Paris Cycle Ride

Stef and Phil from the Chelsea Wood Workshop are very excited to be cycling 325 miles to Paris this coming July and all for a very good cause. The charity Action Medical Research is the leading UK wide medical research charity dedicated to helping babies and children. Any help you can give will be much appreciated. Thank you for taking the time to look.

http://www.action.org.uk/sponsor/stefwillis
http://www.action.org.uk/sponsor/philliprutter

The Late Sessions. Show Build

This week our attentions swung towards Fine Art 3rd years in the latest of our late sessions, hosted by the Wood Workshop. Phil and Stef focused on the theme of show build and were joined by Richard from the Metal workshop to add a few thoughts as well. We covered all sorts of aspects from how to build a plinth and a shelf right through to how to construct a wall and hang your artwork onto it. Below are some images taken from the evening showing our section of the session about wall building. There then follows some shots of the past few days in the workshop.

Phil starts things off before we get the students all hands on to help us finish the wall. We constructed this one from 2x2 regular softwood and Chipboard.

Getting to grips with the corners. 

Last one and almost ready to lift into place 

Richard helps Phil lift the wall into position  

Nice fit! 

Always a spirit level on hand to check all is straight and square

Slightly dramatic push for the last board going into place. 

Snug. 

The board is then screwed into place by some of the students. 

We then showed them an example of a corner wall constructed from pre fabricated sections. These were made from 12mm MDF with a 2x1 softwood edge. 

Next phil showed how to hang a stretcher frame. 

 We then invited the students to come and drill into a breeze block, plug the hole and screw in a screw.

Finally we looked at a split batton  

From which we duly hung our breeze block from! 

Other goings on in the Workshop

MA student Millicent busy on the Lathe sanding down her tapered legs 

Fine Art 3rd year Abi has become a master of the FretSaw 

Jamie from GDC MA about to construct her reflective model 

And there are Millicents legs finished. 

Anything IKEA can do........ 

Jamie seems pleased with the end results! 

A very nice little model in the making for this ISD 1st year.

Spring has sprung

So this past few days has seen the temperature rise and the first real hint that Spring is just around the corner. It will also mean that for us here in the Wood Workshop we will also see a rise in the number of students wishing to make lovely things with us as various shows and deadlines get closer. Below are a few images taken form the past few days.

Momei Xia from BA Fine Art sanding one of her MDF blocks.

Getting up close and personal with this piece of work. 

MA Graphics student, Jolin in the early stages of creating her iconic London model. 

Lucianna from BA ISD gazes in at her mirrored architectural model. 

BA ISD 3rd year, Max drilling more acrylic sections for his kenetic model. 

Jolin progressing her model on nicely.

What a fun piece of work she produced! 

William from BA Fine Art begins the tricky task of mounting his silk print onto an MDF form.

And then with the work hung he gazes thoughtfully at the piece. 

Wedding bells

Stef spends most of his days in a pair of jeans, a t-shirt, an old glue covered apron and generally covered dust. He scrubbed up nicely though this past weekend when he went and got himself married. Big congratulations to him and his new wife, Jemima. Here's to a happy life together!!

Stretcher Making in the Late Sessions

So last night a capacity crowd gathered in the arena that is the Wood Workshop to watch, listen and learn about how to make a stretcher frame and apply a canvas. This session led by Phil was designed, once again, to get the students hands on and interactive with both materials and tools. By the end of the evening each of the students left with their very own canvas ready to go paint. Below are some images taken from the evening.

Phil starts the evening by looking at some examples of stretcher frames. 

Having just got going we all had to go cool down outside as the fire alarm went off!

In the Cutting room to hear about what materials to order.

Phil starts his frame having cut and bevelled the edge. Corner clamps required for this bit. 

With the frame assembled in the clamps the corners are pre drilled ready for screwing. 

First one side, then the other of each corner.

We then gave each student their own frame parts and let them have a go at assembling. 

Too many cooks? Not in this case. Great team work from these three  

The assembly room in full flow as the students got to grips making their frames. 

Next Phil sands down the edges in preparation for the canvas. 

The canvas is laid out upside down. Note the canvas has been cut to allow enough to be pulled up and round onto the back edge. 

Phil starts to staple sections of the canvas. His technique is to start in the middle of each length and work out to the corners.

Next he works on his perfect corners through a series of small pleats and tucks. 

Finally the students got to add the canvas to their earlier made frames. 

Great evening!