I've realised I may not be brilliant at writing a regular blog, but it doesn't hurt to update when I have the energy. Work has been pretty busy of late and I've been trying to manage my daily pain, which usually ends up with me being in bed by 7.30pm, this doesn't leave me a great deal of time during the week to blog or create. But, I was recently inspired to carve a magic wand. A number of things I make begin with the words "Sam, can you make a [insert item here]?" and a wand was one of these, I really liked the thought, but hadn't had that flash of inspiration for a design. A weeks ago, Woodcarving Illustrated sent out an email for a book about carving wands, along with a free pattern... perfect start, I loved the twisty look of the wand. 

I excitedly made a start, although me being me, the design changed slightly as I went along, with a more pronounced edge on the spiral, rather than the more rounded look of the original design. I was close to the finish and gave it a rinse before final sanding, to raise the grain for a smooth finish, when disaster struck! The. Wand. Snapped. 

I'll admit this left me dejected, so much work goes into creating something and a small part of yourself each time. So I left it for the day, and Jon suggested gluing back together the following day. He did, it worked, he's wonderful :) fortunately the glue is even stronger than the wood, so I was confident the fix was sound, but there was a slightly visible join, so, how to finish? I've been working on combining my crafts and recently forayed into painting my carved creations, so it seemed the perfect way to complete the wand, going with a dramatic black handle, flecked with gold, to give an almost old metal sort of look. I finished the handle with lacquer and oiled the rest, for a contrast between gloss and matt, and to keep the beautiful wood showing for the shaft of the wand. 

I'm very happy with the finished article! Any budding wizards or witches need a wand?

​It got me thinking, as things tend to do (my mind is a very busy place) and I noticed a pattern that I just don't like to be defeated by things, along with wanting to improve my skills in a given craft. Life has tended to be a challenge on a number of levels, particularly with loss and chronic, debilitating pain, but at the same time, I've developed a drive not to be beaten... probably a good thing.

It's done for another year, and at the end of a particularly challenging year. Christmas is different for everyone, it can be a joyful time, full of anticipation and happiness, it can be a time of intense pressure, trying to get everything just the way it should be, it can also be sad and a reminder of loss. Jon and I fall into the latter category, and it's traditionally been a tough time for us, but we've been focussing on the creativity and crafting opportunities that come with the season, which is definitely what brings us joy!

We had a couple of Christmas themed pieces to do, a Christmas village tree display stand, and star hanger, which were thoroughly enjoyable projects. We do enjoy the challenge of devising the best way of completing a piece that someone has requested and seeing it come to life.

I also had some of my own, craftier, projects to work on, including a non wood based project, I do enjoy a bit of painting from time to time :) not to mention other craft pursuits (winter is always a lovely time for a bit of crochet!).

I also got this excellent T-shirt!

​So sometimes it's about doing Christmas your way, and making things is definitely a big part of how we do Christmas!

"Hi there, can you build a catio?" said the text. The answer ended up to be "yes", but I'll admit we had to do an internet search first. A catio is a cat run, for cats that are essentially indoor cats, to be able to spend time outsite. We have a cat, he roams around the local area, regularly bringing home presents for us, but the too young cats we were asked to build this for had slightly different circumstances; they were found under a shed with their mum and sister (who also got adopted) and are an unusual mix of bengal and bombay cats. So, a catio was the preference to keep the little guys safe, not to mention there is a stream at the end of the client's garden.

It was a bit of a design challenge, but Jon put a lot of thought into it and worked closely with the client to ensure all requirements were met. It needed to be large (16ft x 8ft) have a two door entry system, and a closed, insulated back room with a cat flap and a human door.

The cats have since spent time in the catio and seem to be enjoying all the climbing opportunities offered by the mesh, which also allows them to get into the roof and look down on their human servants, who are also happy with the finished item; the Highlands Catio.

...we've been learning what doesn't work, what works, what we might need, the last year has definitely been a steep learning curve! Sometimes it feels like a bad case of rearrangeritis (diagnosis courtesy of Stumpy Nubs aka James Hamilton on YouTube), but shifting the layout of our workspace has actually been due to learning how we work best, what we're working with and trying to maximise the limited space we have. 

This is the set up we had been working with, quite cluttered, still figuring out the best place for machines to go and we had some random bits of old furniture that we'd utilised.

Much more streamlined, yay! We have the bigger machines on the left, along with the dust extraction and the machines are on wheels, so easy to bring out when we need them and we have a lovely workspace on the right hand side, hurrah!

I've just had a week off, a week at home, partly due to COVID-19 and partly because travel is pretty difficult for me anyway! So I spent a lot of the week in the woodshop, pottering and carving.

So, what do I mean by a journey by spoon? I realise I'm very task oriented, I have an image, a goal, the end result and I'm driven to get there and finish what I'm doing. Finish the task at work, finish the particular craft piece I'm working on, be it painting, carving, beading etc, but what I have realised is that the process for me, is usually just a means to an end.

There was a particular moment whilst carving this spoon that I had this realisation:

Brain: Carving spoons is cool, reckon you can make one with rings?
Me: I think I can, I'll give it a go!
Brain: How about seven rings, that seems like a good number?
Me: Yeah, yeah, why not, I like the idea of seven rings.
Carving commences...
Me: Two rings, two rings definitely seems like a good number.

To explain, I have a bad shoulder and a spinal defect, both of which cause me a lot of pain, so I have to adapt to what my body can cope with, and seven rings was going to be decidedly taxing. The seven rings became two and, as I wanted some interest, I made the spoon handle wavy instead of straight, which made me think of the two little rings taking a journey down a wavy path.

This thought was subsequently followed by the lightbulb moment where I realised that I was rushing through what I was doing to get to my end product, instead of appreciating the process of carving the wood, a peaceful, natural material, and also the process that had taken place in my head, adapting my design as I went along.

I have more ideas and lots more pieces of wood, but I'm definitely going to try to be more mindful in my approach and enjoy the creative journey of what I'm making, rather than just enjoying that I've made it.
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Think my shoulder and back will probably appreciate it too!!

​What is this? Yes, it's a block of wood... it's also a picture of possibilities, this small block of wood could become numerous things. But how do you decide? Where you do you start? What if it doesn't turn out like it's meant to? We are often faced with daunting challenges, but we have to take a deep breath and take a first step.

I started teaching myself woodcarving earlier this year, having zero experience and no idea where to start. So I took a first step (which of course was the internet) I picked up some information on the ideal tools to start with and found out that a tool shop not too far away from us had a woodcarving club. Being as impatient as I am, I also ordered tools and wood blanks and just had a go, using the trial and error method and learning how not to get many tiny cuts on my fingers.
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Four months later, I decided to enter a carving competition. I had those moments of doubt flitting around my head, “what on earth am I going to carve?”, “what if my work isn’t good enough?”, “I’ve only been doing this a few months”, “I’ll never win, maybe I won’t bother”, I acknowledged those doubts, and then ploughed on anyway; if I didn't try, I definitely didn't have a chance. In the end I decided on a seahorse, I painted one a little while ago and find them fascinating creatures, I sketched out my design and then made the first cut into the wood. Throughout the doubts, I just kept making the cuts in the wood, and all those little cuts turned into something I was really rather pleased with, so I took that deep breath and uploaded my pictures to the website.

I'd love to say I won… I didn't win, but a large part of entering for me was to challenge myself and try and create something far more intricate than I’d done previously, and the fact it was for a competition motivated me to push out of my carving comfort zone before I started getting stuck in it.
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I realise I approach most things this way, things can seem big or overwhelming and it's difficult to see how you can get to the end point, but I just have to take the first step, however small it is; each small step gets you closer to where you want to be. Sometimes those steps may take an unexpected direction (as an artist I can call these a design change) and change the planned outcome, this could result in a lesson learnt, or even something better than what you originally envisioned!

Keep taking those steps.

We have a website! I will admit that this is quite exciting, it's our first website and now a journey in learning how to edit the thing. 

I'm Sam, and Jon and I love our woodworking, we started around a year ago, figuring out what sort of stuff we wanted to do, beginning with trying to transfer pictures onto wood and making patterns in plywood with a rotary tool.

We looked at things, we tried things and discovered that Jon, with a history in construction, likes building the big stuff, sheds, outdoor storage, decking and the like. I naturally seem to gravitate towards smaller things, like jewellery and carving. We both have a hand in the bandsaw boxes and pots.

There is still a lot to explore, wood is an incredibly versatile medium... the adventure continues!