sweet chestnut pollards and a turner in Galicia

This is going to be a rather picture heavy blog post but I hope it is of interest. We'll start with a look at traditional management of the chestnut pollards then visit a museum which was the highlight of my time in Galicia. The scene in the picture below has become unusual in Europe in the last 200 years but in medieval times managing trees this way was very common.


This would be called wood pasture. The trees are cut regularly just above the head height of any grazing livestock and allowed to regrow. It was rarely recorded how they did it in the past and when I worked for the National Trust at Hatfield forest we were reintroducing pollarding and relearning the old skills. Here in Galicia with the chestnuts they do not cut all the top at one go but remove one or two major branches and allow the others to grow on. This ensures that each tree always has a number of branches that are producing chestnuts, it also very much extends the lifespan of the tree. So if you buy Spanish chestnuts this is the sort of ecosystem and way of life you are helping to preserve.


The wood as well as the chestnuts are valuable produce. The limbs that are cut are split to make fencing rails and stakes for vines and all the roofs in the area are made from chestnut poles.




Local fences and gates are simple clench nailed cleft chestnut affairs but they have a lovely feel.



Hinges are simple but hand forged.

Doors frequently made from local sawn chestnut, this one also has hand forged nails.

And the frequently have delightful wooden latches.


Now on to the ethnographic museum, we just called in because we had an hour spare but it was the highlight of the trip. First a huge "shrink pot" that is a hollowed out tree trunk with a base and lid fitted, wasteful of wood but easier than cooperage. I have seen tubs like this in many Eastern European collections but di not expect them in Spain.



Now the biggest bark container I have ever seen. This is for the washing, first put your washing in, then a felt cloth on top filled with wood ash and pour the water over. The ash water mix drips through and helps clean your washing. An almost identical stand at Haddon Hall is described as a carving table and I have always had my doubts.


Then we spotted the spoons, a great collection well presented with tools and a range of designs. I particularly liked the eating spoons bottom right and will be making some copies.


When we came into this room I was very excited, Anna told the museum chap that I was a pole lathe bowlturner, they had heard of my work and he phoned their resident turner Arturo.

We went outside and Arturo arrived to show us his lathe. Now I have seen photos and a video of Arturos work and tried a few times to track him down so it was a wonderful coincidence that brought us together.


As well as bowls he makes a traditional wine jug a highly technical piece of turning on a pole lathe and he does it exceedingly well. Although he is only a part time turner he has been doing it for 24 years since seeing an old man demonstrate the lathe at the museum when he was 16. I was delighted that he had a jug finished that I was able to buy.

Just a shame we arrived just an hour before the museum closed so we had very little time together.

holiday cottage in Galicia,Spain

This post is a plug for Lluis and Anna's rather lovely holiday cottage in the mountains of northern Spain. It is called "Casa dos Artesans" and I will I am sure be returning with the family. It is the perfect spot for a group of folk who don't want the standard beach holiday. If you are into walking, wildlife, craft, wine and local food and culture it is all here. The climate is my idea of perfect, far enough south to be beautifully warm and sunny in the day but with enough altitude to be cool at night. Here is the balcony outside my bedroom.

There are two double bedrooms and a twin. The renovation and decoration are very sympathetic, I love the old pitsawn chestnut floorboards.

The patio area for the evening sun.

And just to show it did rain briefly on the last day I was there this is the south facing front, Lluis and Annas hoome is in the background.




And for a little flavour of the way of life here, there is a comunal washing area in the village square where folk do their washing and hang it out to dry.


Coming back from my morning walk I met the mobile shop.


Many folk come to this area for the wine but the walking, views and natural history are stunning.


And finally a bit more info about my hosts. Anna is English and first went to Galecia in 1989 studying traditional ways of life as part of her MA. In 1995 she spent 6 months traveling and recording traditional craftspeople, many of whom have since died, the record she made is a wonderful document. In 2002 and she finally settled in Galecia with Lluis and concentrated on weaving the traditional Galician folk textiles. Anna makes lovely scarves and I bought one for Nicola, she is particularly interested in natural dying and weaving with natural fibres particularly linen. This is a small version of the traditional Galician farm sack.

Lluis was for 19 years a monk before training as a basketmaker. He has spent a further 19 years learning and teaching the traditional types of basket that were made in Northern Spain specialising in split wood basketry. I took this lovely basket with me on my morning walks, it is made of split sweet chestnut wood so seemed the perfect basket for gathering chestnuts.


Lluis and me tucking into sepia, a Catalonian dish made with potatoes and cuttlefish.

Full details here.

internet marketing for craft course in Galicia

I am back from a fantastic time in Galicia, Spain. I have lots of pictures and some very interesting things to share which will take several posts so I'll start with the thing that paid for the trip which was teaching on a short course on internet marketing for craftspeople.

This is Cristosend Galicia home of Lluis and Anna who organised the course. Their home is the far right building in the photo.


We took over Lluis's basement workshop for the course, it is an old wine cellar dug into the bedrock full of collections of traditional basketry which Lluis uses as his inspiration. I love the clash of technologies, on one side of the room a woven rush rain coat very similar to that worn by Oetzi the iceman and on the other a computer and projector and folk talking about internet marketing. Bronze age meets 21st century.

We did not know the background of the course participants and I was expecting primarily traditional craftspeople but most were contemporary makers who already had websites so we adjusted the content as we went along. It is surprising to me how many people have websites supposedly set up to market their work yet they do not have specific pieces with dimensions, prices and postage costs. Without these basics it is very difficult to buy anything. Even if only one or two pieces have full details it gives us an impression of whether we can afford the work on the site or not.

I talked about my experiences selling over the web, it really would have been better if Nicola had been there as she created my website 12 years ago and keeps it working and up to date as well as doing all the youtube videos and setting me off blogging. Martin provided technical input on how to optimise web presence, all the more impressive was the fact he did so in his third language.


To get the best out of this sort of event you need short bursts of screen watching interspersed with plenty of opportunity to chat and discuss. The lovely informal atmosphere and communal eating worked well.

We broke up regularly for tea and local wine.


I think we could tell how much folk were getting out from the level of animated talk all the time, though to be honest I am not sure what they were talking about.


One of the things that was not planned but everyone asked about was help with craft photography for the web. We set up a range fo craft objects and took a range fo snaps to show the effect of different lighting. First we photographed them outside in direct sun with the sun from behind the camera and then coming from the side. These images were very harsh. Then we moved indoors and set up close to a window but not in direct sunlight, images with light from behind the camera tend to apear flat, light from the side gives shadow and three dimensions. Then we added a reflector (a big sheet of white card) to shine a little light on the left hand side and fill the shadow a little. Finally because we are now working in comparatively low light, the cameras auto settings will choose a slow shutter speed and we may suffer from camera shake giving a blurred image. The ideal would be a tripod but we held the camera firmly stabilising it by resting it on the back of a chair. The images were not perfect but usable and people seemed to find it a useful process.

crafts in Spain

Tonight I set off for Galicia, Spian where I will be staying with friends Anna Champeney and Lluis Grau.

I will be helping them with a seminar on internet marketing for craftspeople. In Spain aparantly few traditional craftspeople have websites though I just checked and internet access levels are not far behind the UK. One of the things I will be suggesting is the use of blogs as a cheap easy and flexible way for non techy people to put their work online. This post is actually just a way of showing them how easy it is, I shall be taking a couple of screenshots to show how it works. So if you would like to see some nice traditional Galician crafts why not post them a message of encouragement here, we will be accessing the site on Sunday.

In the meantime here is Anna with her natural dyed yarn.


And Lluis with his baskets, both are committed to keeping these important elements of Galician culture alive.

new porringers and a new lens

These are some new porringers I turned a while ago and are now dry, oiled and ready to go. I photographed them with a new lens I treated myself to out of my Artisan of the year money. It's a canon 85mm f1.8 for the technically minded but the beauty of it is that it takes great pictures in low light without flash which is what I want when photographing craftspeople at work. It also creates those lovely blurry background photos which are very much the fashion in magazines at the moment.

I have spent most of today in front of the computer preparing two powerpoint presentations for a course on internet marketing for craftspeople which I am speaking at in Spain at the weekend. I get to spend a few days visiting traditional craftspeople there too so hopefully will have some nice pics to share next week.

and the "Artisan of the Year" is.............me!

Yesterday was quite a day. I went to Cliveden House for the Country Living Magazine and Balvenie whisky "Artisan of the Year" awards and was very pleased and more than a little surprised to be named their "Artisan of the Year". Cliveden is very grand, I wished I had parked my van in the gap in the middle here.


Susy Smith Editor of Country Living and the Balvenie folk introducing the awards.


Expectant craftsfolk all feeling a little out of place in the grand surroundings, the day before we were all in our workshops.


My friend Doug Joiner getting the commended award for his work setting up the Horse Loggers Association and training apprentices.


And afterwards there was lots of very special whisky to try but all I could do was sniff and sip as I had to drive home.


I did come home with a nice cheque and a very special £350 bottle of my own though. There is a feature in the November issue of Country Living which is out any day now.

I don't know if it will result in a flood of orders. I have very low stocks of bowls at the moment and have just had two orders for building oak bridges which will keep me busy all winter but hopefully it will bring more publicity to the Heritage Crafts Association too.

making mazers and quaiches

Yesterday was one of those days when the wood just worked beautifully. I cut up a nice labrnum log specially to make a large mazer, the first we have done with a 7" rim. Then I cut up part of a lovely burr maple to make mazers and quaiches. I think they came out really nicely.


It was raining whilst I cut the blanks but fortunately the torential downpours waited for the afternoon whilst I was turning in the workshop.

Here is the big laburnum one, the log.

Rough cut blank.
Turned and finished.


And whilst I had the camera out I did a pic of a laburnum quaich I turned earlier.

Tomorrow I go to Cliveden House for the Artisan of the Year Awards. I am one of four shortlisted craftsfolk for the top award organised by Balvenie whisky and Country Living magazine. I am very frustrated that whilst there will be a special Balvenie whisky tasting I am having to drive since Cliveden is a 5 hour train journey and I need to be home to look after the children.

The best spoon course course yet?

Having been running spoon carving courses for several years now this is the first where we managed three days without a single cut. Carving with knives is perfectly safe if you are careful and learn a specific set of safe efficient cuts. This weekend we ran a developers spooncarving course for folk who had some experience or had been on a previous foundation course.

Everyone was really enthusiastic and seemed to move their skills along nicely.

Where on basic courses we priomarily use straight grained timber for these courses we start to use "crooks" or timber with a kink which gives more shape and strength to a spoon. I spent Thursday gathering crooks.


And here are some spoons.

As with the last developers course on the Sunday when I ofer folk the chance to work on a range of different projects everyone wanted to make a kuksa. These small drinking bowls from the sami culture are delightful to hold in the hand and a joy to make.


As always Nicola's catering was very much appreciated, home made soup always seems to go down well and we get through lots of tea and biscuits.

Over the winter I will be running a trial of a bowlcarving course for just a few folk as guinea pigs to work out how best to pass on the skills of carving bowls like these.