After a few attempts to bend fine strips into curves, I gave up and resorted to the scroll saw.
Decisions of Children A retailer wanted a morning’s activity with children.Making children happy isn’t difficult; they love doing cool stuff. When given a choice of projects they apply assumptions passed on by their parents. It is fun to present them with a boy’s cliché, a girl’s cliché and a gender non specific alternative. They were presented…
These little tables are remarkably strong. Birch ply give access to lovely graphic lines. It is a happy design exercise to make a toggle that matches the legs. I like the birch ply, but should have avoided the circle of the body!
Everything my friends make begins with best laid plans. But they do go astray! In this case there were aspects of the construction process that were so difficult that I needed to invent some extra help. Here is little bench clamp that holds up the basket end. At the beginning stage the unsupported end won’t…
For Whom Do We Make? The stuff we make involves many interested parties. There are: the makers, staff who help, managers of the centre, recipients of the objects, et al. Given the positive power of enthusiasm, it is good to spread that good feeling as widely as possible. When the makers make more than they need,…
I Broke a Promise… …but I also made a discovery. When I began doing wood projects among my disabled friends I made some promises to myself. The promises were a personal, but unwritten, statement of policy. I promise to: do work that is engaging because the thing we make is interesting, never to do all…
Stable Work Surface Jobs in wood offer incredible variety. My brief, on this occasion, was to make a strong and serviceable workbench. It was to be big enough and stable enough for multiple workers to use hand planes. It wasn’t to cost too much for it would be disposed of after three days of use….