Messing about with Ash & Resin.

It's been a busy 6 months here, dominated by our project to 'tart up' our 500 year-old cottage (Project Bakewell - geddit?). So not a lot of time to mess about in the workshop with wood, as the space was used for builders' storage for a long while, and of course there have been other things to do. The garden has also taken up a great deal of time and effort whilst the weather was warm & sunny. However, there have been one or two commissions accepted, as well as the odd 'personal' project.

One client was keen to have a 'plinth' made for a favourite vase. An unusual request, which appealed. A trip to www.tylerhardwoods.co.uk to collect some Utile first....

Back in the workshop[ it was soon turned down to a suitable size & shape.

And before too long I'd created some simple decoration, which will complement the vase.

The plinth will be a gift at Christmas, and so there's currently no shot of vase in position. Until then, here's a vase of similar size if not style, which we have knocking about, to give an idea of how it will all look on the 25th December.

During the summer I did manage to knock up a rather nice bowl for daughter #2's birthday....

...and another, similarly pyrographed by my better half (the talented one of the duo ;-)), for a lovely neighbour's birthday.

It was during the hot days of summer that I thought about trying some 'resin' work. To start I glued a couple of pieces of builders' leftover timber together, and had a play with a router and some tinted resin to make a useful console table for the bedroom. It seemed to work out OK.

Emboldened by that small success, and since returning from holiday at the end of November I've been working on a lovely coffee table in Ash (collected whilst I was choosing the Utile from the plinth above). Firstly, inlaid with a piece of granite (an offcut from the huge acreage of the stuff we had to buy from Stone Circle in order to get the piece large enough for the new kitchen).

Soon I had 4 Ash legs turned and finished too.

Since then, more messing about with a green-tinted resin, and the (almost) finished piece is looking pretty decent.

Just need to find somewhere to put it now. Given 'herself' has recently taken up stained glass making to add to her many other crafty hobbies, space in the cottage is at a premium these days, so it may be the first item in my online shop - watch this space.

Finally for now, part of the cottage work which has limited my woodworking activity over the 2nd half of the year was to create a two-way fireplace in the old chimney. It's worked out wonderfully, and since October man has been playing with fire. Offcuts of oak leftover from cladding a new RSJ inserted elsewhere were useful for a poker 'stand', and the effect is complete.

Merry Christmas to all my subscribers, and I hope you enjoy a Happy and Peaceful New Year.