Monday 29 June 2015

WORKSHOP (3) and Four Poster

I am getting on with the workshop. It takes a longer time when you're working totally on your own, and getting old. 
   This is not a studio but a workshop for lathe, pillar drills, grindstones etc etc. It will also incorporate a small 'potting-shed' for garden tools and where Pat can pot-up her plants. The far door way will be to the potting shed and the near door to the workshop.

On wet days, progress continues on the latest Four Poster.



In reply to Sherry, Linda and Minnimie: The foundation platform all ready existed. It's basically a concrete base with stone slabs cemented on. 
   There is no crawl space: the building is being built on a damp-proof membrane which covers the whole 'floor area' and extends up inside the wall for two strakes of planking.
  The floor joists lie directly on the mebrane (and hence the concrete base) and are jointed and screwed to the wall beams (photographs when they appear). 
   The flooring that goes on top of the joists is a wood composite stuff (new to me). I prefer to screw the flooring to the joists, as nail holes tend to get bigger over time, through the constant movement on them, this causes the floor to squeak!
   Electricity will be 'installed' by a professional electrician, as I don't pretend to be an expert in all things. Heating will probably be by wall mounted electrical heaters. 

Monday 22 June 2015

WINSTON SPENCER CHURCHILL IN Time-Life

TIME LIFE magazine did not mention the construction of my workshop (which is going really well) but it did have an article on my hero, WSC,  last month:

(AFTERTHOUGHT - Time Life should have said have said Great Britain and not England. Great Britain comprises England, Scotland and Wales; Churchill was Prime Minster of Great Britain)

"Churchill would, of course, ultimately help lead England to a brutally fought, costly victory over the Axis Powers in World War II. But in the early years of the conflict, England stood alone against the Reich after Nazi forces swarmed across border after border in Europe. Churchill’s defiance in the face of what seemed, at the time, an invincible Wehrmacht juggernaut earned the aristocratic, independent-minded PM his enduring reputation as one of the greatest war-time leaders in history."


But there was another side to Churchill that my good friend CELESTE BERGIN knows all about. He was an artist.





All his kit and many of his paintings can still be seen in his studio at his home, Chartwell, which lies to the south-east of London. It's open to the public and well worth a visit. And don't forget you Americans, he's half American so you have a claim :)  

Saturday 20 June 2015

Workshop Build (2)

Got the damp course in. Put in all the cross bracing (to strengthen against the winds) and fitted the last of the framing.

Start Cladding tomorrow.

Thursday 18 June 2015

WORKSHOP BUILD

Three and a half working days into the project, and things are starting to come together. To remind you, it's  10 feet (3 metres) high, 16.6 feet (5 metres) long and twelve feet (3.5 metres) wide.

Yes, they are cows in the field behind, and sheep in the next field. If you look South from here you think you are in the middle of a Rural countryside. If you look North or West you are in a Maritime world, whilst to the east: the Presili mountains. 

Pembrokeshire is a fantastic county populated by the nicest people. It's a privilege to live here.

Saturday 13 June 2015

RAIN STOPPED PLAY

No sooner do I begin work on the workshop than the British weather runs true to form ...RAIN!

Luckily I have my inclement weather programme (program) in place, and I can get on with another Four Poster bed and the large drawing of St. David's Cathedral.


  

Friday 12 June 2015

Starting the Workshop

Here's the location


Here's the First Delivery of Timber
And, for those that missed it, here's the plans I drew up of what I intend to build. 


The timber in the top photograph will make the 'skeleton' at bottom left of plan.