ARCHIVE PAGE: this website is gradually being updated from April 2022
Woodturning
Maddie's stables
25 December 2012
A diversion from woodturning with a little stable block for my 4-year old great niece. Simply plywood and timber wrapped in wall paper - actually paper printed from a photo of Lochranza castle stone walls. Schliech animals appear to have driven the native Britains away.
More Snowmen
17 December 2012
The batch below sold in 10 minutes, so a second gathering appeared a few days later, including a snow family of 5 (on the left). These also disappeared off to new homes for Christmas fairly quickly. I will have to start stocking up for next year!
Getting the right diameter yew branches is the key to a good shape.
Snowmen
6 December 2012
Snowmen gathering for Christmas. These little snowmen are turned from branches of yew or laburnum, the white sapwood providing them with their white coats.
Their hats are turned from walnut. Each one is different, with their size and shape dependent on the branch from which they came. More about snowmen.
Talent Show Winner
21 November 2012
The trophies are all finished. This one is the new trophy for the annual talent show. Turned in laburnum and sycamore, and pyrographed with winners' names and dedication. The small trophy in front is a magician's hat and wand, to be awarded to the individual winner this year (a magician).
More about this talent show trophy
Malton School trophies
16 November 2012
The annual Malton School celebration evening approaches (22 November) and I am preparing 31 trophies for presentation on the night.
This box holds some of the order, mainly circular discs (see below) but also a globe (geography, a cup (house cup) and the base for a cricket trophy.
Individual trophies
15 November 2012
Individual trophies take the form of circular oak discs, which have a small ledge sanded off their base to allow them to stand without the need for any other form of support. (I used to make narrower discs, which stood on wire stands, but realised that by making the trophies a little larger and wider, I did not need the extra stand.)
Gardening
Christmas Holly Wreath
16 December 2012
We are not ones for early Christmas decorations, so the weekend before Christmas seemed soon enough to cut some holly and decorate the mantelpiece, drive up to Cropton for a Christmas tree, and make the annual Christmas holly wreath for the front door. Made from hollies in the garden, a mix of native holly and variegated forms, plus garryra and teasel. No berries this year - the birds have been hungry.
Gathering winter fuel
2 December 2012
Not strictly gardening, but a job in the garden. With the ground frozen solid but the sun shining, splitting logs is a good pastime. They do say that logs warm you up twice - once in the splitting and stacking, then again in the burning.
Autumn leaves
18 November 2012
All the fallen leaves are very pretty in their autumn colours, but I must tackle gathering them up. I have raked some up with a spring tine rake, but really need to get out the garden vac. This prunus cerasifera nigra has just shed its leaves this weekend. .
Autumn scarifying
13 October 2012
Dug out the old electric scarifier after having sprinkled lawn sand on a particularly mossy patch, and watch the ground go black. Very agressive stuff this, but worth trying on this one area, to be monitored over coming weeks to see what kind of recovery can be made.
Hollow tine aerating
Once scarified, I started using a hollow tine fork to aerate, filling the plug holes with coarse sand to try and improve the drainage. A slow job trying to get all the sand in the holes. My target is to get this circular, shady patch of lawn sorted and see what kind of improvement, if any, is made.