Silke had contacted me some weeks ago. Now Silke is a really awesome human being doing a great job representing a local sustainability centre on a high professional level. She had seen me carving some wood spirits, and it turned out, that she was actually quite fond of them. So I offered to carve one for the sustainability centre for free. We met in the woods to discuss the topic... and ended up sitting on a stump carving things until dark.
Several days later I dropped by the centre and went to work immediately. Silke had said:"Make it your own", and I was pretty much amazed by the amount of trust put into me, and the positively creative atmosphere and flat hierarchy. Silke is the manager after all. I spare you the ironforge rant, but just let it be said that up to date I did never experience such an atmosphere. That is not to say that everything is possible, but the discussion culture is a whole different thing to everything I know. We are currently trying to work out a lot of ideas for the future, but first things first.
I am just super stoked to be welcome for a change, so much in fact that I might have been a bit overwhelming.
Anyway, I cleared up a spot for carving sessions with kids already. The plan is to provide an open Slöjd meetup every Friday, with some basic tools and materialbeing available for absolute beginners. This will be complemented with Workshops and tutorials. The Slöjd meetup will be open for a little contribution, but open for absolutely everyone. We are currently trying to provide a halfway convenient access for wheelchairs also, just so you get the picture. It will be just that I will be there every Friday after Easter, working on my own projects, but if you drop by, I will do my best to help you with your projects, or maybe even learn from you? Anyway, if you are in the vicinity, drop by and have a chat.
That said, I also worked on said woodspirit (s), because I could not restrain my creativity.
Prepared wood for a gate and a Lean-to.
Made a mallet for splitting wood for a bench (driving gluts and stuff)
It was a bit fidgetty clamping the wood for the head, but the woodspirit is a good guy and was eager to help 😉.
Also prepared a signpost for the gate.
The drawknife I got dead cheap on a local flea market. It is around hundred years old and razor sharp after some TLC. I don't know what I would have done without it-it really was helpful, and I love it to bits!
Another woodspirit I made.
When I was feeling too fluffy from the big stuff, I worked on that little cup from birch burr.
There was a group of young girl- and boyscouts staying at the centre, so I already showed them a simple try stick. One of the little ladies pointed out a mouse coming around to have a look, and we tried out to carve a mouse together (see my older post).
This is how it is supposed to work in the future. Just drop by, bring your pocket or bushcraft knife and maybe a flask of tea or coffee (we are currently working that out, too, however). Sit on a log or we can build stuff together to sit on.
Really looking forward to it, and we do have a lot of ideas still for the future.
