Garden Log Furniture.

Garden Log Furniture

Not much turning in this one I'm afraid! LOL, although I did turn the tenons on the table legs(or should that be table logs...ahem..).

Our old 'picnic' style bench has seen better days and after I used it to put a large log on for slabbing(it had to be lifted with a farm loader), it wasn't quite the sturdy seat it had previously been......

Anyway, I have a chainsaw and logs, so I thought why not have a crack at making my own garden furniture(as you do..)

Making the chairs from single logs is quite timber intensive but I have the cut out portions to use for turning and I really like the single log approach, it kind

Sycamore Log Table

of makes them a bit 'ancient throne' like(in my mind anyway,LOL).

For the table I used a more 'usual' log furniture style with legs made from branch wood.

I have burned a double off-centre circle/ring design on the chair backs and on the table top, which I hope gives them that little bit of extra visual appeal and ties the three pieces together in a set.

It's all made from semi seasoned Sycamore logs and I will oil it at some point but for now I want to let it weather and crack a bit, just to give it a bit of 'age'.

Silver Patina Bowl

We have a two day craft fair coming up on the 8-9th of September and I have been making some plain bowls to sell there. I decided to make a few 'showier' bowls to go on our table as well, these obviously carry a higher price than most 'craft fair visitors' wish to pay but I find them a good thing to get people looking and asking questions(and then hopefully buying something from the table).

Anyway this is the first new highly textured and decorated bowl made especially for this purpose. I used a piece of four inch deep Beech that was a bit wormy, I don't mind the worm trails in things I'm going to give an aged look/patina to, I think they add to the overall aged look. The inside and the silver band are covered in a metal leaf which after the glue has dried is 'aged' with with a vigorous buffing with a cloth, making sure to rub through on the corners as this is of course where an object would wear over time with a great amount of handling. The outer is randomly textured with a burr in a Dremel tool and the crackled area is carved in with the same tool. The 'cracks' are coloured black and a base coat of a slightly purplish blue applied before the silver.

Log Job!!

Its funny how jobs can just randomly show up on your doorstep isn't it? In this instance it was quite literally the case!

The doorbell rang the other evening, my wife answered it and came through and said "theres somebody who wants to know if they can buy a log" (I have a good collection sitting on my drive at present..). I went to the door to speak to the lady, who explained that she was a photographer looking for a nice log to make into a 'platform' for laying new born babies on for photographing.

We selected a log roughly 11" wide agreed a price and I cut the required length from it. I loaded it into her car and she went off to the cash machine to get me the reddies(I know I'm very trusting,LOL).

On her return she asked if I would cut out the 'dip' for the babies to lay in for her as she didn't really have a way(or prehaps a clue!) of how to do it. I lifted the log out of the boot again and this morning made the cut out by first chainsawing and then using a sanding wheel in the grinder to smooth it out. I also took the liberty of smoothing the ends out and rounding off all the edges to make it a bit more 'infant friendly'

I think its a pretty nice idea, a natural looking setting such as the log will look good and will certainly make a more interesting baby picture than the usual 'white cloth background. I couldn't resist popping 'Bedtime Bear' on to try it out! LOL

Pearl

Well its been a while hasn't it........... I've had a lot going on in the last couple of months that has kept me away from the lathe and as a result from sharing my work with you. Well hopefully I am going to be able to produce a lot more work again now and keep this blog updated on the regular basis I have always mean't to do. Anyway enough babble, LOL, back to some proper work!

Pearl is a sculpture that is based around a 12" diameter broken Sycamore circle. The idea behind the piece is simply a 'Pearl of wisdom, bursting the bubble of illusion', in other words that little bit of truth breaking a long held incorrect belief.

The 'pearl' is a beech sphere that is breaking the circle which I have carved and coloured to look as though(I hope) it is deflating after it has been breeched. The base is a square of Mahogany coloured white to match the 'pearl' the ring is black, highlighted with gold gilt cream.

Far Out!

I've been messing around with circles as a decoration and the way they wrap around curved edges giving a cool pattern. This piece was an experiment with the circles and I just fancied making something with bright 'whacky' colours for a change......

Its made from a piece of Beech kindly given to me by Mark Rhodes some months ago. The base ends in a soft point so that the form sits tilted forward. The name came about because my wife said it looked a bit 'retro' and 'far out' LOL! It is six inches wide and three inches tall.

The Blood Urn

Well I couldn't just make things for the stall without doing something from my head filled with ideas!

'The Blood Urn' is more of a 'squarer' shaped vessel than what I usually produce and is coupled with the matching sphere to hopefully give a Human(ish) form.

I have tried to create the look of something very old and important and had the idea in mind of a burial urn containing the ashes of some great tribal leader or warlord, something to be revered by the leader's people for eternity. The striking blood colour, brushed with gold showing both the strength and wealth of the 'occupant'. I know that's a bit waffley but having an idea or theme really helps me get into what I want to produce, hopefully giving it a bit of feeling....LOL!

The piece stands around 9" tall and is mounted on a quarter of a circle base with a small rectangular panel of matching embellishment to help tie the whole piece together through all three elements. The colours are all acrylics and the texture has been created with these by the method of application.

Been a while....

Firstly I would like to apologise to the regular readers of this blog as I have not made a post for over two months. It is and always has been my intention to make a blog entry at
least once a week to keep things fresh and share with you all what I have been up to. I literally haven't turned a thing since the end of February until yesterday. I never really meant to take such a long break but have been busy working(the day job) and putting my spare time into my 'Reef Aquarium' which had been

getting neglected and badly needed a revamp.

The break from turning has however allowed me to look afresh at what I'm doing and hopefully allowed me to move away from some of the subconscious influences of others work. Anyway it felt damn good to be back on the lathe and making those shaving fly!!!

Tomorrow we will be having a stall at my sons preschool 'Spring Fling' event, so I have made several pens and 'Spinney Mushrooms' which always sell well at any event where children are present! I will of course have much more of my usual fare for sale too as well as donating something for the raffle. It was good to get my eye back in making these simple items. Now I just have to keep my fingers crossed for good weather and a wood appreciating, money spending public!