Northern Lights

I managed to finish my challenge for January without too much difficulty, and am feeling happy that I managed it (see previous blog for details!)

The six weeks since my last blog have been very hectic - working to make the CWIF a success again (see the video below), and finishing a couple of chairs and other bits and pieces that have been sitting in the workshop.

I have had all the parts for two Windsor chairs sitting on a shelf waiting for assembly, and a commission for a Captains chair spurred me into action to get the chairs built up by the end of February which I managed just!

The last photo is the northern lights - taken on a woefully old-school compact camera which I steadied by resting it on my lovely wife's head! We spent a weekend away in Iceland to celebrate being together for 25 years, and managed to get lucky with the weather so we could finally see the aurora for the first time. The photo doesn't do them any justice, and after one attempt at photographing them, we simply sat and watched in awe at the spectacle. Worth the two hour wait in sub-zero temperatures.

The next few months see potential for a slightly less manic work schedule, although every time I think this things seem to get busier. I have acquired a stack of beautifully quarter-sawn oak from Austin down in Edale ready to make a large bookcase, so this is the next big job to get on with. There is also the last of the current batch of double bow-backed Windsor chairs all dry fitted together waiting for me to find a quiet few hours when I can take it all to pieces and then glue all 60 joints together. I've never wrestled an octopus, but I reckon it is a good sight easier than gluing one of these up!