Wooden buttons and more… In order to minimise waste in the workshop, I always try to use any offcuts of wood that I trim down to make smaller pieces of furniture or other items.

 

Quite often I will make footstools of varying sizes but the smallest offcuts which are too small to be used in footstools are made into handmade ash wood buttons – these I call ‘waste knot buttons’. I started selling these at events last year and they’re proving to be very popular with crafters, knitters and crocheters alike to add the finishing touches to their lovingly handmade projects. 

 

Decorated ash wood wands are always very popular with the children at events too and are made from discarded spindles which didn’t meet the quality I need for chair making. These are often embellished with pyrography and vary in sizes. It’s great to see the children come up with imaginative ideas as to what they will use their wands for but, of course, the magic only works if you own a unicorn or a Harry Potter hat – so I’m told!

 

I would rather use the offcuts than waste them but there is always an abundance of wood shavings at the workshop that needs to be put to good use. Thinking of what I can do with these which doesn’t involve extra expense for me or requiring too much processing involving electricity is a tricky one.

 

Please do contact me if you have any suggestions of what else I could make with the offcuts or the wood shavings generated from using the drawknife.

 

 

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