The gluing puzzle

I wonder if you have ever experience the gluing puzzle when you are making a piece of furniture.
Everything is fitting tight before your glue up. When the glue goes on it's like the timber changes size and it doesn't fit as well as before. Sometimes you could swear you are going crazy. Clamps have to be manipulated at strange angles and occasionally they all have to come off and then go on again. There needs to be a glue invented that doesn't do this. Anybody that could do this would be rich!!!! Don't worry I got the piece glued up and it looks great!

A few months makes all the difference!

Well its amazing the difference a few months can make. In the summer work was really slow and I thought the 'recession' had got me. I had to lay off my apprentice and I was not a happy boy. Now after want seems like walking through mud I have lots of orders again and have found a new vision and excitement about the next season. Andrew coming back to work soon and hopefully things will be a lot busier for the next few months. It amazing what preserverance can do!

Shetland Ideal Homes Show 2009

Over the Weekend of 19th & 20th September I exhibited at the Ideal Homes Show in Clickimin Centre, Lerwick. The event was organised by the Rotary Club of Shetland. Here are 2 pictures of my stand.

Restoring chairs

Part of the work which we undertake is to restore antique furniture. This chair was one of a set of four which we restored. They were rescued from an old croft house in Shetland. The old finish had to be scraped and sanded away and then refinished, the back legs re glued and new shaped pieces glued on to the legs. The upholstery was also replaced using the traditional methods. It was a time consuming process but the end result was worth it with the chairs being transformed to look as good as new.

Shetland Nature festival

Paparwark Furniture is pleased to be displaying sculpural log seating at the woodland near the Loch of Voe for the Shetland Nature Festival. The festival runs from 3rd to 12th July at various locations throughout Shetland. On Saturday 11th July from 11am to 4pm there will be a "walk and talk" event at the woodland organised by the Shetland Amenity Trust Woodland Team. It's being advertised under the interesting slogan of "from seed to sawdust".


Log Seating

A selection of our sculptural log seating is displayed on my website, click here to view. Suitable for gardens, driveways and patios our log seating provides an attractive natural feature and somewhere to sit! All sculpted from Shetland grown timbers.

My interest in wood goes beyond making furniture to growing trees. I have a small plantation on my parent's land next to the Dunrossness Baptist Church which has a variety of trees planted in the last couple of years. We are pleased with how the trees are growing and look forward for a nice little woodland to develop in that area.

Shetland style diningroom table and benches

We have recently finished a dining room table and benches which were inspired from the traditional Shetland creepies. The size of the benches worked well for the creepie design and looked right visually. The table legs are designed to look traditional but incorporating the key hole shaped form from the end of the creepie into it, so that the table and creepies become a set in it's design. We are really please to have this beautiful dining set as part of our portfoilo.

Traditional Creepie

In many a Shetland croft house in days gone by you would have found a "creepie" or small wooden stool. Light and easily portable it would have been moved around to provide a seat when doing a variety of tasks, anything from milking the cow to making a kishie (straw basket). They would have been made from whatever wood was available at the time, often driftwood.

We have designed a creepie as shown in the picture which is now available for sale. It's design is in keeping with the traditional creepies both in shape and simplicity. This particular creepie was made from Yellow Pine and stained to give an antique effect.

Creepies are available in either Oak or Pine.