many of his knives are still around …
It seems cruel now that I come to write it down. I mean, I rely on Jules most of the time; I have done for a long time; and I know that I can take him for granted. We all do. I guess when he’s around he’s pretty welcome, and he sure knows how to …
A while ago I was kindly given some planks from a Cedar of Lebanon tree in Kent. This very old tree had come down many years ago in a storm, and had been milled and the seasoned planks had been gathering dust. They were thick enough and long enough for canoe paddles, so I decided …
Here is an incomplete, but hopefully useful, photo walkthrough of a simple round basket. Creating the slath with 8 sticks. In the close up you can see the first thin ends inserted to start pairing around the slath. This is after a few rounds of pairing. You can certainly get a tighter base than …
My favourite recent spoon, a small round bowled spoon in cherry. The shape wasn’t planned until I split the small piece (only just large enough for this spoon) and saw the slight wave in the grain towards one end. The handle follows and slightly exaggerates the curve. I still have the other half, so it …
I’ve been carving some more spoons recently, mostly from some small pieces of wild cherry too small to do anything with but burn, given to me by a farmer. This first picture shows the blank after roughing out with the axe and knife. Then shaping the profile and the bowl with sloyd …
It’s useful practice to try and copy other spoons directly. This first one is copied from a Norwegian sugar spoon, probably in birch. My roughed out blank, also birch, is at the back. And this is the final version. Then I tried to copy a coffee scoop given to me as a present. I’ve …
I’ve been leading on one strand of the Stories of Change project under the title – finally settled upon – of Energy Generation. The idea behind this work was to gather interviews with experts in the energy sector, but to avoid traditional academic interviews. Instead, we teamed up with the a team of young people …