These cupboards and shelves I made from walnut for some folk in Stockbridge. At three metres high and two metres wide it’s a big piece of furniture which suits the high ceilings.
I made a matching desk for a home office, with a desk-space that folds out.
One of the stranger things I did this month was to fix a support round a room for a model train to whizz round. It had to be very level to suit the engine. I’ll try and get a photograph of the finished line!
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.
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 17th and 18th 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 1st and 2nd of December I’ll be at the Glasgow Christmas Craft, Art and Design Fair at the Royal Concert Hall and on the 8th and 9th 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.
This month I’ve been hitting the craft fairs selling lamps and chopping boards. It’s been great meeting folk and other makers, and getting to travel around a bit. Gracchus got to try out the beginning of the West Highland Way in Milngavie, and here’s my stall:
I’ve been to the makers market in Milngavie, and the Urban Market in Glasgow, and coming up are the West End Makers Market in Glasgow and the Scone Game Fair
The rest of the time I’ve been in Edinburgh making a very tall ladder from Douglas Fir. It now leads up to a high bed in Aboyne, Aberdeenshire. Here’s my jig for routing the joints for the treads, and a picture of roughing out the curved hand-rails.
And here’s the ladder getting nearer completion and Gracchus and Jess appreciating it.
And the finished ladder…
Platform Bed and Bookshelf Ladder
I made this bed and the bookshelf stairs to create more space in a small bedroom in Leith. The sleeping platform is fixed in to the walls so there is no need for supporting posts. The man who sleeps in the bed says he will keep his fiction on the stairs so that he can climb up a stairway of stories to go to sleep.
Windowsill Desk
This desk is made from oak and designed as an unintrusive working space.
Staircase Restoration
These stairs are in a house in the colonies in Edinburgh. They were originally painted and carpeted so needed to be sanded back to the bare wood and then oiled with a high solids protective oil.
Staircase Repair
These stairs were old and hadn’t been fitted well in the first place, so they made a terrible squeaking noise whenever anyone went near them. I added strengthening batons and used expanding glue to hold the stairs solidly together. They are now almost silent.
Desk with Leather Insert
This desk was commissioned by an academic living in Edinburgh. The leather insert was form an old family desk that was beyond repair. The wood I used for the desk is Scottish oak with beautiful figure and variation of colour. The draw front is made of book matched boards meaning that one side is a mirror image of the other. my client was very pleased with the fusion of traditional and modern styles.
Coffee Table
I made this coffee table top from reclaimed pitch pine take from an 18th century manse in Aberdeenshire. It is oiled which brings out the colour in redder and darker woods.
Dining table
This 10-seat dining table was commissioned for a newly built house in Aboyne, Aberdeenshire. After visiting to see the house and discuss options I designed and made this dining table from Scottish elm. The whole table is made from the same tree which ensures that the colour of the wood is consistent over the whole table. There are few right angles in the design which made it a challenge to make.
Bathroom Cabinet
This was commissioned by Hugh Parsons, a designer based in Edinburgh. The cupboard is made of lacquered birch ply with marquetry on the door front and polished brass pivot hinges.
Kitchen Cupboard
This walk-in cupboard in a tenement in Portobello was wasted space. I coordinated plastering and installed fitted drawers and shelving up to the ceiling to create as much storage space as possible.
Elm Letter Box
The corner joints are hand cut dovetails that are not cut flush with the sides of the box, this really brings attention to this beautiful jointing method. The handle on the lid is formed by following the grain of the wood.
Douglas Fir Bed
This bed was commissioned for a house in Peebles. It is made with Douglas fir. It has a slanted headboard for sitting up comfortably in bed and a sprung mattress base.
Oliver Stearn 