From whittle things ... twig things grow

Woodwork fans and lovers of all timber-y things filled their boots when Woodfest welcomed thousands to Bulli Showground for a weekend of workshops, markets and demonstrations last month.

The family-friendly event showcased a wide range of woodcraft, bringing together expert artisans and curious beginners. Attendees enjoyed seeing artistic wood carvings, handcrafted spoons and bowls, knives and tools, repurposed timber goods, live demonstrations and hands-on projects for kids.

Stallholders and visitors shared their thoughts.

Tree of a Kind

Naomi: “My husband has a timber flooring business, and with construction in general, there's a lot of waste associated with it. It's all really fine timber. It's timber that you use for furniture-making, so, really high grade expensive timber, and we don't want to toss it into landfill. So I take as much of it as possible and try to repurpose it into something that we can enjoy.

“I love coming to this market. It's such a fun festival. Everyone's really into woodworking and it's really great to see all different skills.”

Shellharbour Woodcarvers

Frank: “We're giving a demonstration and selling items today. We've been in the business for about 20 years and we meet every Friday at Shellharbour. We've got 25 members, male and female. It's a social event, and it’s good because it keeps your brain ticking over.”

Design Amœba Ceremonial & Love Spoons

Ben: “Love spoons are a very, very old tradition. Sailors used to make them in longing. When they were on the high seas for many months, they would ‌ think of their loved ones at home and they would make love spoons.

“I've been making them for over 40 years, and it's quite interesting because I have a spoon here made by a distant cousin of mine in England. Concurrently, we were making spoons, and I discovered this guy on Instagram. So it's obviously a Wrigley tradition.

“Love spoons are gifts, where I think like ‘this is for Mari Louise, and I think of Mari Louise and the spoon emerges… and that one there's for Susie and I think of Susie and I make a spoon for Susie. You can see they're very different in form and structure, and that for me is a reflection of who that person is to me. So when someone has one of my spoons, they think of me when they use them.

“Nothing here's for sale. I'm just showing the stuff and demonstrating to the other spoon-makers here that there's more dimension to spoon-making rather than just utility.”

The Local Craftsman

Aaron: “I'm selling all kinds of leatherwork, wallets, belts, bags, tool rolls… and then I'm doing some leather-stamping as well. So you can come by, pick out a little piece of leather, stamp your name, some patterns, and we'll put a key ring on it, and it's one of a kind. It's yours. I think it's just cool to be able to make something that's yours. The kids might never be able to do it again, but hopefully they remember it and can keep that key ring for life. And it just shows them that it is possible to make things and do what you love.

“There's a couple things here where I've mixed a little bit of wood and leather. I made a pencil case that has wooden sides and a leather flap. It's all making things. It's all natural and it's just cool to be able to share what you love.”

Bush Magic Adventure Therapy

Simone: “Today we are running a workshop that teaches basic knife skills to kids through simple things you might have at home like potato peelers – because they're safe and cheap and easily accessible. We teach them basic knife skills so that when they graduate to a proper whittling knife, they don't hurt themselves.”

“They can make whatever they want. These guys have made some pretty cool stuff this morning - a fairy house, a banana and a caterpillar. I just show the kids these ideas so they get their imagination sparking and then I teach them their skills. They make the thing and then they come and decorate it.

"Looks like there’s a lot of kids are around, which is good because this morning I was like, "oh, I don't know if anyone's going to come." But they're coming. So it's awesome.”

Abbey & Sherwin

Sherwin: “I've done classes with Stuart (owner of The Illawarra Woodwork School) before and I found out this morning this was on. I can't miss it. Everything is really interesting and it's different every time. There’s all different sorts of things you can run into. All the things that people make. All the interesting things. It’s great.”

Lucas

“I am whittling a bird. You have to be very careful to make sure not to point the knife toward you when you're whittling, always point away. And if you're making a bird, you don't just cut the end of the tail. You have to start in the middle, make that round. Then make this round, very slowly.”

“We draw on top of the wood – we have to look at the drawing while we cut it.

"It probably takes about one hour but I like that you get to make stuff and you get to play with it. In the last session, we made butter knives, and then we put on this special thing that made it change colour.”