Spoon carving at Boiling Wells in Bristol, with the Boiling Wellness group

In July, I got the welcome chance to return to Boiling Wells in St Werburghs to teach spoon carving. 

After four and a half years working there, funding cuts meant that I was made redundant in 2014. I had been back a couple of times to teach since then and it is always good to see the place develop and grow.

This time, I was spoon carving with the 'Boiling wellness' group. It was great to be back in the nature reserve, carving wood with enthusiastic volunteers. We had a lot of fun and everyone got the chance to try a range of woodworking tools, some of which they might not have come across otherwise.

Doing spoon carving sessions with groups is always interesting as people come up with such a range of designs and styles when given the chance to do so. Once they had got the hang of using the tools safely, there was plenty of room for creativity to come out; working with the grain patterns in the wood for example. I hope that people have had the chance to finish their spoons with the techniques we discussed and that they all enjoyed the day as much as I did!

Making playground instruments for St Werburghs Community Centre in Bristol, using locally grown timber and some reclaimed materials

Recently, one idea that has interested me is making sculptures that can be played as instruments. This linked nicely into a recent commission. A community centre in Bristol wanted instruments to go in their new garden next to the M32 motorway.

The spaces where the instruments were to be installed weren't big, being between already existing planters. This limited the amount of keys, chime bars etc. that could be used in each one . After chatting with the director of the centre I designed and made them some playable structures that we felt also looked good.

The reddish-coloured woods, used for the xylophone keys amongst other things, are sepele and utile. These are both timbers from trees that grow in West Africa. I tend to only use reclaimed tropical woods in my work and these were no exception, having been bearers for timber deliveries to a local company which are usually destined for burning. The posts and other timbers are European Larch; a durable locally-grown timber. 

One particularly enjoyable part of making these was turning the 'rattle poles' on my Myford lathe, for the last instrument played in the video.

They are quite big pieces and it was a fun challenge to turn them evenly and for both of them to be as similar as possible.

I had help from volunteers during the installation, which made the job a lot easier! Everyone was very happy with the new instruments, including me (as you can probably tell by the big smile at the end of the video).

'Starman', a portrait of David Bowie carved in wood

They are strange, the routes that lead into some projects. 

I had signed up to have a stall at the St Werburghs Community Centre Christmas fair in Bristol and planned to sell wooden stars. I've always liked these stars, made from locally-grown larch timber, so decided to make a few and see if they appealed to other people too. 

After making quite a few of the larch stars, I cut a couple from some oak that was lying around in the studio. The largest one, the same size as the largest stars shown on the table, is about 18cm (7") across. It seemed to need a carving on it and the star shape made me think of the song 'Starman'.

I like to test myself by carving portraits. They aren't easy. Carving a face can be tricky enough, particularly in relief. All the elements of a face carved in relief need to work together without having the same distances between them as in a face seen in full three dimensions: the tip of the nose doesn't come out as much as in a real face, for example.

To successfully make it look like a well-known person is even tougher.

A day was spent before the fair carving to get the piece looking roughly right, then more work was done during the fair itself, in quiet moments between talking to visitors.

I left the portrait with the tool cuts still visible. Sanding carvings of faces can sometimes make them look lifeless and 'plasticky' and hopefully this finish keeps some vitality in the appearance of the carving. 

The star sat in front of me at my workbench for a few days after the fair, being taken down and worked on again as the changing light showed areas that needed reworking. I'm happy with it now.

Boiling Wells in St Werburghs, Bristol: Images from 2001 and 2014 - Spot the difference!

In the late summer of 2001, some photos were taken while work was being done at Boiling Wells. St Werburghs City Farm had just taken the site over on a lease from Bristol City Council and had started work on turning the derelict wasteland into a space for teaching and activities with young people.

Lots and lots of people from Bristol and further afield have visited this place and have a lot of affection for it, so here's some snapshots of that time for you to enjoy. Thanks to whoever took the original ones from 2001 and also to Jon Attwood, who gave them to the Farm.

I've taken photos a couple of weeks ago to show what I think is as close to the same view as possible,  although Boiling Wells has changed so much that it's guesswork for a couple of them! The images from 2001 are on the left, followed by those from 2014 after each on the right.

 

 

 

 

Last Day as Environmental Officer for Boiling Wells in St Werburghs, Bristol

Tuesday was my last day working as Environmental Officer at Boiling Wells in St Werburghs. I've been working there regularly in different roles for four and a half years, but now I have to go.

I must admit that I'll miss working there every week, Boiling Wells is a very special place. The last session went very well though. The group of volunteers who came to help worked hard with me on making some doors for the roundhouse on the site. Although we didn't have time to finish them, they will look great when done.

Maintaining the site will be left in the capable hands of Bill, the new Estates and Livestock manager for St Werburghs City Farm. Hopefully, I'll still be going down occasionally to help on certain projects.

If you'd like to know more about the site, here's a video that I made there a couple of years ago:

It seemed apt to be leaving at this time of year with a lot of the spring flowers, like these oxlips, just coming into bloom. Times of change, I wonder where the next adventure will lead...

Another fun day at Boiling Wells!

We had a huge bonfire today.

I had cleared a lot of brambles from the top of the site, so with the help of some of the young people who have visited us on the last couple of Tuesdays they got dragged down to the bottom of the site and burnt. It was quite a blaze!

Even though the fire burned fiercely, there were still some marshmallows cooked over it, although they didn't take long before they were done in that heat.

It's been a great couple of days with everyone and I'm looking forward to one more after Christmas.

A fun day at Boiling Wells in St Werburghs

We had a great day at Boiling Wells today. A group of young people with learning difficulties came for the day and we made pencils, bird feeders and pizzas, which we cooked in the wood-fired pizza oven. Steve England also came down to work with me and Anna (the youth work manager for St Werburghs City Farm). We haven't all worked on a project together since the benches in Stoke Park and it was good to catch up with him. Working with Steve and Anna is always a great laugh and there was a really good atmosphere on site.

The weather was not too cold and it wasn't raining, so it seemed like an opportunity to cook marshmallows over the fire. With Steve's help, a campfire was soon burning and the marshmallows were cooking. I'm looking forward to next week when we will hopefully have another fire (weather permitting!).