The toy-making village of Seiffen in Germany is a must-visit for anyone interested in the history of woodturning and toy making.
Woodturning
Making a Wassail Bowl
The height of wassailing occurred during the 17th century, at a period when magnificent bowls elevated on a stemmed foot graced many a magnificent table. Wassail bowls were traditionally turned from Lignum Vitea, a newly discovered timber from South America. The function of a wassail bowl is to hold wassail, a hot punch like beverage […]
Green wood inspiration: turning with wet wood
When turning with wet wood there is usually some distortion but to me it is all part of mother natures character and imparts a stamp of individuality.
The Chair Bodgers of Buckinghamshire
The old chair bodgers of Buckinghamshire are now relegated to history, the last few of them doggedly clinging on to their traditional way of life until the late 1950s.
Cooking up colour: Stuart King’s turned wooden pots
Vessels come in all shapes and sizes and most lathe artists try to achieve a silhouette that first and foremost appeals to the eye. A beautiful form, balance, a pretty profile, outline is just one part of the whole. Choice of material is usually of major importance. It must of course be fit for the […]
The Bucklebury Bowl Turners
When things are commonplace they are often taken for granted but when the ‘everyday’ nears extinction we sit up, take notice and begin to realise the value of what has become unique. This was in some measure the story of George William Lailey (1869—1958), bowl turner of Bucklebury Common, Berkshire. Both George Lailey’s father and […]
The Forgotten Turners of Kings Cliffe
The Doomsday Book records the Northhamptonshire hamlet of Clive (Kings Cliffe) as, ‘standing in 4 acres of meadow with a wood a mile long by half a mile broad’. In medieval times the village was one of the ‘Twelve Forrest Villages’ within the 250 sq. miles of Rockingham Forrest, originally owned by the crown and […]
Spinning a Yarn: Eastern European bow lathe turners
Spinning of wool in the West has for a long time been the province of the machine, but in many parts of the globe including much of Eastern Europe this time-old activity is still very much a hand skill. Some spinners use a spinning wheel while many more produce woollen thread with the aid of […]
