Furniture for Books

Jun 19, 2019Leave a comment

I made this unit for a flat on Moray Place in the New Town of Edinburgh. The vertical supports for the shelves are made with Black Walnut, as are the sides of the cupboards.

The cupboard doors are veneered with Lacewood in four panels that mirror each other.

I used 30mm-thick oak for the shelves to give it strength and a solid settled appearance.

I’ve also made a few stools for an upholsterer based in Edinburgh who wanted traditional Scottish stools made with Scottish wood. The frames are Scottish beech, and the legs are hand-turned from Scottish elm.

Next thing I’m doing is exhibiting at the Royal Highland Show in Edinburgh, where I’ll be displaying hand-turned lamps and boxes made of Scottish wood. Then I’ll be starting on some Pitch Pine library shelving for a house in Trinity, in Edinburgh.

September and October

Nov 15, 2018Leave a comment

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.

July and August 2018 – a Wardrobe, a Chest of Drawers, and some Wee Things

Sep 9, 2018Sep 9, 2018Leave a comment

The last couple of months I have been busy in my Edinburgh workshop making a door, a wardrobe, boxes, lamps, and a chest of drawers.

I made a matching wardrobe and chest of drawers for some folk in Milngavie – here they are completed.

All the wood came from two different Scottish oak trees, one for the frames and another for the door panels and drawer fronts. I finished them with a hard-wearing oil which is great at bringing out the warm rich colours in oak.

In other news, I made a door to replace one that had been removed in the 1920s from an old house in Galashiels. It is an exact copy of the existing doors right down to the placement of the door handle and the size of the hinges.

To even things out I made a window for a flat in Leith, refurbished some sash-and-case windows, and put in some panelling. I’ll be making fitted furniture in birch ply for this flat as well.

I have started regularly exhibiting at Stockbridge market in Edinburgh, I’m there on the second Sunday of each month. I’ve been working on new keepsake boxes, jewellery boxes and lamps which I will have with me when I’m next there on the 14^th of October.

I’m excited about the projects I will be completing in the next two months, they include an elm console table and matching mirror for a flat in the Edinburgh New Town, a stationery box in oak and elm and a keepsake box with secret compartments.

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I have also been on my summer holidays, I spent a week in Kishorn with friends and my dog walking around Applecross and Torridon. I’m looking forward to seeing the highland autumn colours in the next few months.

May 2018 – Craft Fairs and a Ladder

May 25, 2018May 25, 2018Leave a comment

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.