The Marquetry Teapot Stand

This is the front of the second teapot stand Matt has made. The style is called Marquetry and he used cedar, silky oak, pine and old cupboard drawers (aka recycled timber).

He decided to make it reversable so here is side 2. You will see he has used knots in the timber so that it looks like a face in the middle, or an owl.

This was on the table at Fusspots for only 2.5 days, priced ar $75 and was sold to a local lady as a gift for her husband.

The cedar chest with brass trim

This is a 2 drawer cedar jewellery chest with silky oak inlay on the top and finished with decorative brass piano hinges as a trim. The handles are also brass and hand turned by Matthew. It is made from a single log and both drawers are lined with royal blue felt.

This sold for $70 recently at Fusspots.

This is Matt's recent project. Jason Crawford (right), a local lad, asked Matt to make a sign for the family property for his father for a Father's Day gift.

Needless to say both Jason and his Dad Mark, were thrilled with the result.

Mark told me it was the best Father's Day gift he had ever had. Not a bad result.

My certificate of recognition

On Monday 1 August, for Education Week, the combined small schools awards for the New England area were held here at Ebor Public School. I was asked to attend as I was to be given an award.

I was surprised and delighted to receive a certificate for "outstanding contribution to Ebor School by a community member" because I have been volunteering to teach the children scrapbooking. They are documenting their school year activities for 2011.

I was so proud and grateful to be recognised but I just love doing what I do. We had a nice afternoon tea and I baked a chocolate jaffa cake which was demolised rather quickly.

One of the highlights of the afternoon was a screening of a short film that the pupils have made with the assistance of a filmmaker from Bellingen. For a small school, the kids get to do some wonderful excursions. They spent 2 days in Coffs Harbour last month and went whale watching and took a helicopter ride. Never had that much fun when I was at school.

I am so glad we moved to Ebor as we have been embraced by the community and have made many new friends.

Cheers

The cedar Elephant's foot

I thought I would post a better photo of this wonderful pot. Given the shape of the log, Matt decided it would make a great elephant's foot so he went about cutting and sanding it to make the finished product.

The grain of the cedar log is brought out to perfection and the toes are made from teak.

He has made another larger one with a brass handle on the lid and the toes of that one are pine. It basically looks the same as this one.

I love it, it is so quirky and cute.

New ideas for woodwork projects

Ok, here is a photo montage created by Matthew of some of his jewellery boxes. Most of them have now been sold except the elephant's foot and the 6 drawer cabinet top left.

His workmanship is superb having worked on the pirate chest jewellery box for almost 3 months to get the details just right. The man who bought it is a carpenter and was amazed at Matt's ability given the fact that he is an amateur and only been woodworking around 12 months.

Matt now has a permanent display of his woodwork at Fusspots Cafe where everyone can see his work. Anything sold whilst I am not actually having my craft stall (every Saturday), we give 10% commission to the owners.

Everyone is happy.

Cheers

more stuff at long last

Wow, 3 months since I updated this. Matt has been busy making things but I have been slack at showing them off. Nevertheless, here are some of his latest creations.

This is a 4 drawer jewellery cabinet made from cedar, teak and red bean woods. All drawers are lined with red felt and it is finished with a gloss lacquer. The handles are made from copper wire.

This is a jewellery box made from some really old wood that Matt has sanded to reveal the lovely grain then lacquered to bring out the character. Also lined with red felt it was bought by Veronica from Fusspots Cafe.