Wednesday, 29 June 2011

Shed renovation, Part Deux The Sequel.

Just when you think you have enough space something comes along and kicks that idea into touch. Yes we invested in a new lathe and its a tad bigger than the ones we had before so this set up of sheds / workshops is no longer working for us. So what follows is work in progress of our shed renovation the sequel, who said the second part isn't as good as the first?

How we looked a few days ago!

Part of the contents of the small white shed under cover.

The dead space between the sheds, there is more to the back and other side next to the fence. Time to reclaim the land.

Someone with a hammer came along and took great pleasure in dismantling the small shed.


And this folks is the end of day one!

Hopefully if the weather is ok I will manage to level the ground off tomorrow and start laying the slabs.

Keep an eye on what we are up to and see the progress of the new workshop.

Drew

Monday, 9 May 2011

Our First Bead Fair & week 15 from handmade Mondays

Yes I did say bead fair, sounds rather strange when you see a table full of wooden items but that's what we do. To say a trade fair is different from a craft fair is an understatement people were there with one purpose and that was to spend money and we were fortunate enough to be there and share in the atmosphere and to sell a few of our items.
Our table yesterday
I know it looks rather jumbled but it was a table full of display items and there was no other way to show them, what you have to remember is on a normal table there would maybe only be a small selection of these items.


Fold flat necklace display with hand turned knobs
  This small but quirky display piece can be adapted to any size with a fully rebated back which can be painted or padded out with your own material to show off you own stunning items. At the front of the picture is a selection of our bow jigs.


Bangle and Ring Cones
Just the thing to show off individual unique bangles and rings, to the right there is a chain stand, it's the extra pair of hands you need when making charm bracelets. Also some business card holders made from burrs and some turned pine ones. You can also see half a plier rack sitting on the collapsible stepped shelves.


One of the display trees
These trees are basically branches from wind felled tree's that we collect and once cleaned and treated are placed on a substantial base of timber to give stability. They give height to a table and are even functional at home for displaying your own jewellery so you can see at a glance what you have instead of digging through a box.


Bangle display
This is a combination of 3 different woods, beech top, walnut support and pine base. The lady who actually bought this could not stop raving about it and actually described it as a work of art, well I am just glad that she likes it, she had me put it to one side and told me not to sell it till she got back with some money. I think she will come back to me at some point for a taller version for hanging necklaces from.

So what did we take from today? Well we managed to hand out loads of cards and spoke to people about what we offer so hopefully this is the start of people knowing about us, Networking! such a brilliant word. It also gave us an opportunity to tell people that we can make items to their own specifications because today we had to pre-judge what people would like, I think we got the basics right but everybody is different and has different ideas, we just want to make their ideas a reality. So there you go that was our first bead fair and it definitely wont be our last.

Its week 15 over at 1stunique gifts and there are already lots of blogs listed for you to have a read at so please pop along and say hi to Wendy and take some time out to read what other crafters and artists have been up to this past week.

Many thanks for reading my waffle and check back regularly to see what we are up to. If you want please follow us on facebook that's where we usually showcase our concept ideas prior to production, your feedback is invaluable to us so please feel free to comment on our ideas we can't get it right if we don't know what you think of them.

Drew

Monday, 2 May 2011

Donna's 1st international commission & Hand made Monday


We are onto week 14 of handmade Monday and we are joining in with Wendy at 1st Uniqie Gifts and this week I havent really had a lot to do, Coughs thats a lie if I ever heard one. Ok se we have had our share of small issues this week one being the lack of a bandsaw blade which I really needed to to make items for an event we are attending on the 8th of May in Edinburgh (http://www.edinburghbeadfair.co.uk/). Anyway I will be sure to update next Monday with what happend on the day. I know this week is going to be a nightmare trying to get stuff finished for Saturday.

This week My wife and I were asked to make a lidded box and a chalice for a customer in the USA as a gift for their girlfriend. After seeing something similar on our website and contacting Donna (her 1st international commission) on facebook they wanted a darker timber so we suggested walnut to him which he agreed to. Below you will see the Chalice being worked on by me and the finished articles (already viewed by the client).


Donna decided to take pictures.

Walnut held in place with hot glue.

Lidded Box by Donna

Chalice by Drew
For any of you that have me as a friend on facebook you will also see that I have been really busy with our back garden. The next project out there is to extend the large shed to gain valuable work space so we can turn the smaller shed into dust free storage and finishing environment.

Please feel free to have a look at out website http://www.handywoodcrafts.co.uk/ we will be updating and adding items on there very soon.

Thanks for reading.
Drew