Neil Clayton

I have been making things out of wood since I was 5 or 6 when I made a bath toy, a simple wooden boat, constructed like a dug out canoe, out of a bit of 2"x1" pine; carefully sawing a prow and using a brace and bit to hollow out the inside.  My father then 'cleaned up' the bottom with a chisel and I filled in the holes made by the bit's lead screw with linseed putty. The whole exercise taking most of an afternoon. I don't remember whether I asked to be allowed to make something or whether I was 'invited' into my father's workshop to keep me out of mischief -- probably the latter!  While I was patiently making my little boat my father was probably constructing something bigger to be part of the set for a play put on by the Ditchling Players, a local amateur dramatic society of which he had been a member since the late 40's.

​

These days I spend my time making things that are needed around the house and many things that aren't!  Mostly spoons and stools.  Why spoons and stools?  Well, when I was working I only had a few hours at a weekend to indulge myself in a hobby, and projects that went on weekend after weekend became quite hard to complete, whereas a spoon can be carved in an hour or two from start to finish.  I quickly discovered that I love seeing how wood splits and then turning it into something useful rather than trying to squeeze a pre-determined shape from a piece of straight-grained wood.  

​

I added stools to my repertoire because I was asked if I could make something out of an oak tree that some friends had to take down in their garden.  I then discovered the joy in cleaving a trunk and seeing what shapes emerge. On my stools page you'll see some of the shapes that have!

​

Recently I started making stools for The Ship's Company to sell to help fund a reconstruction they are building of the Saxon Ship that was buried at Sutton Hoo in Suffolk, the discovery of which was featured in the film The Dig.  Several local craftspeople are using the offcuts from this build to create beautiful articles which are sold in their shop at The Longshed in Woodbridge.

​

If you visit the beautiful north west highland coast of Scotland, you can also find my work in my uncle and aunt's shop, Croft Wools & Weavers, just north of Applecross (in Wester Ross), looking out over the Isle of Skye and right on the North Coast 500 route.