Steve Tomlin Crafts

When scythes go bad

Posted on February 8, 2018 by stevetomlin

The scythe season is rapidly approaching and I hope I’ll see you on one of my Learn to Scythe courses where you’ll learn to set up, sharpen and mow for the maximum effectiveness and enjoyment.
One of the trickiest things to learn when you start is to slide the scythe blade on the ground, keeping contact with the earth all the time. Lifting the blade requires extra effort and means you’ll not get a neat cut. If you’ve been on one of my courses, you’ll know that we spend a lot time learning to ‘Keep it on the ground!’
Here are a few folk who could do with some help, I could have posted many, many more. If you have a friend who swings their scythe like Poldark. maybe send them this post. Please don’t copy their technique.

Posted in Scytherspace | Tagged 2018, Austrian scythe, beginner, course, scything, UK | Leave a comment

Ash splint basket making film – My father's tools

Posted on January 31, 2018 by stevetomlin

This is a very beautiful film about Stephen Jerome from the Mi’gmaq First Nation community of Gesgapegiag in the province of Quebec, Canada. The short film shows Stephen harvest a tree and convert it into a rib basket using simple tools.
I learned a lot from watching this and seeing techniques similar and different to my own. If you’d like to learn about ash splint basket making, I will be teaching courses during 2018. Visit my craft courses page or sign up to my newsletter for updates.

Posted in baskets, SteveTomlinCrafts | Tagged ash splint, black ash, film, UK | 2 Comments

Ash splint basket course in Cornwall

Posted on January 25, 2018 by stevetomlin

I have been invited down by my friend Tim of Yurtworks to teach an ash splint basket making workshop in Cornwall on 17th -18th March 2018. I met Tim when I lived in the SW and am really looking forward to being back down there and teaching ash splint basketry again. We’ll be pounding splints from some local ash from Tim’s coppice so it will be an exciting workshop to see how that compares with my usual timber.
During the weekend you’ll learn all the process to source and prepare weaving splints from UK ash and weave a simple fruit basket.
More details of the course and how to book are on the Yurtworks website http://www.yurtworks.co.uk/courses/basketmaking.htm

Posted in baskets, greenwood courses, SteveTomlinCrafts | Tagged 2018, ash splint, basket, Cornwall, course, UK, workshop | Leave a comment

Spoon carving workshop Manchester

Posted on January 22, 2018 by stevetomlin

Thursday 19th April 2018 10:00 – 4:30 £90 inc materials.
Email me stevetomlin8[at]gmail.com for more details or book your place here.
I’m really excited to be running my first spoon carving course in Manchester this spring. Take a day off work and learn how to carve wooden spoons from local timber using axe and knives. The course is suitable for beginners or those with carving experience looking to expand their skills and understanding of wood working.
The Edge Theatre is a fantastic venue in the heart of Chorlton, South Manchester.

Posted in greenwood courses, spoon carving, SteveTomlinCrafts | Tagged 2018, beginner, Chorlton, course, craft, Manchester, workshop | 2 Comments

Ancient cereals corn dolly

Posted on January 21, 2018 by stevetomlin

I love when craft brings different people and skills together and this harvest queen neck dolly which I just received represents two of my favourite people.
I met Helen Moran at Beamish museum back in 2012 where she was demonstrating making corn dollies. During our chat she mentioned that her ambition was to weave with spelt wheat which she had heard was particularly nice but very difficult to acquire.
Cue John Letts who I know through the scythe world and grows ancient varieties of cereals, including spelt, on his farm in Oxford. I chatted with him about the possibility of supplying some straw and buttered him up with a lovely border fan corn dolly woven by Helen.
Eventually, Helen made the epic trip from her home in Northumberland down to Oxford and came home with bundles of cereals which John had carefully hand-harvested for her.
The harvest neck is a traditional corn dolly linked to the last sheaf of the harvest and linked to many beliefs and customs. For me, it represents new friendships and shared crafts.

Posted in SteveTomlinCrafts | Tagged corn dolly, harvest neck, John Letts, wheat | 4 Comments

Handmade Christmas turtle dove decorations

Posted on December 13, 2017 by stevetomlin

These new, tiny fan bird decorations are perfectly proportioned to hang on your Christmas tree this season. Each one is individually handmade, carved from a single piece of wood.
Either hang them individually amongst your baubles and tinsel or make your own mobile and watch them spin and glide together.

Posted in fan birds, SteveTomlinCrafts | Tagged christmas, decoration, handmade, turtle doves | Leave a comment

New hay rake tine cutter

Posted on October 10, 2017 by stevetomlin

I’ve been making wooden hay rakes for several years now. To make the rake teeth, called ‘tines’, a cleft ash billet is knocked through a sharpened steel tube called a tine cutter. As the wood is split from a larger log, the fibres run along the tine intact making each one very strong.

Recently I’ve been thinking about my rakes and that I would like to have a tine cutter to make slightly smaller tines. While I was at Beamish Museum the other day, I mentioned this to Bill who was helping on another stall. The very next day he turned up and gave me a perfect new tine cutter which he’d made the evening before. The generosity of makers never fails to amaze me.

Posted in SteveTomlinCrafts, tools, wooden rakes | Tagged hay rake, tine cutter, wooden rake | 10 Comments

Spill plane

Posted on October 5, 2017 by stevetomlin

During the summer I picked up an unusual little plane at a show and gave it a first trial this week.
All planes make shavings but with a spill plane, it is the shavings which are the product rather than the piece of wood being planed. The shaving, or ‘spill’ was used to transfer a flame, for example from a fire to light a candle before the age of matches. This model produces beautiful, tightly curled spirals which I think would also look fantastic as part of a flower arrangement.

Posted in SteveTomlinCrafts, tools | Tagged spill plane, spills | Leave a comment

Scything a wildflower meadow for beekeeping

Posted on October 2, 2017 by stevetomlin

I love honey and am fascinated by the lives of bees but have always been slightly put off keeping them by the amount of intervention that conventional beekeeping entails. So it was fascinating to meet the Lune Valley Community Beekeepers and talk to them about their ‘natural beekeeping’ while teaching them how to scythe.

The group have taken on a site where they plan to build a resource centre and, in the meantime have planted a fantastic wildflower meadow with a mix of annual and perennial species.

The meadow has been left until the end of the season to provide as much forage for the bees but was still a riot of colour. It was now time to cut the long meadow grass and I was happy to show them how to mow it using Austrian scythes.

Posted in scythe courses, Scytherspace | Tagged Austrian scythe, beekeeping, lancaster, wildflower meadow | Leave a comment

Scythes in Manchester stained glass

Posted on October 1, 2017 by stevetomlin

I moved to Manchester earlier this year. Lots of people wondered why I would be so mad as to relocate from the Lake District to the city. There’s lots of reasons but one of them is the excitement of bringing what are seen as rural skills and activities into an urban environment and introducing city dwellers to craft work.
This week I was at the Home cafe in Didsbury, part of Emmanuel Church when my eye caught a familiar shape in one of the stained glass windows. It’s lovely to know there are already scythes here.

Posted in Scytherspace | Tagged Manchester, scythe, stained glass, UK | Leave a comment