2024 Projects and visits
Posted 8 January 2024 A set of subject trophies made for Malton School's annual celebration evening. Each trophy is presented to an individual recognising achievement or effort across all the subjects in the school, and is theirs to keep.
Photos of individual trophies are available, and there are photos of trophies from similar evenings every year from 2014.
Posted 18 January 2024 An unusual request from Gerry in Reading, for a full sized hollow rugby ball. This will one day be used to hold his ashes, hopefully a day in the distant future. The ball is turned from a large rhododendron trunk, and pyrographed in the style of a Gilbert rugby ball. The base, shaped as a kicking tee, is in oak.
Posted 18 January 2023 A request for a large "Indian Club " from Luke in Seamer, near Scarborough. Designed for exercising the arm and wrist muscles using swinging routines, this is a heavy piece, weighing almost 4 kilograms, with a cylindrical body 13 inches tall and 5 inches diameter, topped with an 8 inch long handle, all dimensions specified by Luke, as was the request for it to be from a single piece of timber. I can imagine it is quite a sight to see it being twirled and swung, with no mean feat of strength involved. It is made from jarrah, an Australian wood I happened to have available. Jarrah is a very dense wood, with beautiful deep reddish brown grain, which amazingly used to be imported for railway sleepers.
Posted 18 January 2024 Mark at Huntington School in York requested a commemorative trophy to remember a colleague who passed away last year. It has a design technology theme, based on a spalted beech square with a walnut chisel, oak & teak mallet, sapele & ash saw with a little yew log and sapele & oak tri square. This will be kept in school with annual plaques added around the base each year. In addition a smaller chisel trophy was made to be kept by the winner of the award in 2024.
Have a look at more school trophies and awards, and technology trophies in particular.
Posted 24 January 2024 More tree pictures have been added to the tree gallery - photos of trees at the Yorkshire Arboretum, taken over five years on a number of trips. There are 7 pages altogether (until the next visit) with over 150 photos. The tree list has also been updated, with 340 different species included so far.
Posted 24 January 2024 A reading trophy in memory of a former pupil at the Thomasson Memorial School in Bolton, who died in an accident. The quote is from ‘How to catch a star’ by Oliver Jeffers: He dreamed how this star might be his friend. They would play hide and go seek and take long walks together. A fairly large lectern trophy on an oak plinth, with mahogany lectern and beech book.
Posted 7 February 2024 Three bowls made following a request from the Forestry Commission - they will probably choose one of the three, the others will be available for sale. The first is an oak "pot bowl", about 4 inches tall and 6 inches wide. The second is an oak bowl about 8 inches in diameter. The third is ash, turned unusually with the grain running vertical rather than horizontal ("end grain"). It has some bark inclusions, ripples and a void in it.
Posted 13 February 2024 Karen requested a stool for her grandson Barnaby George's christening. She specified 11 inch legs, and a Noah's Ark picture on the seat. This was done using pyrography to produce the drawing by hand. Have a look at more children's stools, and pyrography examples.
Posted 13 February 2024 Richard requested a cup for a cross country race at Dulwich Cranbrook School, Kent, The square base is spalted sycamore, the cup is oak. It is pyrographed with running figures and an inscription. There is space around the outside of the plinth to add plaques for annual winners' names.
Posted 14 February 2024 A cake stand made for Linda in Rosedale. This followed a number of email communications about the possibility of making a cake stand to fit a cloche. In the end she delivered the cloche to us, and we made the base to fit - much easier than the other way round! The base is made from oak, and is 11 inches wide.
Posted 18 February 2024 Yet more tree pictures have been added to the tree gallery - photos of trees at RHS Harlow Carr, taken over three years on a number of trips. There are 8 pages altogether (until the next visit) with almost 200 photos. The tree list has also been updated, with 385 different species and cutivars included so far. Also some from Wentworth Woodhouse near Rotherham.
It is enjoyable processing all the photos taken on different trips, giving the opportunity to reflect on the same trees in changing seasons, and new ones found on each of our visits.
Posted 27 February 2024 A burr oak quartz skeleton clock requested by Pam in Guisborough, to be presented to a member of New Marske Harriers in recognition of long service. A nice slice of burr is always a good candidate for a clock such as this .
Posted 10 March 2024 A trophy made to recognise the best Barber Shop in North Yorkshire, as part of England's Business Awards in 2023. Won by Sam (my barber) at the Barber Shop in Pickering. The design is based on a razor blade made from sapele, resting on an oak base, with pyrographed inscriptions.
We can make bespoke trophies for almost any occasion, and are happy to deveop ideas with customers. Have a look at some other trophies we have made.
Posted 10 March 2024 A set of four newel caps made for Simon at Birdsall Estate, as part of a restoration project. The caps are turned from oak, supplied by the estate, and made to their specifications. We are happy to undertake such bespoke work, providing we can source the correct wood for the project.
Posted 10 March 2024 Simon in Boroughbridge asked us if we could make a bespoke gearstick for a replica of a GT40 he is building , based on an original drawing of the gear knob he provided us with. We made one in walnut, to his plans and to his satisfaction.
Posted 14 March 2024 A jewellery box requested by James for Sophia's first birthday. Turned from spalted beech, with an inner shelf for rings and things. The price will depend on whether a shelf is included, and the amount, if, any, of pyrography requested.
Posted 12 April 2024 Following our production of four newel-post caps for Birdsall Estates in March, we were asked if we could provide replacement door furniture for another aspect of the restoration project. 12 sets of oak door knobs were required, plus four smaller knobs, with roses and escutcheons to match. An old set was provided as a template for the new.
Posted 12 April 2024 Paul in Leicestershire requested a pair of finials for each end of a summerhouse roof ridge. These were made in oak, thin and tall. Although we gave up large scale production of finials back in 2021, we are now starting to take on smaller bespoke requests, though this is dependent on us having, or acquiring, suitable timber. We have also made a number of post caps recently. We continue to look for suitable sources of quality weather-resistant timber in order to satisfy requests.
Posted 13 April 2024 Lisa in Carlisle requested a burr mantel clock with a skeleton movement for her husband's birthday. A few options on the type of burr we had available were offered, and she made a good choice with this rich burr elm piece. Burrs cannot be bought to order, and everyone is different. I am always on the lookout for any pieces with potential, but cannot always satisfy customer requests. We do have a few in stock, as well as some ready-made burr clocks shown on this site last October.
More examples of what is possible can be found on the Clocks pages.
Posted 20 April 2024 A large yarn bowl, turned from a single block of cherry, 9 x 4". Yarn bowls are intended to hold a ball of wool whilst in use for knitting and crocheting, hence the slit down one side for the thread to feed through.
More examples of bowls are on the bowls gallery pages.
Posted 27 April 2024 A large bowl (14 inches diameter) made from an Australian wood, jarrah (eucalyptus marginata), deep red with black flecks in it. Very dense. The rim of the bowl has been pyrographed with a vine design.
More examples of bowls are on the bowls gallery pages.
Posted 29 April 2024 A netball trophy made for The Royal Air Force, requested by Jenny at CGI who are the sponsors. It will be travelling around RAF bases with them - the first match is in Cyprus. It is a large pyrographed oak cup on a sapele plinth with two brass plaques.
More examples of trophies are available in the trophy gallery pages.