We have been making a new line in spatulas, butter knives and spreaders in yew, walnut and elm. These are beautifully made and finished with proceeds going to our 25th Year celebrations in 2012 at Wooplaw Community Woods.

A regular exhibitor at Buy Design Gallery, Pete has delivered in a couple of new landscapes. His take on the Border countryside and palette of colour changes with the season, but it always capture the mood and movement of the area. His landscapes are never hanging very long in the gallery.

We picked up a beautiful range of ceramic vessels from Myer Halliday last week from his studio workshop. He was just off to the States for a big posh craft do. (Hope he did alright) A new direction for Myer and definately worth a look at. Various sizes and colours now in stock at Buy Design Gallery.

Andy Irons has only been turning wooden objects since April of this year. Based in Knoydart he has the eye and touch of a very experienced wood turner. We haven't seen a form like his tall Birch vessels before. They really are quite unusual. Using timber from his base in Knoydart on the West Coast he is on his way to becoming one of the more acomplished turners in Scotland using native hardwoods. 

A new line of Burnt Birlinns from the landlocked workshop at Buy Design Gallery. These abstract forms are waiting to sail away with you. Different sizes and shapes in local hardwoods.

Matthew Ellwood very unusual and amazingly detailed towers of Edinburgh, Newcastle and Durham are available as mounted or framed lithographic prints. These are one-off in all the meanings of the phrase. Mind boggingly detailed and quirky, the most well known and some not so well known nooks and crannies of the cities are collated together in a visual vista. Precise work, perfect prints.

We have a festive weekend over 3rd and 4th December to which you are invited. With a really great range of small, medium and large works for sale .... all presents with a diffrence. We of course have our Gift Vouchers - popular as ever -  if you can't make up your mind for a family or friend. We are also open between Christmas and New Year as we know that many of our customers enjoy the walks around Harestanes with the family. So please come in for the craic.

Janet McCrorie has brought in some more of her very popular Scottische painting. The movement of the dance and the sounds of the ceilidh are with us again. Available as mounted prints or orginals framed. Janet has also brought in some of her architectural painting. Snapshots of Edinburgh in a collage of textures.

We thought we would share a comment made by a recent workshop participant -

"I'm amazed that I made (with lots of help) a piece of large, friendly, usable furniture in just one day.  Straight from the woods - no waiting for, or ordering of materials, thus giving a direct connection with the woods and trees.  I was also amazed at/seduced by the pure white wood being revealed by stripping the willow bark. Keith and Eoin are fab instructors, very patient, knowledgeable and, very fortunately, 100 steps ahead of us students.

I feel that I come to life when I do your workshops, feel a great sense of freedom. It's always difficult when you start working with new materials/tools, you feel a bit stupid/awkward/ out of your comfort zone, but I still feel free from what I do normally, and generally everyone in the class is in the same boat, in a learning situation.

Normally I draw what I want to see made and/or use stock materials and expect the object to 'be' that drawing. But being in a situation where you have to react quickly, work with unknown materials, learn to use what's immediately available can be alarming initially but it makes you more resourceful, gives you a good understanding of the materials and bridges the gap between us and our ancestors. There are no 'down the line' implications to what I make there, no fussy clients or employers to please. It is done for pure enjoyment and for the making process.  I'm sure my not so distant, itinerant, ancestors must have made things like this, they were pretty resourceful folk.

I will be back to make something else, maybe a sofa next time ! "

We were looking to introduce a bit of early colour to the Butterfly Garden this year after that long winter we had. So we had to cut a load of ash and willow thinnings from Wooplaw Community Woods as part of the sustainable crop we have there and gave them a longer life. The garden is bouncing back now after all that great weather we had last month and they have worked really well. Something different don't you think ?