I have a piece of old vine – an old vinho verde vine that used to grow over the veranda and sadly died over the winter.  It makes beautiful bottle stoppers and I have already made a few stoppers form smaller pieces – but the larger piece I have at present is probably about a hundred years old – according to my friend Steve (he should know as he works in the port wine industry).  I am hoping I can make a few small bowls and maybe also carve a piece as well.

I also have a piece of pink ivory – such a beautiful wood, and I have been looking at this piece for a few months now and trying to decide how I should turn it.  It comes from a large trunk I have that was cut down for a road widening scheme in South Africa years ago.

So, watch this space and hopefully you will see some new pieces soon!

I shall be back to my workshop on a fairly regular basis – I hope, so there will also be some turning posts too!

Apple turned green with a rosewood foot - about 1.5 mm thick. (16 cms wide by 5 cms high)

I am not sure where the last three weeks have gone.  This is the time of year with long days and good weather and yet I am so behind with collecting timber that I have to bring back to the workshop.  I can console myself with the fact that I have been planting – everything from a couple of trees to a hedge and tending an ever-growing vegetable garden.  I have been in the workshop, but have been making things that somehow don’t count as they seem to go as fast as I make them and it is the odd turned items that present a challenge that I really enjoy.

Festas in north Portugal

The season of “Festas” is very much here now and that takes time too of course.  And then there is the pleasure of having visitors to stay, which also takes time!

Not the only hoopoe in the garden

It has been on of the most extraordinary springs that I can ever remember for birdsong.  The whole area is exceptionally interesting to anyone with an interest in wildlife, but this year the birdsong has been spectacular.  As well as the Hoopoe above, we have had the real thing in the garden and there is always a wealth of bird-watching to be had even from the garden.  Weeding the vegetables the other night, I  had a White Wagtail beside me, a Black Redstart hopping around nearby, House Sparrows and a couple of Serins all in sight in the garden.  Although the Cuckoos are quiet now, the resident Sparrow Hawk is very much in evidence and we see the odd Goshawk flying by too.  The other night we passed a Wildcat on the road and shortly after that we saw a Genet.  I am pretty sure that the Genets visit the garden too, as I find regular evidence!  The poor dog thinks so too – the early morning olfactory evidence drives him crazy!

Finding Gallery Covas and Logs to Art – Google Maps.

Beautifully marked olive - turned into small bowls, complete with their imperfections (≈ 9 cms wide x 8 cms high)

The same olive bowls - from above

My friends Eunice and Mark at Yavanna have just told me that they have some olive for me too, so I hope to be able to go and collect that in the coming days.  Then Victorinho told me in the bar at lunch time on Sunday that he has some cork oak that has been wind blown – I went to see it and I am just waiting for the grass to dry – it is on a very steep slope and slippery grass and chain saws do not mix!  Victorinho tells me there is an interesting law in Portugal that prohibits the felling of cork oak trees – windblown branches are fine.  If you watch the link above you will see why.

Photograph showing the older cork bark harvested from the trunk of the tree

I read about a new film coming soon which I want everyone to know about – yes, another warning of how we are mistreating the planet, but one that suggests how we can remedy the situation too – it is called The End of the Line and from the trailer it looks very well worth watching.

Wonderful colour in this apple wood - but I fear it may split very badly

It has been difficult to spend time indoors and although the doors have been wide open in the workshop, I have still spent too much time gardening and not enough time turning.  I have had some very lovely apple wood from my friend Gerry, but sadly I fear that I will not be able to use it as well as I would have liked.  I have finished turned some pieces and they have moved very inters tingly, but have also split despite all the care I have taken.  I have also rough turned some pieces and I have more hope for these, but not very high hopes – we shall see.

As with all my wood it came form a tree that had to be cut – it was touching telephone lines.  Even the pink ivory I brought back with me from Mozambique was not cut for timber - in this case, I knew someone who told me about a big tree that was cut when they widened the road near Nelspruit.  It makes getting wood more of a challenge, but it is possible to avoid harvesting rare woods.  I managed to get some reclaimed rosewood like this – they had been used as timbers in a barn and although it is now well seasoned, it still turns beautifully.  My local sawmill also keeps pieces for me that they are unable to saw and the carpenter who made all out wonderful doors and windows even keeps the burls that would have been rubbish for him!

A variety of bottle stoppers - write to me for availability and for bulk orders please.

So, the month of April flew by in a blur of birdsong, gardening, asparagus and starting to organise the workshop, while producing my ever popular bottle stoppers.  Now I have them made in pink ivory, rosewood, orange, local olive, wild olive form South Africa, local vine wood, beech, local oak – well – lots of different woods.  These are always popular with guests to the area – easy to take back and easy to order.  If you see some that you like, let me know – it may still be here or I can probably find one that is similar.

A small (9 cm x w 9 cm) bowl turned from a piece of Jacaranda from South Africa with beautiful "imperfections"

The other day there was a visitor to the gallery who was shocked to pick up one of my bowls and find that there was a hole in the side of the bowl.  I tried to explain that my personal interest was turning strange pieces of wood – wood that is particularly full of character.  

“But things would fall out of it!”  Was the response – and of course, who could argue with that.

Personally I feel that turning a piece of wood should try to expose its unique “watermark” that was locked inside the wood prior to mounting it on the lathe.  Sometimes this means that the bowl does indeed have a hole in it and in that case, things may fall out of it – but so what?  I wonder what proportion of turned bowls are ever used on a regular basis.  Certainly I make bowls to be used – but some are not very functional.  many turners make beautiful hollow forms, bowls, sculptured turnings and they serve no other function than to give pleasure in a visual and tactile way.

One of the things that has always fascinated me has been the incredible abstract beauty that nature provides for us – especially when looked at out of context or in close-up – it was this that led me to photographing mosses and lichens and to the first book I ever (co) authored - all 400 photographs in the Mosses Lichens and Ferns of Northwest North America were lovingly taken – with nose to the subject!