Trees and such.

Week 2 and I'm slowly settling in, getting more used to the madcap, ad hoc method of teaching and feeling less at sea. We had a jaunt in the forest this week for purposes of tree identification (less fun for those who forgot their wellies, i.e. yours truly). As Anselm says, its slightly ridiculous if you're a furniture maker but can't identify wood unless it comes in planks. Fair point, although I think it will take a lot more than a lovely 1 hour walk in the woods before I can safely claim to be an expert. 

Say hullo to this lovely beech tree if you see it in the forest

Scale drawing of my project

 

Working on various joints, cleats and strengthening keys

Elsewhere in the news, we've been busy starting work on our respective projects. A day or two (or three, but who's counting) was lost in preparing full scale drawings and quotations/cutting lists, but then with no further ado or fanfare, we were launched straight into it. There's been a bit of a race for wood, and rather than wait until I've got all the right pieces, Graham, my tutor, has suggest that I just get on with it and start making the side cabinet for now. I haven't gotten very far as yet, but I can tell you one thing, its going to be a heavy fucker once its done. Don't even want to think about carrying it up to the attic where it will live!

This week for our bench skills we've been looking at various joints (rub joints, dowels, biscuit joints, tongue and groove and loose tongue) and accompanying strengthening keys. Its definitely taken me a while (and three passes) to get there, but the end results haven't been to bad - my loose tongue joint was, well, loose (unintentionally!) and my butterfly keys could have been cut neater, but all in all I'm not going to beat myself up too badly about this one.

School.

School

I still have all ten fingers, for now. Right, now that is out of the way, here’s a quick round-up of my first week.

The bench tools we've made in the first week

It was strange driving in on the first morning. That coupled with my kindly landlord’s enthused caring, has made me feel 15 again. Truth be told, I wasn’t too impressed by the first day. The tutors were slightly scatty and disorganized and spent more time telling me they didn’t have time to teach me things because this was a condensed 30 week course than actually teaching me things. Quite frankly I would have been happy if they had knocked on an additional week or two to the course if that meant some teaching actually got done. There was very limited instruction, and for a course which targets itself at people with no prior woodworking experience, it felt like the pace was set by those who did and those without just sort of muddled through the day trying to keep all fingers and toes intact. If it wasn’t for the short courses I did over the summer with John Lloyd, I would have been completely lost and not known the business end of a plane from the other, much less how to use it! Personally I found John’s method of teaching much more to my liking - he was easy to understand, methodical and detailed, with little nuggets of wisdom tucked away in almost every action. Still, its early days yet, and perhaps the teething problems of the first week will go away as things progress.

Scale model of my chosen design

We’ve spent a lot of time this week designing and coming up with our pet projects for term 1, on top of the small bench tasks we’ve had to do. Its 1 part frustrating and 3 parts fun – its really hard to think of ideas which are good, but at the same time original and which are aesthetically pleasing to boot. In the end, I’ve had to just go for pretty. I am hoping that with time, the process becomes a wee bit easier. At the moment I've got my work cut out for me and am trying hard not to get too stressed about everything - it feels like I'm trying to learn a billion things at once, from drawing to design, to actual carpentry, which is more than a little daunting. That said, there have been moments in the workshop when I've got my headphones in and have got stuck in to whatever it is I am doing at the time (whether it be drawing, planing, sawing or the like) and life is good - its just a really sweet spot to be in. 

Didnae fash yourself.

Greetings earthlings. I know its been a while since my last post, mostly because I've been rather slack on the crafty front over the last month, concentrating on the more mundane and boring stuff like trying to get a visa and a driving licence.

Knitting baby booties, cute as they are, doesn't really add to the sum total of craftiness

Visa now got (sadly, not the driving licence, at least not yet), I have re-rooted myself up to bonnie Scotland where the scenery is beautiful but its oh-so-quiet. Although I've mentally tried to prepare myself for this, arriving in the little village (picturesque as it is) with only 1 co-op, 1 post office and 1 cafe (but 2 pubs you'll be pleased to note) after the hustle and bustle of London town was a bit of a shocker to the system (try getting a supply of Chinese groceries here? I think not). I've also run out of my Fringe boxset after only two marathon days, so am a little bit concerned that cabin fever may hit, especially if I don't get a driving licence and a car soon!

Am a little bit apprehensive about the start of school on Monday - in the past month, it feels like I've been waiting in limbo, and during this time I've consciously tried to avoid thinking about the future and what it may hold, but there's no avoiding it now. Part of me feels extremely underprepared for this, and I've got an inkling that it will take a long long time for this feeling to go away, if ever. Will keep you posted on how things go in the next instalment, but until then - here's some pictures of the view.

Gifford village and its woody walks

North Berwick's beaches