All we did was sand it and paint it. Then added a few stickers. This single block of wood gave my mates two whole sessions of relaxed fun. Pictures tell enough of the story here. Simplicity can sometimes be a good option. Every project is different. Every project has discoveries. The discovery here is that…
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….
There is a quiet room where the more stressed of my friends find gentleness. Fixed to the wall is a plywood panel that enables us to stick stuff where ever we feel. The stuff is really a collection of toys that have something sensory about them. It may be a movement or a gentle noise….
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…
Indulging Self and Grand Daughter Every act of making has some self indulgence in it. Here is a response to the gift of scraps of 30mm plywood. The sheet edge is a bold linear graphic. Making my grand daughter’s initials to decorate her book ends indulged my desire to play with mitres in the lines…
Lately, many projects have been created as presents; the latest note pad was a gift to the boss of the house we work in. It is simply time to make something self indulgent. So, here is our toy aeroplane.Some of my friends will not be able to make sense of what we are making. Others…
Fairy Furniture Grand daughters leave grandpas with the privilege of doing cool stuff. Here is the furniture with which she can join Alice at afternoon tea in the backyard. Even though this is made from decking boards, a life outdoors will see the timber eventually split and fall apart. So, a decision has to be…
Clip Board The note pad that went into the Mothers’ Day baskets was a hit. It was both simple to make and functional.Wooden mechanisms are clumsy. At the proportions of a note pad it is difficult to include complexity. But, enlarged to A4 scale you can fit a nice wooden spring loaded clip at the…
Wooden hand plane aficionados (ambiguity intentional) make much of the fact that they can use words like “frog, cutting angle and throat” with confidence. That confidence is proof that they must be experts! If you add complexity to the activity then great reverence must be assumed. Much is made of achieving chisel cuts at particular…
Recycled Glass Table The major inspiration behind this table is ownership of a circle of glass that is too good to throw away. In the 1980’s it was part of a fashionable little iron framed thingy. A clever wood turner made three legs with large balls on top and slots cut to enable glass to…