Blackhorse Workshop

What a weekend! The Walthamstow Garden Party was an absolute hoot this year. We had the pleasure of being able to join other wonderful teams and makers including Sylva Ceramics in the Be Magnificent craft marquee for the Be Magnificent Art Trail.

This year’s making tent was inspired by the art school curriculum taught in the 1950s and 1960s, focusing on practical craft making skills. The entire programme is part of the summer-long event ‘Be Magnificent: Walthamstow School of Art 957-1967′.

We helped children create and assemble a ‘Blackhorse Pegasus’ a kinetic toy inspired by the mythical legend of Pegasus – a winged horse, that was designed by our very own workshop wizards, Rob Shaer and Toby Poolman. We took the children through the different stages of bending metal with a sheet metal folder. drilling and hammering names, fixing nuts and bolts to attach the wings, before transforming wire to become support to allow the toy to fly.

We had a lot of fun and made almost 160 Pegasus toys in total. It definitely got us geared up and excited for the kids holiday club workshops we will be running over the summer with Make Stuff Club, full of activities to keep the kids crafty over the summer holiday.
Want to know more? Click here for details and for booking.

We’re excited to announce that we’re building a brand new summer installation in partnership with specialist regeneration company U+I to celebrate the maker culture of Walthamstow .

SIDESHOW will be situated on the original site (opposite Blackhorse Road tube) of the Associated Equipment Company, whose prototypes inspired the design of London’s iconic Routemaster bus.

Opening on the 16th August and running until the end of December , the space will host a series of workshops, exhibitions and a giant interactive marble run, built from salvaged London bus components!

Coffee wizards Wood St Coffee will be running a coffee pop up during the day, and a bar on Thursday and Friday evenings.

Sign up to the mailing list and find out more at www.blackhorsesideshow.co.uk

Championing the design industry, design education, design consumers and the next wave of graduate designers, the New Designers exhibition last week brought 3,000 of the best design graduate talent from leading design courses across the UK. The show allows visitors to buy new products and commission or recruit the newest designers in the industry.

New Designers also likes to stay involved with the progress of all of it’s exhibiting designers in a segment they call One Year On.  This year, Blackhorse Workshop member Tim Summers was among the selected line up showcasing his Suber Collection, a group of products made from layers of cork.

“I got involved with New Designers, One Year On through exposure from the Crafts Council Hothouse scheme. The organisers had seen my profile on the Crafts Council Directory and invited me to apply. I hadn’t previously exhibited at New Designers when I graduated but I had heard good things about One Year On and thought it would be a good goal to work towards as the year progressed.”

Talking about how New Designers helped his career Tim tells us, “In the run up to the show the Curator of the One Year section Rhianna Lingham and her team, along with event partners The Design Trust and the events PR company Colman Getty all offered huge amounts of helpful advice in preparing for the event. There was a preparation day with presentations from previous exhibitors on their experiences, Patricia Van Der Akker from The Design Trust offered advice on things like targeting the right markets and pricing and Yeshen Venema gave tips on photographing work. There were also 2 webinars that participants could subscribe to for further tips and advice. As an exhibitor its a great opportunity to meet press, trade and general public and its a great opportunity to practice talking about your work and presenting yourself.”

You can see what else took place on social media by searching the hashtag #ND17 and follow Tim’s story and other designers who showcased in the One Year On category by searching the hashtag#OYOMakerSpotlight.Visit his website at:https://timsummersdesign.com

We’re excited to announce that we’ve partnered with William Morris Big Local to run a pilot holiday club for kids aged 8-13. We’ll be launching it at next week’s Walthamstow Garden Party where we’ll running workshops on Saturday and Sunday to make the ‘Blackhorse Pegasus’ – a winged mechanical push along horse toy. Who knew that was what you were missing from your toy box?!

The  MAKE STUFF holiday club will then continue on Wednesday’s throughout August, with workshops run by specialists from the workshop making everything from samba drums to salvaged scrap fortresses!

Each workshop costs £5 and is bookable on our website. Priority booking available for residents of William Morris Ward. So give yourself a holiday and send the kids to us!

Click here to find out more

When composer and artist Daren Banarsё first picked up a toy melodica, he was hooked. It only cost him £20, it was easy to play, and so small he could take it anywhere. The former lecturer at Goldsmiths College who has written music for hundreds of adverts and TV productions, including The Apprentice and Top Gear, but decided to devote a few years to the melodica and see if he could discover its full potential.

“At first it was great fun, and quite a novelty to be playing a toy instrument to a high standard. But it had its drawbacks. You couldn’t play fast melodies without some of the notes dropping out, and the tone was so shrill, I felt sorry for anyone sitting next to me. But perhaps worse of all, I found it difficult to be taken seriously at music sessions when I pulled out a bright plastic instrument which was ultimately designed to appeal to kids.”

Because of this, Banarsё was ready for a professional melodica, but there wasn’t anything out there, so that’s when he thought about making one. He’d heard of 3D printing, but it was something he knew nothing about.

“I began the journey by getting some lessons in CAD software. Once I’d covered the basics, I took my melodica apart, and bit by bit recreated it within a 3D environment. And once it existed in virtual reality, I could make all the changes I needed to create my dream instrument. I wanted something that sounded as good as any other professional instrument, with a clear tone. I also wanted it to look a bit special, something I could be proud of.”

He ended up with the design for one large section, a type of frame which was 40cm long and had 32 small keys that slotted into it. He bought a Flashforge Creator Pro with the idea that he’d print the 40cm long frame in sections, and glue them together. After printing out some of the keys, it soon became clear that the accuracy wasn’t sufficient for building a melodica.

“Instead, I decided to get it all printed in Nylon 12 as I’d heard they were strong and flexible. There was one potential problem though – melodicas need to be airtight and watertight, and Nylon 12 is quite porous. I got around this by coating it in a few layers of acrylic sealant, before finishing it with paint and varnish. Once assembled, I could see that I had the right material. It was strong and light, and looked great with a layer of acrylic paint.”

Once it was all working properly, it was time to turn it into an organic looking instrument that would look at home in a professional environment so he carefully shaped some wood to fit on top of the black keys, and added extra material in areas to give the instrument a traditional feel. He also stripped the ivory from some old piano keys to recreate the touch of a quality instrument.

Banarsё is now currently taking the project even further by experimenting with alternative materials. In his quest for perfection, he redesigned the instrument to take handmade Italian reeds, similar to the ones you’d find in an accordion, with a sweet timbre.

The Workshop has been helpful for the current process of this project as Banarsё has been making use of the wood workshop, building cases out of various timbers, so he can see the effect each wood has on the tone quality and projection. It was the development on the melodica itself that brought Banarsё to Blackhorse.  After starting a research MA in London when looking around for a place to make some prototype instruments, he soon realised he was in the wrong environment.

“Rather than going to lectures and writing essays, I needed direct access to a fully equipped workshop, where I could try things out as soon as I thought of them. So I decided to ditch uni and join Blackhorse, where there is always someone on hand to get advice from and there seems to be at least one specialist in every creative arena.  As well as that, there’s a great community here, and I can get inspired by just strolling around the workshop.”

There has been a lot of trial and error involved, and he admitted that the process can get quite frustrating sometimes. But at the same time he also admits that nothing beats the feeling of being able to turn up at music sessions or recording, with his very own, homemade dream instrument!

How do you explain Blackhorse Workshop in a single image? This is how! We love this new illustration by Joe Prytherch (www.joeprytherch.com) which has been created for the upcoming exhibition in Vienna at the Architekturzentrum all about Assemble. So if you happen to be over there, or feel like an excuse for a trip its running from 1st June -11 September. It’s a drawing you could spend hours looking at, which we probably will…Below are some extracts showing our bench space and machine room, not to mention the new café! Posters will be available to buy in Vienna, and we’re hoping for a re-print…watch this space!

Furniture and Lighting Designer Marc Wood’s first memory of making was perhaps one of the first memories he has.

“At the age of four, I would go into my Grandad’s workshop at the end of the garden and we would carve miniature boats and other toys out of blocks of wood. I used to watch him make small items if furniture for his house. He was very passionate about furniture restoration.”

Those early experiences sparked off a lifetime love of building things: treehouses, skateboard ramps, rudimentary bits of furniture and anything I else could think of and ultimately in him wanting to pursue a career in it.

While completing his studies in Furniture and Product Design at Nottingham Trent University, Marc really began to hone his craft, creating two pieces for his final degree show that he is the most proud of to date. His aim was to create two very different products, a simple lighting collection designed for mid-market, volume production and a console table to be a statement art piece for the top end of the market.

“Visually the console table is the most interesting. I designed it using state of the art computer software which uses algorithms to create interesting forms, and made it using steam bent wood, an ancient production process. The combination created a piece which juxtaposes traditional and modern to create something pretty unique.”

Since then Marc has focused more on lighting design and has gone on to make some beautiful pieces like the copper leaf sculpture above which was commissioned by an interior designer and now sits in the foyer of a 5 star hotel in Wales. This piece was inspired by nature and jewellery, in particular copper annealing, which is a hand metal-forging process that has been used by jewellers for centuries.  Marc takes inspiration from jewellery in his lighting designs, saying he believes that “lighting features are pieces of furniture for jewellery for the home”.

Because of the combination of the design process and the making process involved in lighting design, Marc spends half his time upstairs in his studio designing and half his time downstairs in the Workshop making, allowing him to facilitate his flexible working style.

“There are so many people here doing so many interesting things. It enables us all to be exposed to new ideas and different processes and creates a great energy. I love how well the space is managed. The technicians and office staff are always on hand and keep the place moving very smoothly. I seem to get no end of advice from the staff who are very knowledgeable and always happy to help.”

Looking ahead, Marc has several projects on the go, with the main one being his debut lighting collection which he will be launching in the summer.

“I have a few more lights which I need to develop and prototype to complete the collection, as well as several bespoke commissions. It’s going to be a busy year.”

To see more from Marc, check out his profile on our Members Directory.  We’ll also be running a steam bending course at the workshop in July. Dates to be announced shortly.

When qualified Joiner Lindsay Draws agreed to make furniture for a friend who was moving into their first unfurnished flat, the bed ended up being the most exciting prospect. Since qualifying from the Stratford Building & Crafts College in May last year, Lindsay has made an assortment of furniture, but this was her first bed project and it’s a beautiful one at that. The wood of the frame  is made from solid beech sourced from fellow member Bruce Saunders’ wood seasoning business: Saunder’s Seasonings. The headboard and footboard have decorative mild steel bars and Lindsay made the slats herself from poplar, held together with cotton webbing.

Having just two days a week to work on it, the whole project took 4-5 months from start to finish to complete.  This included designing the bed and working with her friend to make it exactly how she wanted it.  Just like any project, during those months, this project wasn’t short of colliding with a few hurdles, but each hurdle seemed to help graft the direction of the finial design.

“There were lots of obstacles along the way, like buying bed bolts that were longer than any drill bit I could find! This was my first major project since qualifying as a joiner so there was always going to be a steep learning curve but at least one of the mistakes I made led to better design. The sides of the headboard and footboard were originally intended to be straight and quite narrow. After messing up the cut on one of them (always mark your waste wood clearly!), I realised that they would look much better if they were cut to follow the angle of the metal instead and I’m really pleased with how that looks.”

One of the main positives in this for Lindsay was the use of the actual beech itself.  This was her first project working with hardwood, beech in particular, because in all those months working on it, she never got tired of looking at the beautiful grain pattern.

Lindsay is currently in the process of setting up a working partnership with Christina French, another joiner at the Workshop, At present she is working on doors, small pieces of furniture and pots, but is keen to make another bed in the future having ironed out some of the basics of bed construction, particularly making this same design with wood instead of metal in the headboard, which we can’t wait to see when she does.

Thanks to everyone who came down on Friday night to celebrate the launch of our new building & building. Was a great party. Kicking off with the exploding birthday cake, thanks to Cllr Clare Coghill for her work snipping the ribbon! Super set from bands Firestations & Half Penny Pass, great food from Peter’s Jerk Chicken & hot dawgs from Wood St Coffee, not to mention the absolutely delicious birthday cake from Crumbs.  Can birthdays happen more than once a year? See you all soon…

Photos (c) Simon Way