17th Feb 2018 Carving for Towneley Park nature Trail by Richard Colbran (Member)

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The notes below have been taken from the Towneley News 2018

Smallholdings Trail

This nature trail was instigated by a?Park Ranger about seven years ago, in collaboration with the Friends of Towneley Park. It provides an easy walk of about 3?4 mile, on good paths, starting opposite Riverside Car Park entrance.

There are ten marker posts around the trail, each capped with a carving representing?a natural creature which might be seen nearby, namely speckled wood butterfly, heron, fox, frog, swallow, toadstool, rabbit, wren, dragonfly and hedgehog. The carvings were done by members of Lancashire and Cheshire Wood Carvers, but inevitably the weather has taken its toll, and some rot has set in.

During last summer, remedial work was started, involving three members from both groups. ? ??Two carvings which were beyond repair (one having been vandalised by a woodpecker!) have been replaced and re-sited away from overhanging trees, to help the wood to dry out more quickly. The other carvings have been patched up, with some re-carving and use of filler. More new carvings are under way to replace any further write-offs.

One outstanding feature on this trail is the flowering of the Southern Marsh Orchids in late May or early June, and this is said?to be the most northerly habitat for this plant. Riverside Car Park has picnic areas, toilets and a refreshment kiosk, as well as a children?s play area to enjoy on your return.

 

 

17th Feb 2018 Carving Hydrangeas and Found Wood By John Adamson (member)

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John had been working on the carving of hydrangeas since the day of our show at Hollingworth Lakes in October 2017. ? ?It was an unusual choice of subject and he took us through the thought processes and tools used. ? ? The wood had been chainsawed down to the heartwood at sometime and still showed sings of beetle in the softwood. He used a Sabur donut tool to get the shape of the flower heads and a?forester drill for the layout of the florets. ? ? ?There was a?disasters along the way when the flower heads and the vase came apart. ? The broken stems were held?together with insulating tape and copious quantities of superglue fed into the damaged area. ? ? The florets were coloured with blue shoe polish as the amount of colour could be adjusted late on in the process more easily than with paint. ?The stalks were painted with acrylic paint and the vase finished in Vaseline. ? ??

 

 

 

 

 

 

The hydrangeas were an unusual form of John’s normal way of carving using Found wood. ? Found wood, he defines as ‘not machined”, as Bought is an opposite of Found, and all Bought would is machined. ? ? With various examples, he showed the advantages of found wood. ? ? ?It is far less boring than square bought wood, and has the strength that the growing tree builds into the wood, so there is less problems with short grain etc. ? He takes penknife were ever he is and carries a 6 tooled Flexicut knife set on holidays.