Monday morning I woke up in my own bed in wonderful Devon.
The previous four days I spent in the craft field at the
Sarah and I jammed as much as we could into our little car and headed north east toward Salisbury.
We got there in good time and set up for the event.
I made a rudimentary shelter using some capes lent to me by my friend Kevin at Endicotts surplus store.
The weather was changeable over the weekend, however, we didn't get the deluge promised by the Met Office.
We opened on Friday morning, and boy, I didn't have time to draw breath until Sunday morning when things calmed a little.
I met many kind and considerate folk, all with a passion for carving and all on a knowledge based feeding frenzy.
It was FAB !
I managed to take some time out on Sunday to take some photos; I didn't get time to see much, if any, of the rest of the show.
I demonstrated axe work and showed folk how to rough out spoon blanks,
some knife work and sharpening.
There was a good selection of stands at the show.
Our small craft field held some super characters.
My next door neighbour was Amanda Rayner.
She taught basket weaving.
She trades under
A very good teacher and weaver, she also supplied me with bacon butties.
A lifesaver....
Charles Hutcheon is a walking-stick maker, who also made whistles at the show.
He even made sticks with a whistle at one end.
From time to time you'd hear a whistle peep... Another finished.
I spotted my friend J.P.
He runs courses from
He had a Harris hawk with him.
He came and sat with us for a chat about carving and hawks.
In the background you can just make out Rowland Jones, he spent time with Mountain Rescue back in the day, he can be seen rescuing a lost soul from the miss-direction pixies.
Nothing changes.
I can't deny, it rained a little.
Here you can see my friend Kaya doing a sun dance.
With a little help from her friend.
I wonder if Kaya's pet wasps survived the rain.
There was a super group of gents that demonstrated knot tying.
These guys are so very knowledgable.
You can find them at.
International Guild of Knot Tyers.
My favourite stand was the one belonging to Willow Lohr.
I fell in love with her felted toys, in-fact, we brought one home.
She also makes all manor of clothing and articles needed for survival on our wonderful planet.
Nothing commercial, all hand produced.
Willow can show you how to make all manor of equipment needed for our survival.
You can find her web page here...
Well worth a visit.
Well, I enjoyed my time at the Gathering and I hope to return next year.
It was great catching up with friends old and new.
Jon Mac.
This is awesome!
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