To set the scene, my son was nearly a year old, and had started nursery for half a day a week, supposedly to give me a rest, but in fact enabling me to go on a course, at Sheffield Tech. “You might get chatted up” said my cheeky friend Heather, when I announced that I had chosen a cabinetmaking for women course.
I did wonder what to expect, though. Would everyone else be rather ”butch”? I am quite girly myself, so would I fit in? Anyway, what I did find was a very enjoyable hobby class of mainly retired women. They weren’t butch, were very friendly and were mostly well educated (many Oxbridge) and usually great characters, so it was always fun and lively.
The first three items I made were set pieces that we all had to do, to (supposedly) give us the skills to progress onto other things. I began by making a spice rack, although it was never used as such - our only available kitchen wall has a door opening onto it. It is in use in the garage instead now, with my husband’s fossil collection displayed on it. It was relatively straightforward, and I progressed onto the jewellery box quite quickly. At this point, it got a lot harder. I had wanted to whizz through that as quickly as possible and make a box of my own design. I then made a small side table.
The swine!For these last two, I painted a design on them, flowers for the box and autumn leaves for the table. Suddenly I was doing something in two dimensions! This idea originated when I wanted to cover up my slightly botched routing of the corners of the bottom edge of the jewellery box. It needed filler – and it showed. I therefore came up with the idea of some flowering bulbs on the side and top of the box, and fine roots and bulbs underneath. I was pleased with the effect.
I went on to make a telephone unit and a cover for the strawberry urn in the garden (to stop the birds eating the strawberries – and it works). I made the telephone unit a metre tall, to stop my small son interfering with the phone – and it has. We couldn’t find anything like it in the shops, so it made sense to produce my own one. It fits beautifully into the space we have in our small hallway and the “pidgeon holes” for directories etc have proved very useful. I made it in oak, which felt like concrete to work with as I’d only ever used pine before, but it has proved sturdy and childproof, a good choice for anyone with a young family.
No, I am not this clever - I spotted this wooden car in Ilkley, and it has tiger print seat covers and an "I've got a tiger in my tank" sticker on the back window. I would not have been very popular had I tried to make something like this at class! We had limited space. I remember someone making an enormous rabbit hutch once. Soon afterwards, we were asked to restrict the size of our items.
I was taught by Anna Childs, who has taught furniture making and worked with wood for around 20 years. She takes commissions for all sorts of wooden items of furniture http://www.annachilds.co.uk/. Her partner is John Thatcher http://www.johnthatcher.co.uk/. He is a full time craftsman and has been making furniture for over 10 years. His blog http://johnthatcher.blogspot.com/ is highly recommended. They have very different styles, his being more conventional and “classic”. All in all, a very talented couple. Also worth a mention are two of their friends: Finnbarr Lucas http://www.finkfurniture.co.uk/, whom Elizabeth and I visited when he exhibited last year at Sheffield, and Becca Hopkinson, with whom he shares a workshop. I noticed Finbarr and his wife had a young baby and hoped it was well behaved, as sleep deprivation and heavy machinery are not a good combination (as I know from my own experience). Becca was taught by Anna, and began by producing jewellery boxes, but her website shows she also carries out commissions for furniture. http://www.beccahopkinsonbespokedesigns.co.uk/. Roger has a talent for sculptural design, and makes some very clever looking coffee tables which are created from many different layers of wood, seemingly bent round to make a rectangle. You really have to look at his website to see what I mean.
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