Time out
Posted: Monday, 10 September 2007 |
Sorry. Been away. (Danbury again) When I went it was still summer, I come back ten days later and it is a completely different season, although it is still lighter at night here than Essex. We camp in a wood and the summer camp is playtime (the other times we are doing things for the 'good of the wood' eg coppicing). Whenever we are there we spend an inordinate (good word that) amount of time preparing food, eating food and washing up (that is normally someone else's job). When we first went we ate well but 15 years on we eat like kings. We have discovered the Dutch oven. This is a cast iron pot with short legs and a flat lid with a rim. All you have to do is stand it on a bit of lumpwood charcoal and put a bit more on the lid, and you can cook almost anything. We had blackberry crumble (to be honest we had blackberries with everything), lemon tart, roast chicken, bread everyday, victoria sponge, scones (with just-made blackberry jelly and clotted cream) and goose and venison casserole.
In between breakfast, elevenses, lunch, tea and supper I spent four days catching up on a summer's worth of sleep before being hit by a creative virus. In another life a long time ago (seven years) we made windsor chairs from green wood which stopped when we moved to nearly treeless Coll. But I got this urge to make another rustic chair, and although it got a bit rushed at the end and isn't finished yet I feel unbearably smug.
If there isn't a picture there I've done something wrong. Anyway the chair is chestnut, and the front leg split a bit, and yes, I know chestnut does that, and the seat might be a poplar plank, or I might do something with the sheep shearings, and the knobbly bits where the stretchers go through will be cut back (but will still be proud because I like them like that) but still, I feel ridiculously pleased with myself. Sorry for boring you, sometimes I wondered if all the onion chopping had affected my brain, but if it has I don't care so much now, I am really very pleased with my chair!
Next blog - Why do lobsters go red when cooked.
In between breakfast, elevenses, lunch, tea and supper I spent four days catching up on a summer's worth of sleep before being hit by a creative virus. In another life a long time ago (seven years) we made windsor chairs from green wood which stopped when we moved to nearly treeless Coll. But I got this urge to make another rustic chair, and although it got a bit rushed at the end and isn't finished yet I feel unbearably smug.
If there isn't a picture there I've done something wrong. Anyway the chair is chestnut, and the front leg split a bit, and yes, I know chestnut does that, and the seat might be a poplar plank, or I might do something with the sheep shearings, and the knobbly bits where the stretchers go through will be cut back (but will still be proud because I like them like that) but still, I feel ridiculously pleased with myself. Sorry for boring you, sometimes I wondered if all the onion chopping had affected my brain, but if it has I don't care so much now, I am really very pleased with my chair!
Next blog - Why do lobsters go red when cooked.
Comments
Love the chair. Did you have any formal training in chairmaking? More to the point did you bring material from Essex to make it or did you do it down there? And did you use traditional tools like drawknife, broadaxe and pole lathes? I am quite interested in the old skills and have a lot of admiration for folk who keep them alive, do post a pic of the finished article.
Hyper-Borean from To and froe
They're embarrassed that their wee lobster world has gone to pot? You've every right to be proud of your chair, even if it is lacking a bit in bottom... There's no goose and venison casserole here...it's dry biscuits and water, just pushed through the bars willy nilly.
FC&Marmers from Inn Durance Vile
I am very impressed with your chair. I'm not surprised that you're pleased with yourself! Is it made from freshly cut wood? Will it not warp as it dries out? You could weave a seat from seagrass or rope.
Jill from EK
i know why lobsteres go red, i just cant remember all the technical jargon, i wonder if the tutors in class would be impressed??
trainee chef from Glasgow
wondered when the lobsters were going to appear!!!
a from england
All that in a Dutch oven! Sounds simply scrummy. I somehow don't think onion chopping affects the brain ... just the eyes. The chair is promising ... a cushion perhaps? ... making it completely compatible to sitting in the sun [out of the wind] reading or doing some other nonphysical activity as a reward for the onset of the creative virus.
Plaid from often in the kitchen
To Hyper-Boreal, we went on a Mike Abbott course, got completely hooked on the pole lathe and spent seven years making a living (or a way of life) demonstrating the pole lathe at shows. The move to Coll plus foot and mouth in 2001 made us change direction, and that is the first chair I've made this century. The chestnut comes from the wood, we felled it last Christmas. It was split using an axe and a froe and all the shaping was done with a drawknife. The joints are wedged so as they loosen I can hammer the wedges in further to tighten it up, but it is going to be an outside chair, so a bit of wobble will help on uneven ground.
Nic from Coll
Suspect the lobster tails are going to look really spindly compared to the tails of some cats I could name ...
mjc from NM,USA
Presumably this would be your country seat - and very nice too.
Annie N from the usual
whaddya mean "Annie N"? whatever happened to "B"?
mjc from NM, USA
BN Islander...
Flying Cat from plane speaking
Very nice Nic, yet another talent I didn't know you had.
Caraid from Glasgow
Whazzup, NiconColl? The crab, or the lobster, got your tongue?!
mjc from NM, USA
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