Running a workshop making nestboxes and insect hotels, for LinkAge in Shirehampton

I've run a few workshops for LinkAge before and they are always great fun. The organisation brings together younger and older people to work together on projects, giving a chance for communication that is often difficult in society. They also run activities more specifically for older people to get involved with, giving a chance for meeting new people and doing new things.

Previously, we have built benches and produced carved wooden plaques. This time, the theme was building nest boxes and insect hotels. In case you are wondering, an insect hotel is an object or area specifically designed for insects to be able to hide in and hibernate. They are often made particularly to help bees (such as bumble and solitary bees), which have been dropping dramatically in numbers recently.

It was nice to catch up with a few familiar faces again and also to meet some new folks. Some of the new participants were very, very nervous about using tools such as saws and hammers for the first time and were also surprised by how much noise such tools made. However, by the end of the session everyone was cutting and joining the wood without any assistance and produced some great boxes and hotels to take home!

It was great seeing people who were afraid to even pick up a saw at the start of the session cutting parts for their projects neatly, safely and efficiently by the end of it. I hope that they will now feel more confident to tackle similar practical tasks themselves in the future.

Working with LinkAge to teach younger and older people woodcarving in Shirehampton's Tithe Barn, in Bristol

LinkAge work to bring younger and older people together on projects, to promote communication between two groups that don't always get the chance to meet in such positive environments.

I've worked with LinkAge before, on a project to make a bench for Shirehampton in Bristol. It was a  pleasure to be invited back to work with them again for two days at Shirehampton's Tithe Barn. 

The young people who came all attend 'The Orb', which is associated with the local Oasis Academy Brightstowe school. 

The Orb particularly caters for students who aren't getting on well with conventional education. Chatting to some of them, it was very interesting to hear their thoughts on the normal classroom environment. They all enjoyed the opportunity that The Orb gave to be able to have a say in organising their studies to fit the way that they learn, rather than being forced into the normal routines of the classroom.

Eileen was also hard at work over the two days, creating a carved oak plaque for her garden.

I think that everyone attending learned quite a bit about woodworking. There was a choice: either making plaques from cedar or oak wood to take home or working on a bench for the garden at the barn.

Making the bench first involved cutting the oak legs to length using a bow saw - no mean feat!

 The seat was then shaped, using a drawknife to round the edges.

It then needed to have holes drilled into it and to be carved with designs that had been drawn on, showing the barn and a design of cart special to the area.

Two of the young people also carved and assembled a plaque for The Orb using a bow saw off cut, as a nice surprise for the staff there.

The bench came out really well and will last a long time, as it is made from durable oak and sweet chestnut timbers.

Thanks to Ricky, Susan and Laura at LinkAge and to everyone who came along for their hard work on the two sessions. I also had some very happy news on this project.

Ricky, who is one of the senior workers at LinkAge, told me that they felt that the previous benchmaking project that I'd led for them had gone so well that they were now using it as an example in funding applications and other important publicity work.

They had asked me to run some of these new sessions for them because it was particularly important that, as part of a major new project, they went well. They felt that I'd be able to help ensure that the new sessions were a success. I've got to say that it was very satisfying to hear how pleased they were with my work.

Revisiting previous bench projects - how were they doing?

Yesterday, I was on the other side of town and decided to check in on a couple of previous projects. They are two benches installed in public areas, so I wanted to make sure they hadn't been vandalised or damaged.

The bench at Shirehampton was made with a group of local people of various ages at the end of 2013 and installed in January 2014. Here's how it looks after the first year:

The first thing that I noticed was...no vandalism! Apart from the evidence that wild birds were using it as a perch occasionally, the bench was as it had been when installed. It was nice to see that the untreated wood was aging beautifully. Larch, Sweet chestnut and Oak are all durable timbers, so I didn't use finishing oils on them and they have turned a lovely silvery colour.

The next bench was up in Leigh Woods, on the protected area of Stokeleigh Camp iron-age hill fort. It was made and installed in 2009 and did have some finishing (tung) oil applied at first. The five years since then have allowed mosses and other plants to move onto it and I think that it now looks part of the landscape in a pleasing way.

I could see that a couple of old attempts had been made at scratching names into the timber. Seasoned oak doesn't give up that easily though! The scratches were hardly noticeable. Judging by the wear in front of the bench, it has had plenty of use and hopefully has been enjoyed by a lot of people.

The Daisy Field bench has been installed!

Yesterday, the bench was installed at the Daisy Field in Shirehampton and I went along to help. It looks great, situated next to a small orchard and looking out over the field, which is next to Shirehampton railway station.
The bench is the result of a collaboration between me, LinkAge and the Wild City Project, with local people from Shirehampton and Lawrence Weston doing much of the carving and cutting the joints to fit it together during three teaching sessions in November and December 2013.

The ground around the bench is now a bit churned up from the installation, but will grow back in spring to be a wildflower meadow.

The bench is made of wood from Sweet Chestnut, Oak and Larch trees. The carvings on the backrest commemorate the horses and mules that were trained on the site to be sent to the battles of World War One.

Thanks again to everyone involved in making the bench for their hard work. 

You can see more about how we made it by clicking on the links below:

First Session

Second Session

Third Session

The last teaching session at Shirehampton

On Wednesday, it was the last session at Shirehampton making the bench to go in the Daisy Field. It's looking good! I've got the components in my workshop now to 'fine-tune' the joints and drill for the fixings and the bench will hopefully be getting installed in January, when everyone comes back after the holidays.

Dick Helme (who is looking at the camera in the photo above) brought in some photos of his furniture and woodturning . They were very, very impressive and it was great to see them, albeit as pictures.  Dick was saying that despite his woodworking skills, carving was something he hadn't done much of and I think he enjoyed the opportunity to give it a go.

Everyone else seems to have enjoyed the project too and it's been great working with them all. I'll get some pictures of the bench on here once it's been installed.

Thanks to Ricky and Laura of LinkAge and to Helen at the Wild City Project for inviting me to be involved.

Teaching woodcarving at Shirehampton with LinkAge and also at my studio

Things have been moving along nicely in Shirehampton where I've been working with LinkAge and the Wild City Project, to create a bench that will be installed in a local nature reserve. The volunteers are a mix of older and younger people and everyone has been working hard to make the seat, which will hopefully be finished next week.

It will be carved to commemorate the horses and mules that were trained on the site to be sent to the battlefields of World War One.






The next day, Will came to my studio and we spent a great afternoon chatting about woodcarving. He's interested in possibly pursuing it as a career and so was keen to find out more about tools, techniques etc.

I haven't done a lot of one-to-one tuition at my studio as it is a real, working, vibrant, shared workshop and so can be a little noisy at times, although the folks sharing with me are very understanding about working around teaching sessions. However, the session with Will seemed to go very well indeed and so I'd like to do more of this kind of tuition in the future.

The great thing about one-on-one tuition is that it can be tailored more to the learner and what they want to do. They can also use my own personal tool set, so get to learn more about the differences between tool makes and shapes and what they can do with them. For example, Will is using a Ray Gonzalez hook skew below, a tool which is very delicate and so isn't always appropriate to include in a tool set for teaching a group. If you'd like to find out more about tuition, you can get my contact address via my website's contact page.

... and I'm looking forward to working with everyone again next week!

Workshops in Shirehampton, Bristol to make a bench for a local nature reserve

Today I got on the train to Shirehampton in Bristol, to start a three day project over three weeks making a bench to go in the 'Daisy Field'. This is a nature reserve near Shirehampton train station, which has been planted with a small orchard. We have been making a bench to go there.

The work is being done in a fifteenth century Tithe Barn, also in Shirehampton, which has recently been renovated and is now used by community groups.

This bench making project is being run in partnership with the 'Wild City Project', who have invited me to run workshops in pendant carving before around Bristol. Another group called LinkAge are also closely involved in organising the event.

LinkAge look to bring young and old members of the community together on projects that allow each age group to meet and work with the other (and also have a great time!)

The bench will be made of Sweet Chestnut and Oak, with possibly some larch as well. Carvings along the back will commemorate the area being used as a 'remount depot' during World War One. Horses and mules were bought here, many from the Americas, to be trained before going into battle.

Image from:http://shirehamptonbookofremembrance.webs.com/apps/photos/photo?photoid=126932579

Everyone got stuck in and had a go with tools that were quite new to some of them, such as the drawknife. The bench is going to look good!