Double bend bow dining chair I was due to go down to Westonbirt for one last time with Stephen and Covid came along. Instead, once we were able to meet, we did some design and preparation work on the chair that Stephen wanted to make. I then came up with a new dining chair design. I made it up out whatever was available at home. The seat is made up from 6 different sections for instance.
A new career in fakery beckons. I made the chair to go outside but half under shelter, knowing that Ash doesn’t take to wet conditions. A few years later it could be taken for an antique, after a few more coats of Danish oil.
In the last post I showed a pile of Ash bits left over from chair making. In the end I decided I needed a place to put my clothes at night instead of the old blue dining chair that clashed with room. The seat is made up of four pieces of wood and the legs have just got the traces of my tell-tale bark. Much better, as the cupboard to the right is now in the process of being painted partially white too.
I decided to see if I could make a small bench from pieces left over from chair making, but I haven’t solved the jigsaw puzzle yet. I sat outside the shed and loved the light on the flax, roses and other plants then came inside as it got colder. Instead of closing the curtains I put off the lights and watched for bats, but there were only my own creations flying around. I’ll be generous and assume it was the cold and not the neighbour’s light polution that kept them away.
The more formal FrontA crop of sloes Later?Willow shoots good or bad?It is still moving from cold to hot and back again, but the garden is giving little gifts all the time. Ruth’s much loved magnolias, wild sloes flowering and the willow arch, made over winter, showing shoots.
We had quite a lot of snow recently, which gave us an excuse for staying inside and watching nature. At one point we had 3 female and one male pheasants in the garden. The snow also gave the chance to spot tracks, including evidence of the supected badger that has been digging up the paths for worms. On a nice day I cut some willow from the bottom of the garden and made an arch on the entrance to one of the paths.
Some of the early furniture I made (in the spare bedroom from wood offcuts) is still in use 40+ years later. Some of it was made from wood taken from even older furniture that was just being thrown away. Some, like these, just gets re-purposed. We are decorating the hall, so adapted the old telephone table/directory store/shoe stand to be a little bench with the shoes underneath. Ruth had the idea of part painting these white and we agreed what would and wouldn’t be done. We are pleased with the result.
Logs for next yearEvergreens come into their ownBrash pile awaiting log sorting to kindling and shredding for the paths.Asking to be made into cup matsEach year the garden develops a whole load of log and brash piles, as the trees get pruned. Slowly they then get brought to the top and processed. In the absence of a lot of flowers, the evergreens, skeletal trees and the colours of the logs and brash piles add a nice pictorial element to make you smile.
