Monday morning!

Saturday morning

Can you tell what it is yet?!

After such a long time with nothing I thought I'd post a "story so far!" I have finished a shelf until for a friend, but forgot to take photos. O will try and get some next time I am over there. I have had a mental block as far as getting going on boxes, so I have decided to have a play with the new router fence. So far I have clocked up a few hours in there today and this is the result. Hopefully if I remember to keep you posted you will see the story unfold each day!

The Bench is finished!!

The bench (so far!)

I thought I would show some photos of how the bench is starting to look. It has been a long time since posting. I am hoping to get it finished very soon! I have rested some thin strips of wood in the seat position, but that doesn't mean that will be what I choose to use in the end. There are a few of the back rests missing, obviously, but while I was taking photos of the loom I thought I'd take some of the bench!

The loom!

This picture above is of a traditional braid loom. I was asked to make a copy of it, but leaving out some to the modern items such as the wooden screw and nut arrangements that hold the pegs in. I was asked to make it out of oak, the original was made out of pine. Traditionally it is more than likely that they wood have been made from oak. The reason why there are screws and nuts is because that makes life easier!! There were some interesting challenges in making this and I have learnt a huge amount and taken my skills and workshop onto a new level through this! The pegs are push fit tight into the holes, close tolerances in wood are not easy to achieve! The adjustable peg is held firm with a wedge shaped peg through a hole in the back. As you can see the adjustable peg is a lot larger than the original, this is to give it a good purchase on the frame once the wedge is pushed home.

Boxes at the Victoria and Albert museum

We Popped into the Victoria and Albert museum after visiting the natural History Museum. What a treat!! In nearly every hall there were great examples of boxes from around the world and history. Here is a few! I took over a hundred photos! Of course the conditions for photography were not the best, but at lest these have come out reasonably well! I hope you enjoy them as much as I do, they have given me a lot of ideas and inspirations!