Weekend courses:
The weekend course dates for this year are a bit earlier than usual as I'm away a lot in the summer. There's one in April followed by three in May and none in June. I will be in France in June doing some teaching, amongst other things, and I will be the Artist in Residence at the WA Wood Show in Perth, Australia, in August [see below]. July is reserved for catching up with making, preparation for the Australia trip and to make the most of the 'proper' summer that we're all surely owed here in UK following our 'proper' winter. Well - it's only fair!
Spring 2010 course dates:
April 10/11
May 1/2
May 15/16
May 29/30
I offer a maximum of four places per weekend which will be allocated on a strictly first come first served basis - please go to my weekends page for more details.
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One-to-one teaching:
To those who've already done a weekend course with me this newsletter serves as a reminder to consider taking your learning one stage further and book some one-to-one time in 2010. To help make this decision I am offering weekenders £25 off the first day. Click here to read what some who've spent some one-to-one time with me have to say about their experience ... and go here for a review on the UK Workshops Forum.
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Box makers' corner jig:
Anyone who has ever inlaid lines around a box lid, first removing the bulk to width using a table mounted router, will know that it does a great job except for the last few mm of the outsides of the corners. One way or another these have to completed by hand, involving either a wide chisel carefully lined up along the last bit of the routed groove, or perhaps a narrow straight edge and a scalpel. A corner chisel is another option, but even this is sometimes hard to line up exactly - and the magnetic 'guide' that comes with the Veritas version, for example, is far too big, designed as it is for squaring routed hinge cutouts and similar.
Some of you who have already attended one of my courses will have used an early prototype of a jig/guide I'm developing, the final form of which will hugely facilitate this process. Thanks for the feedback from those that have tried it - please email me if you'd be interested in one of these when it's perfected and I can offer a saleable version. And not just for box makers, of course!
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Australia - WA Wood Show:
I will be the Artist in Residence this year at the WA Wood Show in Perth, Western Australia. This runs from Friday August 6th to Sunday August 8th and for me is a welcome repeat of a visit back in 2002. The Fine Wood Work Association
, which hosts the 'Out of the Woods Exhibition' at the show, is organising a special box competition with a first prize of $1000 [2nd, $300 and 3rd $200] which I will be judging. The competition is open to all. For more info see my news pages and go here.
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Australia - other events:
I will be in Australia for most of August and while I'm over I will be doing a number of other workshops. This is likely to include a day at the Australian School of Fine Wood, based in Dwellingup at the wonderful Forest Heritage Centre, pictured above. I will update details of these to my news pages as they are confirmed.
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"Boxes and their makers":
"Boxes and their makers" is a show originated and curated by the Centre for Furniture Craftsmanship in Maine, US, and which opened at their Messler Gallery in September 2009. It features a box of mine, 'LAVA
', shown above, and also features work by Peter Lloyd and Robert Ingham. The show is similar in concept to Celebrating Boxes
, set up by Peter Lloyd and me back in 2001, and runs for the best part of three years. I think it has now moved from the Messler - more info on the show and its expected itinerary can be found here.
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Images from past courses:
I often take photographs during courses, with permission naturally, and when I was putting together the new website last year I requested from some of those photographed that I be allowed to use a few on the site. Everyone was kind enough to agree - but due to computer problems around that time I never got round to emailing my thanks to some of you. So, a big thank you - you might even find a pic of you embedded in this email!
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The new book:
I am regularly asked when the new book will be available and I admit that this has been in the pipeline for a long time! Last year was a difficult one for a number of reasons and as a result there was not much progress - but I am now getting up to full speed and all material is now due for delivery in the autumn. Therefore, all being well, it should be available in spring 2011. The July newsletter will have a lot more info about this - a summary of the projects, new techniques covered and so on. Watch this space ...
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I hope you have enjoyed this newsletter - please feel free to forward it to anyone you think might be interested. Happy box making!
Kind regards, Andrew Crawford.
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