Blog
Finding Your Next Class With Our New Chat Assistant
The School website holds an awful lot of information. There are beginner days and intermediate classes, guest tutors, one-to-one lessons, the waiting list, directions, what to wear on the day, and a blog that runs from sanding to proportion. It's all there, though finding the one answer you need can mean a fair bit of clicking about.
Book your 2027 class before it fills
I've been through the booking calendar and pulled together every class date that still has space between now and the end of July. Most of the beginner dates before Christmas are already full, so the new year is where the room is.
Why I tell everyone to take a lesson
Mike Waldt came down to the workshop recently to interview me for his YouTube channel. We covered eleven years of turning in a little over forty minutes. Towards the end he asked what advice I'd give someone starting out, and I gave him the same answer I give every student.
What We Learned This Year (So Far)
At The Woodturning School, we've welcomed hundreds of students through the doors since January. Each one arrives with questions, leaves with skills, and – without realising it – teaches us something in the exchange. Here's what we've learned.
Missed out on a class? There’s now a waitlist!
Until now, when a place came up on a fully booked class, the only way I could let people know was through the mailing list. It worked, but it meant the people who wanted that particular date had to be on the list, open the email in time and then go and book. From today, every fully booked class at The Woodturning School has its own waitlist.
Autumn Preview: Festivals, Fireside Turning, and Fresh Starts
As summer fades and the workshop becomes a refuge from cooling evenings, the woodturning calendar offers some of its best events.
Emma Cook is Coming Back in 2027
I am always glad when a guest tutor brings something to the workshop, and next year Emma Cook is bringing two new classes to you. One is about letting go and seeing what the lathe does with a pot of paint. The other is a careful, demanding project that rewards a steady hand. Between them, they cover a lot of ground.
Proportion and Design: Why Some Shapes Just Feel Right
Why do some bowls feel balanced and others feel awkward? Why does one curve satisfy while another unsettles? These questions have occupied me for years, and they became the foundation of my book "Woodturning: Form and Formula."
Mistakes as Design Opportunities: Reframing Failure
Catches happen. Sometimes the kind where the wood stops spinning, and your heart doesn't. A moment of inattention, a lapse in technique, and suddenly the piece has a deep gouge across its surface..
New Course: Colour and Lacquering Masterclass
Most of us finish a piece with oil or wax, and both do a good job. A surface can be taken a great deal further than that, and it is what our new colour and lacquer masterclass is about.
Introduction to Hollowing: The Next Challenge?
There comes a point in every bowl turner's journey when the question arises: what's inside?
When Good Enough Isn't (And When It Is)
There's a question that haunts makers: when is a piece finished Not technically finished, sanded, sealed, polished. That's measurable. I mean the other kind of finished: when do you stop refining and accept that what you have is what it's going to be?
Summer Preview: Long Days and Lathe Time
As spring turns to summer, the workshop calendar shifts. Longer days mean more turning time. Warmer temperatures make the workshop more comfortable. And the rhythm of the year offers natural pauses – holidays, garden time, outdoor life – that can paradoxically make workshop sessions feel more precious.
Welcoming Stewart Furini to the School in 2027
I'm glad to say that Stewart Furini RPT will be joining us at the school in 2027. He's bringing two days that take us somewhere new: decoration, texture and colour. Find out about his classes here.
Learning by Teaching: Why Explaining Deepens Understanding
There's a principle in education called the "protégé effect" – the phenomenon where teaching something helps you understand it better yourself. It's not just that teachers know more; it's that the act of teaching creates deeper knowledge.
The Viking Sunset comes to the workshop
Colwin came to teach the Viking Sunset Bowl last weekend. If you've spent any time at all around contemporary turning, you'll have seen one. It's the late Nick Agar's design, and it's become one of those pieces that stops people mid-scroll.
The Skew Chisel: Friend or Foe?
Ask any group of turners about the skew chisel and you'll get strong opinions. It's the tool people either love or fear, master or avoid. And that avoidance is a shame, because the skew is capable of producing the cleanest cuts in woodturning when used correctly.
Guest Tutor Spotlight: Emma Cook Returns
There are turners who follow traditional paths, mastering classic forms and time-tested techniques. And then there's Emma Cook.
What Your Sanding Is Hiding (And Why It Matters)
Here's a truth that experienced turners know but beginners often miss: sanding doesn't fix problems. It reveals them.
The Workshop as Sanctuary: Finding Your Third Place
Sociologists talk about "third places" – spaces that aren't home (first place) or work (second place), but somewhere else entirely. Cafes, pubs, community centres. Places where you can simply be, without the demands of domestic or professional life.