Gypsy Flowers

My late father in law was known fondly as 'Bodger.' He would whack nails into timber and make a rake for his vegetable plot, smack holes through walls to run VCR cables etc. Not exactly a perfectionist, nor an artisan, just a pure and simple Bodger.

This morning the boss and I discovered a real life Bodger. It's the term for a wood worker using local woods, basic hand tools and hand or leg powered lathes. The gentleman shown in my folio was waiting to explain his art to visitors at Trelissick House near Truro this morning. He was cutting a piece of plum wood the size of a dessert spoon with an axe that weighed 2.75 Lbs. He then used some wicked looking hooked knives to carve the spoon out. I messed up with camera modes so will travel back next week to make amends.

He had placed what are known as 'Gypsy Flowers' in the ivy which had wound around a tree he was suing as a support pole. The flowers are apparently made by slicing ash sticks, placing them in water then when they have expanded let them dry out, in the same fashion as chefs do with radishes.