As planned, we went down to London early in the new year to install the ‘Spirit’ garden sculpture but I’ve only just got a photo to show here.
This was my first installation and I was a little bit nervous; often work that is simple and straightforward in a workshop environment suddenly becomes anything but when you’re on-site with the client watching what you’re up to. With this though, I’m glad to say everything went according to plan. The sculpture is simply held on the wall with high-strength screw fixings and everything plugged and blended so the finished effect is of the wood curling playfully in and out of the wall.
I’m not sure I would have used the word ‘cute’ to describe it but nonetheless it’s very satisfying to see the log cabin I worked on in 2009 getting national coverage.
Over the course of 4 months I worked as part of a small team building the cabin from locally-sourced larch logs. This is a fully-scribed log cabin which is to say each log is carved so it fits perfectly over the one below leaving a gap & leak-free fit. It’s very physical work with most of it done by hand with broad axes, chisels and special channeling knives though a chainsaw does come in handy.
We took plenty of photos during the build and I will put up a gallery page of the best ones.
On the Association of Pole-lathe Turner’s forum there’s a thread where people can post pictures of spoons they’ve carved. Over the past 3 or 4 years, spooncarving seems to have exploded as a pastime which is a very good thing and this thread is becoming a rich resource. Every now and then I put up a photo to try and highlight something I’m interested in or that I hope might inspire. A year or so ago it was photos of batches of spoons and then big spoons/ ladles.
Last week I decided to put up a picture of this simple beech spoon. It’s about 20 cm long and designed as a spoon for stirring and cooking with a wide shallow bowl. Partly I chose it for the forum to highlight the beauty of beech, which often has a reputation as being a boring timber but also as a classic Swedish style spoon – the design is based on shapes I saw in the classic book ‘Swedish Carving Techniques’ by Wille Sundqvist.
The picture got some nice comments but the real interest came when I replied that ‘I was trying to get back to simplicity’. Robin Wood picked up on this and wrote a post for his greenwood carving blog with a list of inspirational quotes on the theme of simplicity. That in turn has reached more people who’ve commented on their own search for simplicity.
In my making I’m constantly thinking about simplicity; keeping the lines of a piece clean and clear, everything balanced and no more wood than is necessary – searching for the ‘essence’ of a spoon, if you will (or bowl, chair or whatever). The Shaker society of America who said “The chair is the decoration” is a big inspiration for me in this.
There’s a second story to this spoon which makes it extra special for me. I’d had a few disappointing shows, was low on cash (that’s not uncommon when you’re a maker) and was questioning my making. A friend suggested I carve a spoon for them with instructions to think of them and enjoy every moment while doing it. The result speaks for itself and now Christiane has the spoon in her kitchen where it gets regular use. It was a wonderful lesson for me and one I’ll continue to use while making some more of this simple spoon.
“All work is empty save when there is love, for work is love made visible.” Kahlil Gibran
I’ve been following the story of the forest sell-off, building up information from campaign sites, news stories and blogs like this one from my friend Mark Allery, another woodland worker. Today, as MPs were debating and voting on the governments plans to sell off our forests I checked the 38 degrees blog for the latest news. Their advice – call your MP. Having not had a reply to my email to Rory Stewart I decided that this would be a good opportunity to contact him directly. The 38 degrees site helpfully gave me Mr Stewart’s no and I spoke to a very well meaning member of his office who was, quite frankly, no help at all except in giving me the phone no for the constituency office here in Penrith and the Border. I am pleased to say that later in the day Mr Stewart did call back and we had a very interesting discussion.
I’d love to say that my fears were soothed and I can count on my MP to oppose the sell-off but that was not my impression. Grizedale, as a ‘heritage forest’ would be protected by handing it over to a charity such as the National Trust but the fate of the other 30 he wouldn’t be drawn on which presumably means the worst.
He did in the end agree that the government’s handling of this has been “shambolic”, that he ought to meet with Save Lakeland’s Forests to discuss the individual forests in question and that the website omission would be addressed.
Now, I realise that I probably haven’t changed Mr Stewart’s stance and I can accept that to some extent I was simply fed an official line but nonetheless, for me this was an important event. I feel strongly about something the government of the day is up to, that’s happened before. This time though I did something about it, I called up my MP. That he called back was a shock, that he will be taking some actions as a result of talking to me is nothing short of a revelation. If you’re sitting at home, as angry and disappointed with the people running the country as I am and their handling of (insert policy here) then take action, pick up your phone and tell them.
It must be the same as when you’re naming your kids and wondering how it’ll be turned into nicknames. After the Scythe Association (Britain & Ireland) was created, a few of us started to wonder that the acronym wouldn’t turn out to be some kind obscenity in another language. You can decide for yourself which of the following fits us best.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Sabi can refer to:
A member of an extinct religious group known as the Sabians
Often used to refer to the Mandeans, an extant religious group, in Arabic
Sabi (Korea), an ancient capital of Baekje
Sabi (dog), an Australian special forces dog
Sabi River, in Africa (Save River (Africa))
Wabi-sabi, a Japanese aesthetic term which nurtures all that is authentic by acknowledging three simple realities: nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect.
Today I stood in the cold with hundreds of others to show my concern over the government’s plan to sell off our nationally-owned forests.
The lively crowd was made up of a broad cross-section of society and it was great to see how many mountain bikers had interrupted their ride to cycle over and show their support.
Tim Farron (Lib Dem, Westmorland and Lonsdale) and John Woodcock (Labour, Barrow and Furness) both promised their support before symbolically tearing up a copy of the Government’s Public Bodies Reform bill. I can only assume my own MP, Rory Stewart (Conservative, Penrith and the Borders) was busy cooking sunday dinner. I will be writing to let him know he was missed.
No campaign is complete without a celebrity spokesperson. Unfortunately our chosen man, tv-and-radio’s Stuart Maconie, was away – ironically, recording a show for radio 4 celebrating the British countryside. Nevertheless, as a well-known keen walker he sent a rousing letter of support and spoke of his fears of a loss of access to the land which would contradict the recent Countryside and Rights of Way Act. He finished with a quote from G. K. Chesterton’s ‘The Secret People’
But we are the people of England; and we have not spoken yet.
Smile at us, pay us, pass us. But do not quite forget.
Let’s hope someone’s listening now we have spoken.
Scytherspace has a new header! I’ve been looking for ages for a picture to replace the generic one supplied by wordpress and put in a request during the Scythe Association meeting. My search had taken me through the pages of Hay in Art which is well worth a look through and provided some wonderful photos for use another day.
The pic above is from Richard Brown who writes:
..taken in a SSSI hay meadow off Wensleydale where I collect seeds each year and take my scythe for a trip out to mow a 5 x 5m of Dales grassland (lovely grass).
In the depths of winter, when there’s not much around to mow the next best thing is to meet up with friends and spend the evening talking about scythes and mowing. Following on from the National Scythe Association meeting the other week, Paul Kingsnorth, Ian Pettman and I gathered together in the ‘Old Friends’ pub in Ulverston to discuss ideas for the NW group. This group came about following the mowing course at the 1st Cumbria Scythe Festival and led to a number of meet-ups which we’re keen to build on this year. With this active local scene and just the three of us meeting, this seems in many ways to me like a much more exciting and dynamic project and we each came away with a healthy list of action points.
To whet your appetite, here’s a few of the items we’re pursuing:
improved Cumbria Scythe Festival to build on last year’s success
a full programme of courses including mowing, peening, rake and snath-making
the opening of a NW branch of the Scythe Shop
demonstrations and information stands at shows and fairs around the region
hay-making weekend
involvement with local conservation & orchard groups to teach the techniques & benefits of managing their land with a scythe
local oral history research project
training a NW mowing team
We’ll be putting up dates and progress on these as they happen – click on the ‘sign me up’ button in the sidebar to get the news as it happens.
At the weekend 11 of us gathered in Oxford to discuss setting up an association to represent and further the use of the scythe in Britain & Ireland. The idea has been around since last summer when Simon Fairlie, who runs the Scythe Shop, suggested there is huge scope for more people to be mowing than at present.
After 5 hours of productive work the Scythe Association (of Britain and Ireland) was born with the aims to represent and promote the use of the scythe and communiction between mowers, land owners and other interested parties. Initially, a website is planned to provided information on the scythe, training courses and the events and festivals around the country.
It was an invigorating weekend bringing back memories of the summer past and excitement for the season to come, just what is needed during the winter when the warmth of the sun seems at times a long way off. I’m proud to say I was there, now begins the work of turning it into a reality.
With diverse backgrounds and interests we represented an interesting group and the discussion flowed freely covering topics from scythe use and manufacture to thatching, beekeeping, Captain Swing (more about him another time) and arctic exploration. Included in this was a sampling of blueberries preserved in polar bear oil – not for the faint-hearted!
To follow up from Chris’ post here’s a couple of photos I took last autumn which really show the benefits of using a bow when cutting cereals. These were taken during our demonstration at Old Hall Farm in Cumbria. My bow, based on old photographs, is in two planes curving up along the snath and then over the blade. The height of the bow in relation to the crop is crucial and it takes some time to master but the photos show how effective it is in rowing up the stems.
without the bow - what a mess!
with the bow - ready to be sheaved
In Norfolk, the reed cutters made a willow bow or ‘boyle’ in one plane with a ‘pricker’ added which catches the stems. You can see it in this film of Eric Edwards (see 2:40 for the scythe, bow and pricker) who adds “Whatever you cut with the scythe, it cuts very very clean; a lovely precision thing really to use.”
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As planned, we went down to London early in the new year to install the ‘Spirit’ garden sculpture but I’ve only just got a photo to show here.
I’ve been following the story of the forest sell-off, building up information from campaign sites, news stories and blogs like this one from my friend 
