Update

Here are a few more pictures updating the process within this piece. They show the natural progression of nature and the slow change which is occurring to the bamboo leaves.

This slow transition for me takes on a natural form of beauty and embodies the philosophy of impermanence and Wabi Sabi.

Hopefully I have achieved an understated piece which reflects the natural order of nature.

Latest piece

Obviously too much time on my hands for two posts in one day. !

This latest piece is carrying on my interest in various Japanese philosophies.

My main interest at the moment is the impermanence of all objects etc, I wanted to include this within the piece by leaving the bamboo leaves in place so that over time they can wither and reflect this philosophy.

The piece will slowly change as the leaves alter shape and colour, with each passing the viewer will see an ever changing piece, until the leaves finally drop and rest on the top of the form.

Also within my work I am currently exploring the subject of Wabi-Sabi, which is a huge subject to try to unravel in itself. Part of this philosophy is that beauty comes from all things, even if we think they can be said to be ugly, as nature intended it to be such then it is therefore perfection. I am a mere student of this subject so if you are interested in trying to understand more there are many good reference books and subjects on the net, one of these I have include here. However it is said that even the Japanese themselves find it difficult to explain the philosophy as it has to be lived to be understood. So look at more than one reference point so that a broader understanding can be obtained.

Autumn is definitely here

Autumn is definitely here. It is one of my favourite seasons as I find the colours inspirational and it really brings home the impermanence of all around us. Mostly we do not see the passing of time, life is a tread mill and I find that unless we spend time to slow down and contemplate then we just miss everything.

When I decided to leave my career in the Police I came home and told my wife that I had decided that finally I had had enough of pushing water up hill and I was going to leave.

The obvious issue in modern life, and particularly in our western society is that we have bills to pay, mainly a mortgage and the associated financial considerations that go with it. Also we had our two young daughters one of which was only just born. So when asked what I was going to do and I replied " I'm going to be a woodturner" it was met with a certain amount of concern.

The rest is history, I am not going to say that it is easy as it is not, however I now do not see myself as having to get up to go to work each day, but instead go into my workshop to play. I am very fortunate.

What I am getting to is that what we do in our every day life is no different than the changing of the seasons. we can either stay in the rut or go in a different direction. of course it is easier to stay with the devil we know and to take such a big step is, I can say, frightening and exhilarating at the same time.

This can also be equated into our work. When starting turning I was very much into the traditional way of doing things. Wood should be left untouched to allow it's beauty to show through and should never be altered. Then over time I found myself wanting to explore what more I could achieve with my ideas. Keeping to the traditional ways restricted me and this caused conflict with how I thought my work should be, for it to become accepted by others, and what I actually wanted to do/experiment with.

As soon as I started colouring and texturing I found the responses at times less than favourable. People are still today very quick to criticise or say out load that they do not like work that has been ruined in their eyes.

However just like the changing seasons I have now let go of the concern of what others think and the restrictions that this holds. Also the part that I find the most refreshing, is that the amount of people now that enjoy looking at my work within the traditional fraternity has grown. More often than not when I demonstrate the pieces that hold the most interest for people are indeed the textured and coloured pieces.

More than this people now actually want to listen and accept the ideas behind the pieces. Of course there are those that do not always like some of what I do and prefer the wood to be left alone, as I do on occasions. This I do not have an issue with as it would be a very dull place if we all agreed.

So I see more and more the changing views of people towards a different selection of work.

What is important is to take time to contemplate, to contemplate not only what and why we like something but also why we do not like something put before us. Before we can say we do not like something then we need to understand why.!. To just come out with the statement is for me empty and blinkered. To understand why will help us to understand how to progress and to elevate our work.

After all how can I progress if the only thing I can say is that I do not like something without knowing why. If my reasons for not liking are personal taste, then this thought process has to be discounted. Or the personal connection/taste will also restrict my ability to create fresh new ideas.

This ties back in with my last post with regards to critiquing others work.

The picture above was taken near to my home. My camera is always on hand to take pictures of anything that I enjoy in the hope that I can find ideas from the colours, textures etc etc, as many of the previous pictures and posts have indicated.

Below are some more pictures taken of different items around my home.

New piece

This is a piece I have been working on for some time. Well mostly it has been sat on the shelf waiting for me to progress it further. !! I will start a detailed piece like this and leave it on view for quite some time, often several months as I work through each of the stages.

Some of this is due to being busy with other work but also that I have found that more often than not I will change my mind or find a better way of doing a particular technique that initially I had intended to use.

Invariably the piece will end up totally different than I had initially imagined it. For me this is a valuable process to go through as it involves much learning and ultimately I have a far greater connection with the piece than just churning them out for the sake of it. Far more is learnt by me in this way and normally much more than is actually seen in the end result.

The piece is intended to be along the lines of my previous Japanese inspired work, but I wanted to take time and include many different ideas I have had for a while into one piece.

This is the very early stages, turned and texturing started with a Dremel. Further pictures will be taken today and I will post them later.

Enjoyable Weekend

Well the weekend was spent in the company of Norwich Woodturners.

The day was very enjoyable and a big thank you to Roger and Gina for inviting me to stay with them for the evening before the demonstration on the Saturday. Wonderful food and hospitality.

The day started with me demonstrating one of my lidded forms, followed by a fill in/small project before lunch of an ornament/paper weight.

Lunch was local fish and chips which always go down well.

After this I showed the procedure to make a textured and scorched wide rim bowl. banter was thick and fast which made the day fun and very friendly. After the main project in the afternoon I finished off with a small textured and scorched pot and finally a small hollow form.

One thing that was very evident was the table display of the members work. All of which was of a very high standard and included a wide range of items from coloured and textured bowls, pierced items, boxes, ply vase, burr form and a massive wall plaque which I would estimate to be about 5 ft long. It was obvious that the members liked to experiment with colour, piercing, as well as natural work.

As I said all the work was of a very high standard with myself being asked initially by Roger to critique the work. I find it more and more difficult to critique others work unless I know what each individual was trying to achieve with the piece.

I do not subscribe to some of the traditional thoughts on items and how they are made. IE my personal feelings on boxes and a plop fit is that it is not necessary unless the item is to hold something small and is likely to fall over. I also do not feel that thin walled items are necessary unless the piece originates from green wood. As this for me is the only time I feel it totally necessary to go thin, as it were. So if someone intends make a chunky bowl with an unequal wall thickness, then the item is right for the maker.

This is not to say these methods are wrong if people so wish to adopt them, but I am not sure that imposing my thought process on another's work is necessarily helpful for that person to develop. After all my observations are only my opinions based on my personal preference and tastes, this does not make me or another in my view correct when critiquing work.

There are forms that I prefer and some that I think are just not right. But again this is based on my own observations and programming for the way I think, based on my own research and slant.

The best way I believe to progress work is for each individual to be ultra observant in relation to what is seen around them, add to this detailed self critique of the work and I believe this should be enough. If we are honest with our own work to help us develop the next piece the development with naturally develop. This partly goes back to a previous post which included "beginners mind" within the subject.

Above all I believe people should make what they enjoy and which gives satisfaction, as surely nothing else matters.

I am now back to the office, making more ply pieces for the galleries, lidded forms with various colouring and texturing with new techniques, which seem to change as I go along, mainly due to them not working as I had initially thought.

Still seeing what happens at the end of it is the most exciting part. But then if it does go wrong then there is always the chimnea. !!!

Developing

This is a piece I made some time ago based on various interests I have in Japanese philosophy. It is the only one to date that I have made but will be exploring these ideas in a few smaller items involving the tea caddy.

Will try out a few new ideas and change a few of techniques used in this one.

I am a great one for trying out a technique and then not running with it to see how far I can develop it. So I am going to revisit this piece and see what I can do while incorporating a few new forms to add interest.

I will keep you updated and will start on the main base form today.

latest

Here is a latest piece. Simple hollow form made from high grade birch ply. The material gives many advantages for me over working in natural wood, particularly from a process point of view.

This piece is part of a range of interior items I am producing which eventually will include mixed media but for now I am just getting the simple lines of form and the modern feel of ply in my work and out to the outlets. All of whom to are looking forward to receiving more. Seems they are very popular which is much to my relief. As said not a new material for interior items at all but when you change direction there is a certain amount of concern especially when you put time effort and money into making not knowing if you are going the right way.

Still will have to see how it progresses. Quite exciting really to have a renewed interest using a traditional craft method.

The piece above is not the only direction I want to take my work. Much more sculptural work and forms only using the lathe as a part process are in the design book. But until these have been made, photographed, refined and out in the general public domain I would be committing commercial suicide to disclose the prototypes here and now.

Something I have learnt over the last few years is that I not only have to develop my design skills, be more aware of the commercial viability of products outside of the traditional woodturning sphere, but also that I have to be far more switched on in relation to business matters.

The traditional making methods are very enjoyable and rewarding, and I will still continue to make my traditional work ( which I have no doubt I have said somewhere if not here before), but it is obvious to me that to stay with methods, just because it has been done for time in memorial is also commercial suicide. If not we would all still be writing with the quill.

Not that there is anything wrong with this, but for me it is now over and I have to move on to new methods and designs to run along side my original work. I may in future move totally away from turning as I now know it and to use the lathe more and more as just a part process. I certainly want to use less and less wood. But I am in one of those moods hence why my work and ideas are so eclectic, and tomorrow I may be back to all things traditional. But I have to say that I doubt it as I feel I am again shedding a skin.

My friends will tell you that not so long ago ( a couple of years) I would not be seen dead colouring or altering through texture or adding mixed media to wood. Then I started colouring and texturing and become acutely aware of the enjoyment of letting the mind go and making from within, having a connection with the work more than just making a bowl.

Now this playing and experimenting has started me on this new ,what I will class as ultra modern type work. Again the designs I am producing are well away from the hollow form above, But I still have to keep my feet on the ground and and I enjoy making this sort of item so it will continue.

It also is apparent to me that I am becoming less and less of a conformist to the mass mind set I come across, for me it does nothing but restrict and blinker the creative process. I have tried hard to conform to certain ways of thinking but again it is time to move on to a different place as I find little interest in conforming to ways that are restricting me in my work. hence now becoming more interested in new materials and methods as I find the makers open to my way of thinking in the approach to making.

Hopefully I will have some pictures of the new pieces in the next month or so, but for now you will have to put up with me just expressing my thoughts through my blog.

still working at it

Hi

Thought it was time to give an update. Busy times for me with various bits and pieces and my new project which is a range of work based on what I have been doing but including different materials is under way.

Unfortunately I do not have any pictures at this stage as I am still working on the different characteristics of the materials and trying to work out how to use them. Also my original ideas have changed since my last post and some have been shelved as being too time consuming and not commercially viable. ( Apart from when I get time to play).

It is the most fun part working in different ways with different tools etc. But I can get carried away and before I know it another month has gone by without much being done apart from experiments. ( which doesn't put food on the table). But hopefully will.

So I have also been making a lot of bread and butter items for the galleries I stock ( again behind schedule) but hey life is too short to go working too hard.

Part of the new range I am working on has involved looking at the way I work, how efficient this is compared to the traditional methods of roughing out unseasoned wood, seasoning, re-turning etc etc. Most traditional woodturning methods are pretty slow from a commercial point of view, but with a few alterations I have found my productivity raise perhaps 3-400%, if not more. Not that I have done any highly scientific trials, just a few time in motion studies for the pieces I have worked on.

One of the issues I have is that, and this dawned on me when speaking to another maker/friend, is that, I may have an idea but in 8 months time I have change my mind. While with my lidded forms I can just finish those for my bread and butter work. Some pieces just get left, as my original idea does not seem worth exploring further. Or I have just gone down a different route.

Being eclectic with my work keeps it interesting but means that some days I do not set foot in the workshop as I just do not know what to do. What piece to tackle. Also I am doing a lot of research etc which takes up the time, and probably will not been apparent in the final pieces..

So also now I am working through pieces just to get them finished.

Oh by the way my new pieces are not that far removed from my normal work, so I hope people are not expecting the next woodturning revolution. It has been done before, just I am doing it my way.

Must go and take the next piece out of the oven.

Day out

Today I took my daughters out to the opening of Somerset crafts www.somersetcrafts.co.uk which is a new craft centre opened by creative makers who make and sell in the Somerset area.

I always enjoy meeting other designer/makers especially when they produce work using different methods and materials than myself. Often I find it refreshing just to talk about different ideas, materials and how they are used, methods of design and how others go about their work.

Also a friend and fellow maker is involved in the group so we went along to see what it was all about.

There were various disciplines being displayed with all the work being of high standard. wood, glass, mixed media, furniture, sculpture, soaps photography, jewellery and more was on display. Together with a jazz band, food, drink and a bouncy castle for the children it was a good day.

What I found interesting was that some of the disciplines being shown are those that I have had an interest in including in some of my work for a while. The makers were happy to show me some ideas and give me details of products to play around with, these have now been ordered and hopefully add a new dimension to the new ideas I have yet to make.

This for me is what is so exciting about making creative work which is not restricted by utility. I can think of an idea and at the last minute by meeting other people and seeing new directions my designs can be turned on their head and I go back to the design/technical stage again to try to work out how to include the new materials.

The internet is a great help to get hints and tips for using the materials but one point that was evident from the makers that the best way to learn is experiment and make mistakes. I am looking forward to the new materials coming and will update when I have done some.

In the mean time here are some pictures of the makers work etc.

Evolving - Dissolving

It has been quite some time now since I have posted anything. I have been very busy with teaching and various other distractions. There is as I have said in a previous entry a new project that I am working on but to be honest this is still at the starting blocks as I decided to leave it until I returned from holiday, although I have been playing around in the background with ideas.

The "new project" while no real secret I am not posting at the moment as I am still undecided in which direction I want to go.

In fact I am frustrated and unsure about my work in general and have lost interest in the current format of both environment and working methods/processes in which I work. This frustration is I know part of the natural creative process. Or at least I hope it is.!! Not having been down this road before and letting go fully and having the willingness to see where I end up is both exciting and frightening. Mainly as I have to make money to support my family from what I do, but I realise from my recent experience of making and selling, letting go from a creative stand point, is the way in which I want to move my work forward.

The traditional environment for me is frankly ,dull, uninspiring and restrictive in relation to the creative mind set and work that I want to develop. I now realise that I have to move in another direction. This is old territory and I have been over this before. People that know me will say that I go over the same old stuff time and time again.

However I have found is a natural transition of moving away from my safe zone and then slowly going back to it, moving away again until the natural order of things slots into place. Often that pushing too hard down a certain route is counter productive and that letting things develop at their own speed can be more productive in the long run for me. It also provides a more honest work as it is less likely to have been produced through external pressures and conformity.

Still, now that I am back from holiday in the sun I can start a fresh direction while continuing some of my standard work along side. This means working in new materials, methods and designs totally different to what I have worked to date. While some will be developments of my signature work.

It will be some time until I have any pictures of work as I have loads to do behind the scenes with sourcing materials, trying them out, perfecting them !! and then making a viable product.

In the mean time I will post a few pictures of textures that I took while on holiday and a few general holiday snaps.