This is a really great day to get stuck into green woodworking if its your first time. Or even to hone up on skills if you've had a shot before. You are taken through the process from a log, split out, make tenons and mortices shape a seat and sculpt the legs on a shaving horse. Assemble and sit !!
Shave Horse Construction
For those of you wanting to progress your making skills the shaving horse is an essential bit of kit. Come and make your very own work station for use at home or in your woods. It will be the beginning of a wonderful relationship with greenwood !! It's a full-on two day course learning loads more on the way.
Spoon Making
Spoon making has really caught the making imagination of folks recently. This is mostly due to the number of quite excellent spoon carvers practising this dark art. This day course is a great way to make a really practical and beautiful piece of functional work. For complete beginners to more accomplished carvers come for a days carving and craic !
Hedge Chair Weekend
A two day hands on course with time spent looking at construction, materials, design and stability. Learn about timber, technique and traditions in a easy learning, fun doing, friendly environment. Design the chair yourself drawing on the Irish and Scottish vernacular.
Willow Chair Making Day
A great day out in the woods at our community woodland at Wooplaw in Scottish Borders. Coppice the material, "Strip the willow" and construct using a Gypsy nailed technique. This is contemporary rustic in your hands. Make sure it can fit in your transport home !!
Introduction to Pole Lathe Work
We have been asked by so many of our past participants and others to put on a days introduction to using the pole lathe. Splitting out billets and shaping them on the shave horse , before going on the pole lathe. If you can rub your tummy and pat your head at the same time - you can turn wood on this old piece of wood technology.
Wood Prints
We are always coming up with new ideas for courses - as a result of our own developments or comments from our course participants. We have carving courses, giant printmaking days, garden bench construction ... these can all be found on the courses booking page at the link below.
Birds n Bears Carving
We've seen a great resurgence and interest in carving and whittling in the past few years. Whilst many folks have been carving spoons on our courses we thought that some of the cutting stokes and carving techniques could be applied to making bears and birds. Come and spend a day in our workshop garden creating your own "Inuit" style creatures. Lots of knife work and carving technique. Leave them as raw wood or paint them as "spirit totems".