Author: Chris Wells

SPOON

 

 

WOODEN SPOON TRYING TO BECOME A BOAT

An ocean breeze
and ocean currents
carried this wood
to a particular shore.

In search
of its true nature
I shaped and polished it
with love

and now choose to launch it
once again
on the high seas.

SHAPING THE DOORS

 

 

It has been interesting to watch these doors emerge – from where, I cannot say (perhaps from a sort of internal blueprint, the details of which come to light as required).

There are sixteen half-lap joints in each door.

The screws are made of silicon-bronze, and will be hidden from view.  I hope to use cypress or baltic pine floorboards, fixed vertically within the outside frames of the doors, for cladding.

Every day, a new aspect of the blueprint is revealed. I am assuming that it is, indeed, a workable and coherent Plan….

CYPRESS LINING

I am constructing  the first of the double doors, in a roundabout sort of way. I have never made a door, and don’t have a set of construction plans. No doubt there are plenty of plans online, but somehow it seemed easier to not find them, and just muddle through – so that is what I am doing: making it up as I go, and just muddling through.

Let’s hope it works out….

From time to time I tackle the cypress lining, for a bit of light relief. I want to get the southern and western sections of wall properly covered, before we install the work benches – otherwise, it will never be done.

(While building the little wooden cottage on Fork Tree Road, I moved in without finishing the details. That was a mistake – a big mistake – which I hope to avoid this time round.)

I will post photos of the door when there is a door to photograph.

 

BANSKIA SCRUB 2

Back in January Sam and I collected seed from the Banskia Scrub, and now we have a small forest of seedlings.

The Wirilda seedlings (Acacia retinoides) grew quickly; we planted them in the Paddock a few weeks ago.

Here in the photo, on the left, is a pot of the Southern Cypress Pine, Callitris preissi; in the middle, Drooping Sheoak, Allocasuarina verticillata; on the right, a miscellany including sheoak, and Moonah, Melaleuca lanceolata.

The grass trees, Xanthorrhoea, have not emerged – yet.

Muntries, Kunzea pomifera, failed – but I can propagate it from cuttings, with a bit of luck.

INSIDE THE BOATSHED

I have been preparing cypress beadings at a portable bench inside the boatshed.

Apart from the entrance, which still needs double doors, our work area is enclosed, and is proving to be a  comfortable and – dare I say it – enchanting space.

Outside, the sun comes and goes, and a chilly wind blows from the south; inside, the light is steady, and  the cypress walls provide warmth and protection. It is a light-filled environment, which will be lighter still once we have skylights in place (above the two permanent benches), and the four LED light-bulbs installed at stategic points.

At first, I was worried about shedding  cypress wood-shavings onto a pristine and very beautiful cypress floor…but after all, it is a workshop, not a luxury apartment – and in due course I got used to standing in the sea of shavings and wood-dust (which I later swept up).

The electrican, who is an enthusiast and boatshed devotee,  will be here in the next week or so. I understand the LED lights will last for thirty two years. At that stage, I expect we will have to replace them with (no doubt) superior technology.

 

 

HALF A WALL

The floor was swept and clean; the pins were all swept up and stuck into pin papers; the ends of thread and little silk snippets were all tidied away, and gone from the floor.

But upon the table! Oh joy – the tailor gave a shout!

There – where he had left plain cuttings of cloth – there lay the most beautifullest coat and gold-brocaded waistcoat that ever were worn by a mayor of Gloucester.

There was embroidery upon the cuffs and upon the pocket flaps and upon the skirts of the coat: it was cherry-coloured corded silk, lined with yellow padusoy; there were one-and-twenty buttons.

The waistcoat was of peach-coloured satin, worked with thread of gold and silver.

Everything was quite finished except just one single cherry-coloured button-hole; and where that buttonhole was wanting, there was pinned a little scrap of paper, with these words – in teeny weeny writing –

 

                                                        “no more twist”.

 

From: The Tailor of Gloucester
by Beatrix Potter

First published by Frederick Warne & Co. Ltd
London  1903

 

The search is on for twenty-six rough-sawn Native Cypress weatherboards, with rebates.