And now begins five weeks free from work. Whatever will we do?

We have embarked upon a five week stretch of work-free bliss. There are a bunch of little trips planned and some time around the house to get stuff done.

Newforge Workshop

Since migrating my business to the mainland, I haven’t had much time to work on jewellery making. At least part of that is due to workshop space. For several months after we moved the space was filled with boxes, then has served many different functions aside from functional workshop.

Most recently it was pulled apart and partially consumed as a plant room for our air source heat pump as the upstairs cupboard was too small and awkward to fit the new hot water cylinder.

Unfortunately that process involved cutting a cupboard in half and ripping down all of the shelving built around the boiler. It did mean that the awkward central area was freed up for access and tool storage. Recently I’ve been rebuilding the space using bits of the last workshop and making a Frankenstein’s monster-esque tapestry of plywood. I’m trying to approach it in a somewhat thoughtful manner, maintaining access to piping and valves where possible to facilitate maintenance in future.

The main tool wall is almost complete, and now I’m tackling the rest of the space in an attempt to organise my collection of tools and bits and bobs.

I wasn’t sure if I should clad more of the existing wall in plywood and hang up tools there. I settled for another set of shelves instead.

This is very much a “use up everything lying around” sort of project. I glued some battens on to the vertical pieces to support the new shelves. The shelves were cut from the old backing board that was behind the original units. I did end up cutting them at pretty funky angles to compensate for the other pieces. It’s like a weird open-ended puzzle where none of the pieces quite fit.

I had to cut an access hole on the right hand side through to a valve (future proofing!). The unit is glued and nailed into place. I added a few battens at right angles so the unit could then be screwed to the wall. I’ve got a few tool-holder magnets from Lidl to install and I’ll continue to build shelving and other storage. After that it will be a matter of getting my ring making tools re-installed and re-starting Newforge Rings in earnest.

The Food

Easter is always a time of cooking and baking, and this year was no different. I made more hot cross buns and a few rounds of pizza, including a chorizo, jamon iberico, mozzarella, cheddar, and pineapple combo. “A Spaniard in Hawaii”…

Easter Sunday brought the big roast – a beef rib roast to be precise with all the trimmings. This time I cooked the beef in my cast iron pan on a bed of onions, rosemary, and thyme. High temperature roast for twenty minutes followed by just over an hour at low temperature.