April 28th, 2019

My rather cramped shed

Having woodwork as a hobby has been most enjoyable over the years, but with the opportunity of me having more time available I decided to commit  to trying to expand my knowledge and ability in this field.

I attended a furniture making course and loved it. I decided to try to select more short courses in specific disciplines. I learnt about small furniture making techniques and materials, veneering, box making, veneering, inlaying, and many more things .I realised that my teachers had years and years of experience and so I wasn't going to become an expert over night !

I realised pretty soon that all these courses were well and good and most enjoyable, but what were they preparing me for? I was able to do all these wonderful woodwork things because they had lovely workshops that were fully equipped. I did not. I had a small shed which was rammed with what I thought were the most important machines. unfortunately I did not have anything like the facilities that i was being taught in . I presumed talking to other course members this was not unusual.

I could not see that I would progress my ideas to develop my woodwork skills without some changes.

My plan, was as follows,

~build a new  larger workshop dedicated to making small furniture items
~acquire equipment essential for this purpose
~develop and design some unique small furniture items not available elsewhere
~ spend time practising making them
~explore different avenues of selling my works
~continue attending courses to keep up to date
~build a website and keep records !
​So here goes .....................