Happy Midsummer!
It’s been lovely to meet so many of you at the three shows we’ve been to so far this summer. Suffolk at Easter was a wet and blustery weekend. Makers’ Central was a whirlwind of activity and enthusiasm and Cambridge Town and Country Show was a hot but very rewarding homecoming. We’ve had an overwhelming reaction to the chairs and to the courses and have met so many interesting and enthusiastic people.
We hope to meet many more potential chair makers over the next few months; please pop in to the stand and say hello. There will always be a chair to sit down and take a moment:
- 5th & 6th August Cambridge Country Show, Stow Cum Quy
- 19th & 20th August Framlingham Country Show, Framlingham College
- 25th-28th August Craft in Focus, RHS Hyde Hall, Chelmsford
- 9th & 10th September The Wonder of Wood Fair, Burwash Manor, Cambridge
- 16th & 17th September National Country Show Live, Hylands Park
If you’ve got a favourite show in the East of England that you think we should be at please let us know. We’d love to hear from you.
Workshops
Work on the workshops is going well. The scaffolding is up and the roofers started last week. Once the roofing is finished we can get the bandsaw up and running in the machine room and start setting up the workbenches in the classroom. It’s a very exciting time and we’re well within the timeline we set ourselves to restart classes here in Great Wilbraham next March.
Great Wilbraham
We feel incredibly lucky to have found a house and workshops in a village as lovely as Great Wilbraham. Both of us grew up less than twenty minutes from here so we know the area well but have been reminded what a pretty and welcoming place it is.
When you come on a course there are lots of places nearby to eat and build your energy for more sawing, planing and drilling. Just along the road is The Carpenter’s Arms which gets extremely well reviewed.
New designs
We’ve been working on a couple of new designs for sale rather than for classes and they’re going well. The Wilbraham bench uses square section stock, which is a rarity for us, and has been very well received at shows. The other is a shoe bench which needs a little bit more design work before we put it into production. A narrower seat rail, slightly heavier legs and a little more splay will be apparent in the next version which will be in ash.
If you’d like some input into the design let us know through our Instagram feed. We are going to run a survey about each design change to get your feedback but please feel free to add a comment in our posts.
If you’d like to purchase The Wilbraham do get in touch; we’re going to start work on a small batching August. When the classroom workshop isn’t being used for teaching it will act as a showroom for the designs we have for sale. If you’d like to come and have a look round drop us an email or give us a call: 07778 397328.
Course chairs
In each newsletter we’ll take a look in detail at each of the course chairs and stools we offer. These should give you an in-depth understanding of how we build each piece on a course. Let’s start with the most basic and most popular course: the simple stool
This is the essence of framed or post and rung chairmaking. If you’re looking for an introduction to chairmaking this is the place to start.
Before you come on the course decide what height you’d like your stool to be and let us know. We have three standard sizes: a footstool, a table stool and a counter stool. If you’d like yours to work with a specific height worktop give us a ring and we’ll figure out the appropriate size.
Remember that the bigger it is the more work you’ll need to do. On the counter stool those long legs are a lot of planing and shaving.
Day 1: We’ll plane, shave and scrape the four posts. The shorter the stool the quicker this goes! Then you’ll round the rungs using a dowel maker, drill the mortises and cut the tenons. By the end of day one you’ll have glued your stool together.
Day 2: Seat weaving. You’ll weave a seat from either paper rush, Danish cord or sea grass. You choose the pattern from a range of square weave designs. Please note – you can only weave an envelope weave if you’ve done it before (or you’re prepared for a steep learning curve and potential disappointment!)
As always, if you’re interested in coming on a course please give us a ring (07778 397328) or drop us an email.
Have a lovely summer,
StJohn & Bryony
Good morning Stjohn and Bryony, we met & had a chat about rush weaving at the Hyde Hall event, & I have some extra info for you. Deben Rush Weavers, which was based in the High St, Debenham, & was run by Major Robin Mason. As mentioned, he had some staff on site, but many others worked from home. Sadly he is no longer with us, but my mum tells me that the chap who tried to resurrect the business was John Bullen, of Woodhouse Farm, Occold, Nr Eye, and he is now 89 yrs young and still exchanges Xmas cards with Mum! Mum was pleased to hear that you are keeping the craft alive, as although it was hard work she recalls her time as a rush weaver with much affection, indeed, she still has some hat / pot moulds in the cupboard…! All the best, Stephen
Stephen,it was lovely to meet you. Thanks so much for the details about Deben Rush Weavers. We’re going to find an excuse to go through Debenham next time we’re at that end of Suffolk. It’s lovely that there’s so much enthusiasm for the craft. It really feels like it’s found its way back from the brink.