Banchory – Oliver Stearn

The autumn has brought some lovely days at the workshop and I’m looking forward to some frosty mornings.

I’ve finished various projects including a console table, a mirror, and a stationery box, and I’ve been designing some furniture I’ll be making in the new year. I’ve also been making new lamps, boxes and chopping boards for Christmas markets in November and December.

I made this console table and matching mirror for a flat in the New Town:

They are made from Scottish elm I found at Scottish Wood in Dunfermline. I was pleased to have found this piece of elm, as it has a great depth of colour and movement in the grain.

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I made a writing box for a customer who likes writing letters and has a large colelction of postcards. This writing box fits an A4 notepad in the bottom, and the upper tray compartments are designed for postcards and stationery. The outside of the box is made from figured Scottish oak and the inside is made from figured Scottish elm.

I also made an elm frame for an 1852 map of Leith. And in present day Leith I’ve been framing and fitting a kitchen and raising a ceiling.

I’m now regularly exhibiting at Stockbridge market on the second Sunday of every month. I’ll be at quite a few of the Christmas craft and design fairs in Scotland, with lamps, boxes and chopping boards. On the 17^th and 18^th of November I’ll be at Flock in Banchory, I’ve been going for a few years and I’m looking forward to seeing old friends.

On the 1^st and 2^nd of December I’ll be at the Glasgow Christmas Craft, Art and Design Fair at the Royal Concert Hall and on the 8^th and 9^th of December I’ll be at the Edinburgh Christmas Craft, Art and Design Fair at the Assembly Rooms.

And in the new year I’ll be working on two large combined bookcases and cabinets which I’ve designed for houses in the New Town and Stockbridge.

Memorial Bench

I was commissioned to design and make this memorial bench for the Woodend Barn Arts Centre in Banchory, Aberdeenshire. It’s made of Scottish oak and treated with teak oil. I designed it in an angular way to contrast with the landscape around Woodend Barn, and made the legs form part of the seat to give a sense of continuity. I cut, dimensioned, joined, assembled and oiled it in early January in my workshop at Newbattle Abbey. I’ll probably always associate this bench with watching the mad antics of my dog in the snow over too many cups of coffee with my co-workers.

Yew Lamp

This lamp was commissioned by an Edinburgh customer to match a lamp made by the owner’s grandparent so there was a pair to go on each side of a bed. It is made of Yew which darkens over time when exposed to sunlight, which is why there is such a difference in colour between the lamps.

Hand-turned Lamps

These lamps were hand-turned meaning that each one is unique. I used oak and elm and chose the timber for its colour and figuring which really comes to life when it is lit. Some of the lamps have one or more circular inlays in the base. This is a technique I developed and as far as I know is unique to my work. I’m selling these throughout the year at makers’ fairs.

Bathroom Cabinet

I made this wall-mounted cabinet from Scottish elm and Scottish oak for the shelves and back. The panels on the door are book matched so they are a mirror image of one another – this is one of my favourite techniques in cabinetmaking. The dark figuring on the door panels is called crotch wood and is formed where the tree branches. This wood is very dense and can have a lot of depth and colour.