Reading Pods

I've had great fun over the last few days on my Facebook Page trying to get people to guess what I was making by showing them the following picture. 

I had about thirty people guessing until one lady came up with the right answer - a reading nook.

This is a commission I'm building for my daughters new school which they go into in the new year (it's really exciting for them and me!).

The idea was to have some standard book shelves then some little reading pods for them to curl up into. There's also going to be a tree but I've no idea how I'm going to build that yet! 

A Little Kitchenette

A phone call a few weeks ago from one of my regular customers "I've got a hour or so work for you if you're in town in the next week or so... Just cut a hole in a worktop".

Not quite! It was to fit a whole kitchenette. It doesn't look much but there's a lot of work involved. Fixing the units, scribing the side panels, cutting the plinth, cutting the worktop, door handles, etc! I really wish I'd brought my lunch to this job! 

Making 4 Panel 1950's Doors

I'm managing to find a bit of time to work on the extension at the moment, One thing I wanted to do was to make some doors for the up stairs. 

Now it would be far easier to buy off the shelf ones but I decided that I'd like to have some 1950's door to match the age of the house. I'm not a purest when it comes to these sort of things but I've always liked these utilitarian style of door. Making them myself means they won't cost much money but take a bit of time! 

 I ordered the joinery time on the phone, a little pile like this is enough to make six doors and a few other bits and bobs.

Turned Decorations

A little late on posting this one but I thought I'd share with you some gifts I made as Christmas presents this year.

These are some little wooden Christmas tree decorations I turned on the lathe out of some beautiful pear wood from a friends stack of wood (it had been drying at his for years). 

I haven't been on the lathe much since moving here except for occasional repair jobs on chairs and the like, I just haven't had the time to turn much for pleasure lately. It used to be something that I really enjoyed doing, I had two years worth of regular lessons (where I was the youngest by about 30 years) and a great teacher, I was really pleased that I hadn't forgotten it all! 

I gave out the decorations in sets of two or three and made six sets - you'd be surprised at how long these little blighters took to turn! 

Finished with some boiled linseed oil for a simple finish.