This week’s blog will be significantly shorter than last week, but is not less important. I feel that what Amy and I learnt whilst in Spain with Arturo, about how the raw material is used, will change the way I work forever. I’ll start by talking about what woods were…
In early September, inbetween the Basketry Tear Up and the Bowl Gathering festivals, Amy Leake and I squeezed in a trip to Spain to research the pole lathe culture out there. We’re both incredibly grateful to the Worshipful Company of Turners for providing most of the funding for the trip,…
Every now and then as a maker and teacher it is wonderful to become a student again. A few years back at the Bodger’s Ball Mike Abbott came up to me and said ‘you haven’t been on my course yet and I’m not getting any younger’. Initially part of me…
Recently my partner and I visited the South of France to see some old friends. I couldn’t help but notice that we were travelling within 30minutes drive of a ‘youtube famous’ pole lathe turner who has been practising for some time. Given one of our friends spoke perfect French to…
This blog post is about something I’ve been working on since 2022 and which is nearing completion. The name may still change, but the premise is thus: Turn 100 different uk-grown woods into bowls. The only hard and fast rule is that they must be grown in the UK. In…
The other week it was the Bodgers Ball. A series of instagram posts doesn’t really do justice to this event, so thought I’d do a little post about it. The Bodgers were a group of chair-leg and stretcher makers who used to work in the woods above High Wycombe turning…
In a couple of weeks the 2026 Bodger’s Ball will be held at the Avoncroft Museum just South of Bromsgrove. I’ll be bringing along a portable pole lathe I have designed mostly from easily accessible 2×4 wood which can be set up for cups, bowls or spindle turning, and has…
A few weeks back Carolina Smoorenburg organised her latest Masters of Slojd event. These events are zoom calls which any interested crafter can dial into, and each time they interview a variety of great craftspeople. On 26th February 2026, it was the turn of Robin Wood to talk about his…
It is hard when you do a job which is your passion, to stop long enough, to see what has been achieved. As such, this blog post is a review of 2025, which I hope will appeal to anyone following my journey. I do hope you enjoy reading it as…
In this fortnight’s blog I want to look into discounting work, which is topical just now with Black Friday just having passed. I’ve talked about this in the past on Instagram in #wordywednesday posts, and been anti-discounting my work. I feel that there are many factors which contribute towards confusion…
