Paddling away on the thin ice of a new day.

We have passed the longest day and now it’s mid July, and the main river festivals that were my milestones for the summer have just not happened and there is a slightly lost feeling in the air.

Last week I finished and delivered a large Oak table designed for a beautiful house in Richmond. The table was boat-shaped and curvy, held together with copper rivets and made from some beautiful quarter sawn English Oak with faint limed wax finish. As a piece of furniture it looked at home in the soft colours of the kitchen dining area and I enjoyed the design and making challenge.

Oak for the table & Under construction 
DetailsTable delivered

Now the work schedule eases off as it often does at this time of year and amongst repairs to a skiff, some boat surveys and a tricky prop shaft problem to solve I am returning to my paddle project.

I think I have mastered the electric hot branding tool and managed to burn my name onto 8 new Ash paddles, its fairly tricky as the surface of the blade is curved and the brand is very hot so you have to be quick. Christine has made a sample bag in a cream cotton denim and I will turn up some wooden toggles for the “duffle coat” closure. Bounce Design is about to do a trial logo print onto the bag, so after that the thorny subject of “marketing” must be tackled. to break the ice, out of the blue, friends have bought two paddles that will go all the way to Cape Cod, so that has given a new glimmer of confidence that there might be people out there who will like my paddles.