OUR EXHIBITION WOOL WOOD PORCELAIN & PAINT

 

As things start to open up again 

We are thrilled to be finally able to bring you our new exhibition at Quarr Abbey.

We will be open from Thursday 22nd April to 4th May 10.30 to 4pm each day.

If you are on the Island we hope you can pop along to see us. Quarr Abbey is a wonderful venue, plenty to see and do.

 Here is a link to their website.

Quarr Abbey – Monastery | Farm Shop | Tearoom

We have been exhibiting and selling our craft from this beautiful gallery for over a decade now. 

In the past we have held "Open Studios" events and every year our "Christmas Crafts at Quarr"

show. It will be so lovely to hold this latest event in the Springtime especially as its been such a long wait to be able to open due to Covid restrictions.

Now with covid secure procedures in place we welcome you.

Wright Turned Wood Turning

I'm pleased to introduce a blog post from WrightTurned at Woollen Tree. Peter will be joining us here with wood turning projects. 

This first post is all about, well I'll let him tell you

 Improving Dust Collection System

With my recent upgrade to a Record Power Coronet Envoy Lathe I have been reorganising my “workshop” to try and make it more efficient. I say workshop, but it is really my garage, and things are arranged such that work surfaces collapse and the bandsaw and other equipment all slot away to allow the car to fit back in the garage when needed (although since retirement, the tendency is to leave the workshop set up for woodturning more often than not!).

One of pieces of equipment I have never been comfortable with is my dust collection system; its not the actual equipment (Record Power Cam Vac), but how to arrange/ secure the 100mm dia flexible hose. Because this new lathe has a swivel head I need to be able to adjust the position of the hose to best suit where the work is.

Here a few shots to show how I need to position the hose when turning or sanding with the lathe head either in line, at an angle or fully rotated through 90 degrees

I had previously made a Heath-Robinson stand to support the hose, but it was never very stable and was more trouble than it was worth.

So I started looking at proprietary equipment that wasn’t too expensive and offered the flexibility I was after.

There are lots of angle poise type stands and other flexible stands on the market designed to hold smart phones or tablets etc, and I was tempted by some of these; but I was worried these would not be robust enough to support hose (its reasonably heavy, and the construction makes it act like an extended spring).

So I opted for an articulated bracket designed for a portable TV, which I was sure I could adapt to suit the hose.

Here is the TV bracket kit and it partially assembled.

I now had to devise a way to mount the bracket while giving me as wide a range of coverage as I could get. The Record Power Coronet Envoy has a built-in shelf under the lathe bed that I had hoped to make use of, but unfortunately it wasn’t the right height. But a couple of bits of timber screwed to the wall and an adjacent shelf worked out fine.

Then to attach the hose to the bracketry I bolted the plate designed to mount the TV directly to the dust collection hood, this could then be slotted on to the articulated bracket:

Now the articulated arms of the bracket together with the ability to tilt the angle of the hood, and the up & down adjustments of the whole arm means I can now position the hose to suit the majority of my turning positions.

And it has provided a suitable place for me to mount my magnetic lamp.

Unfortunately, the arm is not long enough to position the hose when I have the lathe head fully rotated through 90 degrees; but it is simple enough to unclip the hose and hood from the bracketry, which then allows me to route the hose across the lathe bed and support it on the redundant banjo/ tool rest.

So all in all a satisfactory result

Now I just need to go and make something else on the lathe!

 

Our YouTube Channel

New and exciting things are happening at Woollen Tree

We are pleased to announce we have our own Youtube channel

It's very early days and we have uploaded a short video on Saori Weaving Cloth as a taster.

here is the link 

Woollen Tree - YouTube

We have so many ideas and plans for this new venture.

 Please  click the Subscribe/like/comment buttons on the site to increase our presence there and help our little  Woollen Tree to grow. thank you.

It will be good to share our skills, experience and passion for our work and I hope you will enjoy tuning in and discovering more of what we do in weaving, spinning, dyeing, knitting and wood turnery.

Of course it is a whole new learning curve for us in photography and film making! luckily we have two sons who know a lot more about tech than us, so we will be seeking their help as much as we can.

There will be more videos there just as soon as we have them ready Enjoy!

 

Saori Scarves- Rock Pool Inspired

This is what became of my "warp of possibility" from last month's blog post!

I thoroughly enjoyed dipping into my hand spun and hand dyed yarns to weave two scarves on the warp I had made and put on my Saori Loom.

My inspiration for these pieces was the magic and mystery of Rock Pools. The many colours and creatures you find at low tide tucked away in these little pools of wonder.

I shall be adding these scarves to our Etsy and Folksy shops for you to purchase.

Wood and Wool Naturally Hand Crafted by WoollenTree on Etsy

Sue Wright Handknits- SWH and WT at Woollen Tree on Folksy

I hope you will enjoy wearing them, they are so lovely and soft with a wonderful drape and with so many natural colours in the weave!

Although being hand woven over the same warp each scarf is subtly different and completely unique as I have woven them in a free style Saori way and used my own hand spun yarns along with wools, cotton and silk from my stash.

 

Cast On, Warp of Possibility.

Back Roller Beamed

Winding a warp for my Saori Loom is always lots of fun. I love the way I can be completely free with my creativity. I selected some wool yarn from my stash and put them in a basket ready to make my warp. 

All the colours reminded me of happy days on the beach, looking closely at the rock pools, studying the sealife that lives in the warm shallows as the tide retreats.

It is a whole miniature world of beauty and mystery. When I started winding the warp I used "two threads in the hand" and mixed the different balls of yarn together in a random way. The hues and tones blended and became a gorgeous combination of woolly goodness!

Lease sticks for the cross

Warp ends on raddle, ready to thread heddles and sley reed

So now I have a Warp of Possibility!

It is completely unique. It awaits - calling me to come and weave.

My inspiration comes from those little rock pools, my next selection of yarn for the weaving will again be taken from my stash.

Just think all this is within my loom room a place to escape, imagine and smile fondly at happy memories to help me through the cold January days in Lockdown. 

 

Safe Harbour

Here we are at the end of the year. 2020 has been a year like no other all across the world.

We are all in the same Storm but are in different Boats

When sailors are weathering a storm we cling to the knowledge that it will pass and a new dawn and blue still waters will return, So stand firm and steadfastly sail your little boat making good decisions as you navigate through all that comes your way.

Safe Waters 

And Harbour's Rest

Thank you to all our customers this year, You have made it possible  for our creative business-

~Woollen Tree~

to continue to grow.

Wishing you all a Safe and Healthy Christmas and New Year.

 

A Little Different This Year...

A View of Quarr Abbey Bell Tower and Lovely old Tree Stump

Usually a this time of year I am telling you all about our  Exhibition and Christmas Craft Show at Quarr Abbey, but unfortunately the dates we were due to be at the Gallery coincide with England being in a 2nd Lockdown (due to Covid 19). 

The good news is we are hoping to be there for 2 weeks in January 2021, so all being well we look forward to welcoming you at the beginning of the  New Year and hope you will enjoy viewing and hopefully purchasing 😊 some of our lovely new stock we have been busy making.

Hand Woven Colourful Plant Pot Mats

At the end Of the Day in my Loom Room.

My loom room is only small but I love it! I have set up things in there so as I can pull out a loom and start weaving. The Rigid Heddle looms hang on the wall, the Saori loom folds, my sewing machine  slides out on its small table and the David 2 loom is positioned so as I can work at the back and front easily with the warping frame on the back wall and my "Stash" stock stored in boxes on a shelf that goes all around the room, arranged as one big colour wheel of inspiration.

After a particularly busy day in there I sat in my little sofa chair where I also knit and spin and took this photo before I turned out the lights, yes its messy but its good happy mess from a creative day and it makes me smile.