The End of a Journey

Well, back to the real world in a few days. Both good and bad. Good that I get paid again. Bad that I'll have less time to nurture my new skills. Good that I'll, once again, have a short term purpose. Bad (and good) that I have identified an alternative purpose that is hard to penetrate. Whatever. We all have to pay our mortgages, that much is inevitable. We just have to enjoy ourselves as much as possible while doing it. And hopefully be able to plan for the future too. The best thing is that I have not one single regret. My brief time away from work has enabled me to learn skills that, had I been working full time, would have taken me two years of weekly evening classes to gather. Much more than that though. I got to:
- spend quality time with the important people in my life (Mo, Si, Tom, Mr & Mrs P senior, Stew and most of all Mrs P).
- develop all sort of recipes, most notably my hand made bread recipe. Best organic ingredients sourced from France and UK.
- make great new friends, mentors and future colleagues
- perform some vital renovations to my flat
- learn a s##t load about me

Some pics:

Some of my tools

Wood pieces (some unfinished!)

My bread

This is, however, just the beginning!

A new beginning...

Garden Design

Well this, my final free week, took me to the wonderful Hampton Court Palace to attend an intensive week of garden design training. KLC are a design (both interior and exterior) training company who operate out of premises in Chelsea Harbour and Hampton Court. Without any disrespect to any training course I have previously attended, I can honestly say that this week has been the single most educational and fulfilling week of my life. None of the pretensions of other superficially prestigious colleges, just a great teacher in Juliet Sargeant, excellently facilitated by Ruth Ellis, resulting in a friendly, happy learning environment. Yet another Plutus recommendation - unless you are going to be competing for business, of course, in which case I can assure you that there is no future in garden design so you best give up now! So, I've completed my first site survey, made my first master and planting plans, created my first mood board, designed my first garden (aside from the space behind my flat that I lovingly refer to as my garden, of course) and made a bunch of new friends. What more can one ask for? The answer... due to the fact that KLC operate out of Hampton Court Palace, it was necessary for all students to apply to the Historic Royal Palaces organisation for security clearance. This security clearance gave us completely free access to all areas of the palace. OK, we didn't have too much time to explore, but being able to pop into the tudor kitchens, royal chapel etc. on the way back from lunch made the experience that little bit better. Thanks to Maurice for the history lessons ;)

No pics this time, unfortunately, as my designs are valuable. I'll be sure to let you know the name and address of my design company, however...

Shaving Horse

So I picked up some logs from my tree surgeon's yard last week. I already had all the tools to get from whole logs to pieces of log (i.e. a log splitter, a sledge hammer and an axe) but getting from rough log sections to workable pieces requires a shaving horse. A shaving horse is simply a bench on which you sit and a cramp to hold wood still while you shape it with a drawknife and spokeshave. There are several websites giving plans and directions such as http://www.greenwoodworking.com/shorse.htm However, in Living Woods Magazine (http://britishwoodworking.com/Living%20Woods.html), Nick Gibbs published instructions to build Mike Abbott's new style horse. To keep costs down, the brief I had set myself was to use up as much of the old wood I had lying around rather than buying in a load of 4x2 as in the magazine. Using a combination of old fence posts from my veranda and random pieces of hard and softwood I threw together my horse in a few hours.
He is a little rickety so I have started refering to him as my shaving donkey, he doesn't have a name yet.

So what advice would I give to people who want to make their own shaving horse? Firstly, there is no substitute for thick wood. You simply can't get the strength when using thinner pieces. Secondly, don't under estimate the strength of your legs. I used a piece of 14mm dowel as my pivot and it snapped immediately. I'm currently using an old piece of copper pipe until I can come up with an alternative. Finally, don't expect it to be perfect first time. My top board, or head, is a little too high. My seat is 50cm from the ground - a comfortable sitting height - and my top board is a further 45 cm from the seat. This creates a slightly unnatural movement and should probably have been nearer 30 cm from the seat as one's arms are stronger nearer your waist than up by your shoulders.

Now to get working on some logs...