TECHNICAL Home truths
52 The Woodworker & Good Woodworking August 2019 http://www.getwoodworking.com
Not going Kevin
I forgot all about Kevin. I’d go conventional.
Rectilinear room with a doorway at the end
and a window in the middle. A Wendy house
should have style. It should have charm.
Charm is an elusive design element. Rather
than a tent, this was indeed an elemental
house. There wasn’t much to discuss about
the studwork. The charm would have to come
in the cladding.
On a gable end, tiles normally project, are
clipped in place, and pointed with mortar. I wasn’t
going to get into that. Here they abut wooden
parapets and their edges are hidden. The peakof the roof has to clear a semi-cylindrical ridge
tile. I thought of a flouncy fall of geometry like
something in Amsterdam, but the pitch of the
roof wasn’t high enough to make it work, and
it would leave end-grain exposed. On the parapet,
a piece of batten protects the end-grain as what
you might call a flat cap.
The doorway received a touch of detail. I
rounded the corners. There was to be no door
because I had the image of a gust of wind trapping
tiny fingers. Anyway, this is an outdoor, garden
experience. A cave. The curves add a distinct
design detail. According to my own rules I should
repeat this motif somewhere else. The window
frames are an obvious choice, but as I write this, I
haven’t decided. The windows could easily receive
a sheet of Perspex, but I wasn’t going to do that
right now either. I had plenty to be getting on with.
For something put together in, let’s say, a week
(I strung it out longer than that), it has a pleasantly
medieval air. The roof will leak. The walls will let
in the wind, except in the rain when the softwood
swells and closes the gaps. Then the rain will drive
through the glass-less windows and the empty
doorway. This is a fair-weather cave. It could be
squeezed, flashed, caulked, glazed and hatched
to make it seaworthy but that is another level of
production. And gravity. I’ll keep my eye on it over
the years, and do what’s necessary or desirable.
I said at the beginning that it was Imogen, not
Jaya, who wanted a play house. Turned out it was
me. I like making furniture but I like building even
more. A building is furniture you live in. It affects
the way you feel. It creates the way you feel. It
creates you. It stays with you, as it has stayed
with Imogen since she and Jessica were just a
few years old. I consider it a privilege that I can
do the same for Jaya and Risha. I’ve made a place
for play, and a place for memories. I hope Kevin
would approve. I don’t care about Disney; this
fantasy is real.Cut willow Green willowGREEN GROWS THE WILLOW (& A FEW OTHER THINGS)
A couple of months ago (WW June) I showed you my attempt at laying a willow
ring. Just in case you thought I was heavy handed and hopeful, this is how it has
responded: explosively!8 The windows could of course be fitted with Perspex or glass. I wouldn’t want an opening casement for the
same wind/hinges/fingers reason that I don’t want a door. Fixed glazing would deny the opportunity to use
the sill as a counter, so the girls couldn’t play shop. And it would introduce a level of detail incompatible with
what is otherwise an elemental basic building