The Return of Posting and New Boxes.

I have been remiss in not posting for some time. This absence is not because I lack topics to share or have been deflected from my compulsion to make boxes. On the contrary, I have continued making, experimenting, and have become even more self-critical of what I make.
The past period of hardship, disfunction and stramash which we all endured, sadly continuing unabated, caused me to desist because of relevance or, to be correct, the absence of relevance. That said, I now need to “reboot” and recommence my journal entries. You may not have any great desire or need to read them, but I do have a need to write them.

Five boxes, recently completed, have been added to the picture gallery. Others will follow.

Finally, I am still hopeful that someone from Ashburn, South Virginia, will eventually make contact.

Bleaching and Blasting.

With the benign disruption of the festive season well behind us I have been trialling a two processes which could be applicable to box body crafting, bleaching and grit blasting.

Bleaching;- Whilst I do believe that any wood should normally be left “as is”, the enhancement of “white” species by bleaching can be beneficial without changing the timber`s character, After much fruitless experimentation I have settled on a bleaching process which suits my ends. Of the timber species so far tested , three are considered worthy of pursuing further, sycamore, holly and rhododendron. Sycamore, however, is showing to be a clear favourite due to the chatoyant reflectance it already exhibits being much enhanced by bleaching. This in combination with blackwood, and accents of silver, provides the visual contrasts I am always .seeking. Two such boxes are nearing completion and images will be posted soon.

Grit blasting:- Some woods, especially burrs, are not presented to best effect with a high polish finish, this mainly due to the slight and capricious surface changes which nearly always occur over a period of time. A high polish accentuates these slight changes whereas a matt finish does not. Wet sanding can achieve a matt surface finish but will show striations in the direction of sanding. To achieve true matting I first create a polished surface and then degrade it uniformly by blasting with aluminium oxide grit using a “mini” air blasting system. The results so far are very promising.

Latest boxes, Fence post and Next.

Boxes
I have just completed a group of boxes, now in a fourth gallery; 149 to 156. These were in making for about six weeks, although preparatory work dated back several years in some instances.

Fence post
These latest images were taken in direct sunlight on a weathered fence post situated part way up the hill behind our cottage. It is not an exceptional post but it does suit how i want to present the boxes; my intention is to acquire it, with the shepherds permission, and re-site it in different locations on the hill to show other aspects and changing seasons. The post will be constant and help to give a sense of scale.

Next work
The next boxes in making are:-
(1) Pippy yew: This I cut and prepared five years ago. With such wood the “pippy” effect is normally on one side only and, therefore, the remaining surface must have a comparably interesting grain pattern for an all round balanced presentation, which this example has.
(2) Kingwood. For me this is particularly exciting because I have managed to obtain what must be one of the very few remaining kingwood logs available in the UK. Having it in log form is important because it allows me to show the chevron effect achieved by cutting the turning blanks slightly cross grain.
(3) Cocobolo: This also excites me because this blank was cut from a block estimated to have been maturing for probably fifty years. Whilst purporting to be Mexican cocobolo the cut surface has the dense black/red appearance typical of some aged bois de rose. It is obviously wishful thinking that it could actually be the latter, now of great rarity, but I can dream.

Danish burr
My brother in Denmark has, after much searching, found a silver birch tree with burrs. Although these will be the same as the ones I cut locally for making cabochon “stones”, The Viking connection adds an indefinable cachet, at least to me.

Final thought
Having read through this, how sad it may seem that I am raised to a level of excitement by two bits of wood a Danish burr and a fence post. Such is the life of a Scottish hill dwelling wood turner.

Autumn, Squirrels update and boxes.

Autumn has somehow sneaked back, with scant notification. Ill preparedness means that Winter firewood has to be brought down from the hill behind us, the grass/moss/weed areas need a final cut, our uphill water collection tank is overdue desludging and my implausibly large dry stane wall still has to be completed. All of this, in due course, followed by the major operation of Autumn leaf fall disposal. All part of country life.

The red squirrels are thriving and any interloping grey squirrels are being successfully “dissuaded”. This is, sadly, vital for the continuing recovery of the indigenous red population. Today I made a salutary calculation, the Myretoun squirrels are consuming/burying around 1.5kg of peanuts daily which, if continued, would amount to half a tonne annually. Food for thought , and re-assessment of the household budget.

I am currently working on a dozen boxes simultaneously, some of which are, hopefully, destined for a fourth gallery in the next few weeks. These cover a range of timbers; including ziricote, cocobolo, spalted beech, quilted sapele, kingwood and macassar ebony. Design simplicity to highlight the body timber is the continuing theme, with inset silver banding and finial discs where appropriate. Images of these will appear on the website soon. Every website viewing is heartening and appreciated and I would be delighted to correspond with anyone who has a question about my work. I am particularly intrigued by the number of “hits” from Ashburn, Virginia in the United States..

Website upgrade.

The somewhat “creaking” website has been updated and upgraded, and is set fair for showing what I am now doing. In particular, the images posted of ongoing work will be timely and have uniformity of presentation. I must apologise for some of the recent photographs on the inventory page being shown incomplete; the result of my ill conceived attempt at adjustment without the knowledge to do so, with unfortunate conseuences. All is now well, however, as I hope you can see from the most recent entries. Each box I make now has a small pewter disc, imprinted with my logo, inset on the base. This could be considered a conceit, but is actually the result of strong recommendation, from a box recipient in Denmark, that each item should be permanently marked with a logo. Not wishing to ignore the high esteem in which Danish design is held, the logo was introduced, each disc hand made by me.

Christmas endeavours.

Since my last posting the pandemic has increased in it`s intensity, to a degree which has necessitated near isolation for the Myretoun. As “live” Christmas shopping was not possible, and on-line shopping unappealing, I have been making gifts in house, as an additional Santa`s helper. Below are the results of my enjoyable labours. One pendant ,my first, was made 40 years ago, but all the other gifts were made over the last few weeks. My absolute principle of not applying any component part unless hand made by me is slightly dented by this image.. The two over shiny silver chains are not mine; machine made chains seldom suit hand made artefacts. These two will be replaced by hand made ones in due course. Making a chain is satisfying but laborious; every link has to be silver soldered individually. That said, my conscience is salved by temporary Christmas necessity, and the knowledge that everything else was hand made by me , for better or worse.

Photographs of the last boxes made have still to be posted, due to Covid intrusion, but should be entered on the website soon.

I thank everyone who has taken the trouble to spend any time on my website during 2020 and say again that contact is absolutely encouraged.

Heartfelt best wishes for 2021.

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Wildlife, Scatology and Photography.

As progress towards “normality” has suffered a reversal the Myretoun is hunkering down. The natural world surrounding us has always been valued, but now even more so. There is a rich abundance of wildlife about us, all viewed within a few yards of our living area. This morning was typical, over a short period we were visited by:-red squirrels, pheasants, red legged partridges, jackdaws, magpies, wood pigeons, feral pigeons, chaffinches, nuthatches, blue tits, great tits, coal tits, hedge sparrows, a tree creeper, a great spotted woodpecker, a robin, (which flies to my hand to feed) a friendly rabbit and a hen which visits daily to feed.

We are now proud custodians of a badger latrine; this immediately outside our back door. It was dug just beyond a retaining wall cut into the hillside and, therefore, I can look directly into it without bending. This may be the most readily accessible and easily viewed such latrine in the country. Forensic examination was carried out with ease and I can say that the contents were impressive.

I have purchased a “real” camera, mainly for the purpose of taking my own photographs of boxes made. Thus begins the ascent of yet another steep learning curve for my analogue brain to cope with. So far I have not dared to venture out-with the comfort of auto mode, and may never do so. Having taken photographs of the last eight boxes made (alfresco) I find that I am incapable of adding them to the box inventory at this time, but hope to be able to do so soon.

Any comments relating will be very welcome, especially from Squarespace aficionados.

FINISHING AND RED SQUIRRELS

Now that the “new normal” has, tentatively, begun to emerge, I have seriously re-engaged with my workshop. That said, in the interim, I have carried out much experimentation and trial detailing, especially with box body and “stone” treatment and finishing. This work has only affirmed that what I am passionate about, true hand crafting, cannot be subject to shortcuts if pleasing and sympathetic end results are to be achieved.

The FINISH for each box must be individual; a polished surface, essential on some, may look garish and inappropriate on others. Cyanoacrylate, though unforgiving in application, is still I believe, the best surface treatment by far, be it highly polished, matt, or somewhere in between.

With “STONES” there absolutely can be no shortcuts. I have settled on a laborious eleven stage manual polishing process; best carried out with gentle background music. ( Classic FM output generally suits well.)

Eight boxes have recently been completed. Four have gone to the Lael gallery in Ullapool and the others to the Athol gallery in Dunkeld. All have “stones” set in silver and inset hallmarked silver banding. Only you can judge if I have achieved the “pleasing and sympathetic” end result sought.

Nature Note:- The Myretoun is now home to resident red squirrels; this after an absence of several decades.

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CORONAVIRUS AND DOMESTIC

The absence of journal updates is due to the all pervading pandemic, which none of us can escape. It would be a conceit on my part to post “making meanderings” when such things are of scant significance in the midst of this dystopian period in our lives. Like many others, our household has been in lockdown since the beginning of the pandemic. In our case isolation is not the hardship borne by so many others. Living on the foothills of the Ochil Hills means we are fortunate in being able to be outside and still out of contact with others. Restricted activity does not apply, my time has been taken up by attending to the many domestic matters which have long languished undone and, in lockdown, cannot be escaped.

What I would take great pleasure in would be to have contact with anyone out there who visits my site and who wishes to ask any question relating to it, or even just to say “hello.”

Best wishes in this difficult time.

"Stones" and video.

Stones

Box 124 - Cocobolo

Box 124 - Cocobolo

I have continued to experiment with base woods, cyanoacrylate application and hand finishing and polishing, and have reached what I believe to be best practice for my hand production methods. Spalted holly and silver birch burr both give good results, though the latter has the added factor of a degree of chatoyancy under strong light. Hawthorn also has promise but I have yet to find an example with suitable spalting for small scale use. Blue colouration gives the most sympathetic results, especially where yellow tints within the wood blank convert to subtle and natural looking shades of green. I have stopped trying to be artistic with colour; nature does it so much better. Cocobolo/blackwood/blue “stone” with silver is my favourite combination so far. Box number 124 is a typical example of this.

Video

My Danish/Scottish nephew from Copenhagen, an aspiring videographer, has recently finished editing his recording of me making a box, about two years ago. The resulting video is available to view as below. Do not expect a film star performance and please excuse the random muttering.

Wooden "Stones"

I had intended to enter regular monthly or bi-monthly postings but my apprehension with the “mechanics” of doing so, together with the intrusion of home and garden maintenance has given me a ready excuse to lapse. Future postings should be as intended but, that said, I do not know if anyone out there in the ether will read them; finding the website without the domain name seems to be a matter of extreme luck. Should anyone actually do so, I would be delighted to hear how they stumbled upon the site, with a brief email.

In the interim, experimenting, wood sourcing and development of technique have gone on unabated. (Obsessively, by my wife`s judgement.)

Timber;- I am gratified that the, so called, exotic timbers are increasingly difficult to source, hopefully the consequence of measures against indiscriminate extraction and exportation having effect. Equally important in reinforcing the vital legislation is our moral responsibility when sourcing wood.

New stock;- I have been fortunate in being able to buy some old “stashes” of timber, mainly from Scottish turners who have retired from their craft. (1) two separate lots of Mexican cocobolo, each held in stock for at least 15 years. I do not expect to find better; the colour is particularly rich. (2) Some excellent 3 inch African blackwood squares; again, old stock and end waxed only, a lucky find. (3) A large slab of old stock laburnum. (4) One 3 inch cylinder of superb Gabon ebony forgotten for a decade.

Other;- A great deal of time has been spent experimenting with, and now making, cabochon “stones” from small silver birch burrs and suitable spalted wood. These will be set in silver on box tops. I am also making similar settings with mother of pearl by fashioning shallow cabochons. Additionally, I have cut and polished two finely banded agate cabochons ; these from a single nodule I dug from a site in the Ochil Hills.

Goldfield burrs and spalted beech.

This has been a long time in its fraught evolution but, thankfully, the Myretoun Wood website is now operational; I do hope you find it readable and of some interest. My intention is to post a regular journal (not a blog) giving some detail of what I am currently making, any new or notable timbers and general matters relating to my work which I think worthy of comment.

GOLDFIELD BURRS:- Last year I sourced a selection of eucalyptus burrs, directly from a burr hunter in South West Australia; so-called goldfield burrs. These were rough turned in the “green” state and allowed to “dry” and stabilise for six months before the final stages of box production. A group of boxes showing the range of burr colours was completed a few weeks ago and these are now in the Atholl Gallery in Dunkeld. The finish on all of these boxes is, deliberately, mid polish only; high gloss on such “busy” wood does not look good. All are finished with cyanoacrylate and waxed.

SPALTED BEECH:- I am currently working on a group of boxes made with spalted beech which, hopefully, will be part of a small display in the Perth art festival marquee during May. These all come from a very large local tree, felled around ten years ago, from which I am allowed to remove slices. Because the best fungal patterns produced within the wood result in those areas becoming softer than the unaffected wood, all selected pieces have been stabilised to harden them. Each one of these will have an outer shell of spalted beech with an inner shell of holly bonded to it. As with the burr boxes these will not be highly polished.

Other:- Both of these entries should have accompanying images but my computing capability has not yet reached that skill level. This will be rectified soon. The goldfield burr boxes can be viewed individually under “boxes.”

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:- With thanks to Alan McGregor without whose patience this website would not have been completed.