Steve Tomlin Crafts

At the beginning of the month I was invited to the Royal Warrantholders Annual Luncheon to receive my award as a Queen Elizabeth Craft Scholar and present my work in the Hilton Hotel on Park Lane in London. QEST is the charitable arm of the Royal Warrantholders Association so this is a chance for the members to meet this years scholars and see the fruits of their funding.

It was a long day but lots of fun and brilliant for me to meet the other scholars and see their work which covers a huge range of different crafts. The standard of work is extremely high and everyone there is passionate about what they do. Follow the link to find out more about this years QEST scholars.

After setting up our displays and receiving our certificates from the President, Jenifer Emery we sat down to a fantastic luncheon in the Hilton’s ballroom. The lamb was delicious and we were well look-after by our friendly and knowledgeable wine waiter!

I had the extra pleasure of being seated next to Jenny Connolly whose family generously sponsored my scholarship as part of a trust set up in memory of their son Adam, also a talented woodworker.

I’m teaching loads of courses at the moment (woodworking or scything) which is getting me out and about around the area. Over the bank holiday I went up to Dalbeattie at the request of Gavin Phillips to teach spoon carving at his Shed Therapy centre.

Lots of fun and laughter, particularly as I decided to let the group give names for the different knife techniques I was teaching to make them more memorable. Some of the names were very inventive!

Cecilia came along with her mum who came in to see what we were up to and ended up with a knife in her hand. She’d arrived just as we were learning the ‘tit push’ (more usually ‘chest expander’) cut which is one of the more difficult grasps to learn but she did a fine job with it before heading back outside to the sunshine.

We progressed through axe techniques, straight knife grips and hollowing with the hook tool before we got on to carving spoons on sunday afternoon. There was still enough time for us to talk about sharpening and look at tool edges and the effects of different sharpening methods under the microscope.

It was a glorious weekend and a lovely way to spend it with good company; the scenery on the drive home made me wish I’d brought my running shoes.

I’ve had a brilliant day teaching a group how to make fan birds. This is the third time I’ve taught fan bird carving at my workshop in Cumbria and I’ve made some modifications to the way I teach which really paid off.

The course was full which meant stocking up on extra tools for everyone and gave me the opportunity to make some new knives for splitting the feathers which worked really well. Extra wide chisels also made cutting the notches easier while the piece of larch I bought for the course was a dream, splitting almost on its own into billets.

Half of the group were complete beginners to woodworking which I really like as they can learn to work wood without dust or the use of machine tools. Jim, a forester from Perth, came especially to get away from the usual noise of his work.

With this course we work through each of the stages together and I demonstrate the cuts along with the important features of the finished shape. By the afternoon we were splitting feathers and, once the body was carved it was time to spread the wings. After making so many fan birds, I’ve got a lot of confidence in how far the feathers will bend but for beginners it’s a nervous time as the culmination of their work. This is the magic of fan birds and the thing that made me want to make them myself so it’s a great reminder for me of that trepidation and wonder.

We ended up with some terrific birds, a testimony to good work from the group and I got some new ideas of ways to make the course even better for next time.

I have been invited teach a spoon carving course in Dalbeattie on 25 & 26 May 2013. With my recent trip to Sweden I’m full of ideas and inspiration on spoon carving and really enjoying my own carving as well as the recent teaching I’ve been doing. Whatever level you’re at, I can offer exercises and advice to stretch you and progress your carving. Hope to see you there.

The two-day workshop is offered at the special price of £100.
Only  6 places - call Gavin on 01556 611380 or gavin.phillips@virgin.net

To read about previous courses visit stevetomlincrafts.wordpress.com/courses

Spend the weekend with professional spooncarver Steve Tomlin and learn the techniques of carving with axe and knives on this fun and inspiring workshop.

All tools & materials supplied

You will learn

·         How to select wood for carving spoons

·         Splitting blanks from branches and larger timber

·         Using an axe for fast, efficient carving

·         the 5 most important knife carving techniques

·         Hollowing the bowl with a hooked knife

·         Safe methods of working

The focus on this course is building skills so that you take home much more than just your completed spoon. You will learn a set of skills which are the foundation of any greenwood working and will enable you to go on carving on your own.

Steve Tomlin has been a professional greenwood worker for 10 years and is an internationally respected carver. In 2013 he was awarded a Queen Elizabeth Scholarship in recognition of his skills and spent 4 weeks working one-to-one with master spoon carver Fritiof Runhall in Sweden. As well as selling and demonstrating his craft at shows around the country, Steve has taught dozens of people how to carve on his lively and engaging courses.

Spoon carving is an engaging pastime which is accessible to all, requiring only a small toolkit and easily-found materials. It makes an ideal introduction to woodworking for beginners while the design elements and particular skills will engage more experienced woodworkers.

The two-day workshop is offered at the special price of £100.
Only  6 places - call Gavin on 01556 611380 or gavin.phillips@virgin.net

I arrived back from Sweden last thursday and was straight off to the Woodland Skills Centre in North Wales to teach a spoon carving course for the weekend.

They were a lovely bunch of folk and it’s always a pleasure to teach a group who are so keen to learn. As always we focused on developing and practising the different carving techniques using the axe and knives and made small projects along the way to the spoon carving on sunday.  My skills with my left hand have been improving over the last year which came in useful for demonstrating as both Justin and Simon were working left-handed. It’s much easier for beginners to see and understand how the grips are used when it’s presented in the same orientation that they’re using.

Sunday afternoon is my favourite part when the group teaching ends and everyone has time to work on their own spoons. The silence was deafening as they all concentrated on the work and I kept an eye on things, offering advice or reminding them of a technique as required. We also looked at various sharpening equipment and methods specific to spoon carving tools.

Everyone did a great job and went home very proud of their new spoon.