Spurtle, spatula and spoons

After having enjoyed making things out of wood for many years now, I'm getting more and more into making various items by using one or two carving tools only. Currently I use my Karesuando 'The Boar' Knife and a recently purchased Ben Orford 'Small Crook Knife'. The Spurtle was obviously turned at this years PSTDC and I bought the little olive wood spoon in Greece this summer. Here is a selection...

Natural History lessons

I feel very privileged to be teaching weekly Natural History lessons to my class and so far, there have been a range of trees, animals, habitats and insects we've been able to get a taster of. This term the pupils and LSAs produced some fantastic artwork which is now framed and ready to be sent home for Christmas. A great class with a great team of staff!

Kefalonia, Greece

We had a fantastic holiday on Kefalonia in Greece this summer! It was hot, we swam loads, explored local life and managed to get a good flavour of this beautiful island. Highlights included visiting Mount Ainos (1628 m.), tasting and buying wine from the local Robola Cooperative, road trips along the stunning coasts including Myrtos Beach and Assos, seeing loggerhead turtles and of course swimming in the sea and our hotel pool! The local tavernas produced some amazing food too... Dare I say it: we'll be back!

Exmoor Pony Centre

Today we visited the  Exmoor Pony Centre  near Dulverton, Exmoor. The centre looks after and works with the rare Exmoor Pony breed and is helping to bring these native ponies back to being a well established breed. Currently, there are approximately 3000 Exmoors worldwide, but numbers were as low as 50 back in 1946! After visiting the centre, we were able to spot part of the 'Anchor Herd' on the moors on the top of Winsford Hill!

River Wye canoeing

We went on a beautiful, fun and relaxing  canoe trip  down the River Wye today. Altogether we were about 40 people, and apart from soaking in the atmosphere and meandering down the river, we went for a swim, enjoyed a riverside pic-nic and we were able to see nature at it's best. In the home straight, we finished off the day with a very wet water fight between all the boats. Everyone loved it, so it'll be up for a repeat, I'm sure...

PSTDC 6 - Pit Forge and Blacksmithing

We just completed the last PSTDC weekend by Pyrites - Living and Learning with Nature  on building a Pit Forge and Blacksmithing. As with the previous weekends, it was again very informative, inspiring and amazing to learn and experience the aspects and skills involved with this craft. Even though my initial ambition was to forge a draw knife, I am glad I learned about forging, hardening and tempering a Bushcraft Knife. As was inevitable, sadly this was the last weekend of the course, but hopefully the course will run again for other people to enjoy! Thank you Bernard and the team!

PSTDC 5 - From Clay to Pot

The fifth PSTDC weekend by Pyrites - Living and Learning with Nature took place the 25th and 26th of May. As always, it was a great success and again very inspiring. The transformation from the landscape giving us clay (or us digging it out rather!) through to firing and glazing was fantastic, not least of all as we were able to experience some of the very dramatic steps involved. A bonus was to be able to camp out whilst the paper-slip kiln was doing it's magic! Bring on the next (and last) weekend!

PSTDC 4 - Green Woodwork

This weekend I attended the fourth of the PSTDC by Pyrites - Living and Learning with Nature. This time we covered Green Woodwork, which involved felling a (Sycamore) tree to start with. Then we got introduced to splitting, side axing, draw knifing and (pole) lathe turning. They were all fantastic processes and some amazing items were produced! Some of us joined in together to make a 'shaving horse'. In addition I also made a 'spurtle' (porridge stirrer!) and two handles for the draw knife I hope to forge in the last module of the course!

Fungi, foraging and folklore

Today we attended a Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust  event on 'Fungi, foraging and folklore' at Lower Woods, near Hawkesbury. Despite the seasonal delay, due to the extended cold snaps in recent months, we still managed to get a nice introduction to spring fungi. It was very nice to discover the Scarlet Elf Cup with it's beautiful red surface, the Wood Ear (which grows mainly on the Elder Tree) and the Turkey Tail (photograph, centre). We also saw the common Cramp Ball (aka King Alfred Cake, great for tinder), the Maze Gill and Hazel Wood Wart. At the end we were shown a fine set of Oyster Mushrooms! All in all it was another lovely day spent in ancient woodlands, with lots of inspirational experiences and new discoveries...

Sugar Loaf, Abergavenny

Today we went up the Sugar Loaf near Abergavenny. It is the southern most mountain of the Black Mountains in Wales, 596m above sea level. As the weather has been pretty cold for this time of year, much to our excitement and surprise, the upper slopes were covered in thick, icy snow! The conditions going up were also fairly extreme with blistering winds and drifts of snow blinding us in between brief sunny spells. Everyone made it to the top where we enjoyed lunch and a quick cup of tea. Afterwards it was a mad dash down the snowy trails with some slipping and sliding! It was a great trip, so we are certainly up for a repeat...

PSTDC 3 - Traditional Willow Basketry

I just finished the third weekend of the PSTDC by Pyrites - Living and Learning with Nature. The unit was about Traditional Willow Basketry, and, as with the first two weekends, it again exceeded all expectations. It was great to be able to immerse myself into the willow craft and be able to combine technical skill, form and shape as well as creative design into making something that's useful and from a sustainable product. Above all, being able to learn about a craft which stems way back into human development was a very humbling experience!

PSTDC 2 - From Skin to Leather

Last weekend we had the second instalment of the PSTDC by Pyrites - Living and Learning with Nature. This time we learned about skinning an animal and the transformation process from hide through to tanning and making leather. It was again fantastic going through each step of the process, despite the freezing conditions. And apart from learning new skills and making a leather knife pouch, I hope to end up with a fox skeleton after the summer once nature has done it's task too!

PSTDC 1 - From Fleece to Felt

Last week I attended the first of six weekends of the 'Practical Skills Teachers Development Course' (PSTDC) which is organised by Pyrites - Living and Learning with Nature. It was based on the transformation process from sheep's wool through to washing, dying, carding and on to felting. Part of the course is how these craft processes help develop our senses and exploring how this has an impact on child development! Very inspiring...