A Woodworker's Son

Just a trio of ghosts to see out Halloween.

These little hand turned ghosts are a really simple project and take very little time.

Maybe I will turn them a little Christmas hat ready for the season!

A tall hollow form 🪵

This beautiful piece of beech wood has been languishing in my workshop due to my 'i'll save that for something special' attitude to nice pieces of wood.

I thought, 'hell to it' and turned a hollowform- slightly taller than my usual ones but I didn't want to waste any of this lovely grain.

It was hard as nails, but delightful to turn.

Any tips on removing left over wax from the crevices?

Italian Inspired hollow form

There was a good number of vessels in this form that we saw in Italy this year. Having seen them everywhere I wanted to make a small homage to them.

Carefully turned from sycamore, coloured with colours and finished with the lacquer.

The rock...

I came across these incredible rock tables a little while ago by and haven't stopped thinking about the skill and creativity in them.

It gave me the idea of elevating a turned hollow form from a rock using brass wire. The channel was carved using my .

Although it is more soldering than welding, wrapping it around the rock was surprisingly difficult and a great challenge.

The hollowform is padauk and the rock is...a rock.

Cotton tied hollow form

I wanted to play with the idea of being tied to what is expected with the realm of woodturning as an experiment.

I've always aimed to stray from the norm and have enjoyed being a little more abstract rather than traditional. That being said, I quite literally tied up a sycamore hollowform, carved to look like a squeezed balloon.

Again, I think it has potential.

Power carved with my and wrapped in neon cotton.

Plane hollowform

I wasn't happy with the original shape of this hollow form so I strapped it back on the lathe and focused on the form using the golden ratio.

It took a little longer than usual and it wasn't quite perfect but I felt the wood deserved the attention.

The wood grain is incredible, especially on the top!!

An elegant, shallow bowl

I think this may be sapele or pear, but still not too sure still?!

I love turning this form on shallow bowls as it lifts the piece up. Once turned, I finished it with a matt wax that adds warmth to the wood rather than a high gloss finish.

Marquetry concept.

I have a new obsession and need your thoughts. I caught a 60 second documentary on an amazing artist skilled in straw marquetry . It's time consuming but has this beautiful, almost iridescent quality. I want to incorporate it into my turning and this is my first go. A simple wood-turned bowl, with orange dyed rye straw marquetry top.

I think it has potential, what do you think?

Wood-turned air plant holder.

After lots of wrong guesses, here is my proof of concept. I love weird plants and wanted an interesting way of displaying them - this was my idea.

I used a bit of sycamore and spalted birch (I think) to turn cone-like shells for them to sit in.

It would be great to get your thoughts.

'just one more pass...'

I love turning hollow forms but they are a hard beast to tame.

I have turned a couple now that I'm super proud of but sometimes I get too cocky and go for the 'just one more pass' and have a success rate of 60%!

Even with home made measuring jigs I often just go through the wall and end up with a bowl.

What are your best hollow turning tips?

The last zebrano bowl

I don't have much exotic wood in the shop, partly due to cost and sustainability issues. I was lucky enough to be gifted these some time ago and enjoyed turning a delicate bowl with a crisp foot to raise it up.

Although much straighter grain than the first it's a beautiful mixture of tones.

Carefully turned on my herald and finished with wax for a light sheen.

A lovely nest of spalted bowls.

These bowl blanks were all from the Glastonbury area and carefully turned to save as much of the wood as possible.

The lower one has 3 tiny feet carved into it to elevate the form.

I'm currently trying to build up a little collection of pieces to send out into the wild :)

The shallow ash bowl

Every now and again I find a beautiful grain hidden in a blank and this was a beauty of a find.

Carefully turned on the lathe and finished with a subtle sheen so the grain pops. I turned a small foot to elevate it slightly and added a little contrast with the burnt rim.

The incense holder

I've got a number of smaller blanks that I struggle to do anything with. This week I didn't have a huge amount of time so I decided to turn a simple incense holder out of a beautiful piece of mahogany.

It's finished with diamond wax polish for a lovely high sheen.

What are your go to projects for smaller/shallower blanks?

A miniature bonsai sculpture

It's taken a little time but here is a mini version of the egg bonsai sculpture.

What should I miniaturise next?

Burnt oak bowl

Finally got in the workshop and spent some time turning. Decided to add a little contrast by burning the edge and polishing with wire wool.

Handcrafted with love and precision.

What do you think of the grain pattern/contrast? 🌳✨

Pole lathe!

My lovely wife got me a day in the woods learning to use a pole lathe. If you have never tried it, it is well worth it, it's an incredibly rewarding experience. Especially when you nail all the movements.

Thanks to for the great day

Another neon experiment!

Still haven't figured out the angled lines though!

What shape next?!

A zebrano bowl

I don't know how I feel about exotic words due to the 'sustainability' problem that inherently comes with them but can't deny the beauty within them.

What are your thoughts on exotic wood?

Happy 8th birthday!

I realised a little while ago that my woodturning 8 year birthday was coming up and I needed to mark the occasion.

I decided to turn a little cartoon cake after being inspired by a baking trend!

Thanks to everyone who gets in touch or shares a kind word, it really means a lot!

Neon cotton experiment!

As part of maker exchange I was given the wonderful to turn a gift for. Given her crochet skills, I wanted to incorporate fabric of some sort. I went for this great neon cotton that really pops next to the black.

What do you think?
Any ideas on how I could cut the channels around at different angles?

A wire experiment

Thanks so much for your feedback on the last wire experiment. With this one I aimed to follow the form of a hollow piece with the wire. It's not quite where I'd like it though.

Any tips on getting uniform shapes in wire?

The wavey rim!

Here's my latest experiment with the Max series. For this I used the drill/sanding bit to carve a wavey rim- it's equivalent to a 60 grit so it made short work of the wood. This is practise for a much larger hollow form I have in mind.

I think it has potential - what are your thoughts?

The first bowl!

I love introducing people to woodturning and will take any opportunity to do so. Last weekend was Matt's turn. This is his first bowl - made from a beautiful piece of spalted birch. What a beaut!

What other things did people turn first?

Work in progress!

Trying to incorporate different materials in my pieces - this is a tester piece with a kind of weaved wire rim. I'm not too sure about it

What do you think?!

Check out those bowties...

A spalted beech hollow form with some incredible colours. There was a big crack coming through the bottom which called for some bowties.

Made for my lovely in laws and finished with matte wax. Even though it was quite dry, you can see a slight warp on the rim.

Ouch!

The skew is a hard beast to tame!

Be safe when using a skew for this month's

This guy has seen better days :(

February challenge

This February is all about kindness. We are so privileged to be able to create beautiful things and it's an honour to make something for someone else.

This month's challenge is to 'turn something for someone else'. I've started with this wire brushed ash bowl for a friend.

If you're struggling to find someone, is trying to reach a massive 1000 wands for an incredible project at - check out his feed for more details on this wonderful mission.

All you need to do is post and tag , and use the and you'll be in for a chance to win!!

A Japanese inspired, wire brushed ash bowl.

I kept the inside smooth for a little contrast. Thanks
for the inspiration.

A wand, with changeable spells!

Here's a first for me; a turned wand with special spells that can be added to the end of the wand!

Just what every young wizard needs!