Rodas Design at Oxfordshire Artweeks

This May I will be participating in two exhibitions for Oxfordshire Artweeks and I will be showing some new garden benches and tables as well as some old favourites.

The first is in Lower Heyford, North Oxfordshire and runs from the 5th May. Click on the link here: Art More Lovely

 This is a group exhibition with four other artists – prints, photos, sculpture and collage – and is based in a lovely old rectory house and garden. Teas and cake available too. I will be at the show most of the time it is open. Nearby attractions include walks along the canal and Rousham House and Garden

The second is in Little Wittenham, South Oxfordshire and runs from 19th May. It’s called Sculpture in the Orchard.

This again is a group exhibition with quite a few sculptors showing their work in a beautiful orchard setting. There is also an indoor exhibition with ceramics, jewellery and painting. I will only be attending this show from time to time so please give me a call first if you would like to meet me there.

Nearby to this are the wonderful Wittenham Clumps and historic Dorchester Abbey which is a mile away over the river and across the meadows.

Looking forward to seeing you.

Good weather for Willow Domes

I have just been reading that this was the wettest April since records began. That’s excellent news for the willow screen I planted back in December.

Here is a photo of it a couple of weeks ago. It’s good to see it all sprouting. Now all it needs is some sun and plenty more rain to get it fully established.

Traditional oak pergola with curved beams – more photos

Last autumn I finished a large pergola. Here are some more photos.

This shows nearly the full length of the pergola – about 35 meters.

Here’s a view from the other side of the garden.

And here’s the view as you walk through the pergola.

The timber is all responsibly sourced English oak. Construction is very traditional with pegged mortice and tenon joints.

My latest table

For the last few weeks I have been making a rather interesting outdoor dining table. My client wanted something a little different – interlocking curves rather than boring straight slats.

This is what I came up with. I chose characterful boards to cut the top out of so there is the odd knot, split or sloping grain but gives a much more vibrant surface. All the oak for the top is from woodlands local to Oxford where I’m based. It’s a big, heavy table – the top is nearly two inches thick and it’s 5ft diameter (just over 150cm) – a good size for six people.

Winter is Willow Dome time

December to March is the time when we can build willow domes. This winter we have managed to get most of our willow locally from in and around Oxford. Some of it came from a well established willow dome that we cut every year, and some of it came from from some local water meadows in Dorchester on Thames.

Here’s a photo of me cutting the willow on a cold morning a few weeks ago.

We’ve used this willow for building a willow fence, or rather a screen, around a trampoline in a back garden, and also for maintaining some existing domes in a local school.

It’s difficult to take a good photo of this as the trampoline tends to dominate – I suppose that’s why they wanted it screened. The willow will provide much more of a visual barrier as it starts to leaf in a month or two.

Here’s some detail…

Big oak planters

Back in the summer we made four large oak planters for a local client. These were very substantially made from 50mm thick oak boards. Height was around 750mm.

I went back to visit them last week. They have now been filled with earth and planted with herbs. The colours all go beautifully together.

Curved Oak Bench

Here’s another view of the benches I made last month.

The rain brings out the grain of the oak very nicely. The colour will slowly fade away to silvery grey over the course of the next year or so as the UV gets to timber.