Caher man goes with the grain at Limerick market

CAHER-based woodturner William Edwards is carrying on a family tradition of woodwork by creating functional and unique craft items.
William Edwards is one of a group of Clare craftspeople who exhibits at the new monthly Artisans’ Craft Fair in the Milk Market in Limerick on the last Thursday of every month.
William, originally from Kent in the UK, has been living in Caher, near Feakle, for the past 23 years.
“Before coming to Ireland, I had been a science teacher in Austria and Singapore in international schools. I was looking for an English-speaking country to settle in and to find a new career and I always considered that I’d like to live in Ireland. My mother’s family were Irish. I saw an advertisement in a magazine for a house in Caher and we instantly liked it. It was one of those chance things. We came to have a look at the house and we fell in love with the area,” he explained.
He knew he didn’t want to teach anymore. “Right back to my great-great grandfather, my family had been woodworkers. I had carpentry tools from my grandfather and I had some skills already as I’d been doing some woodwork for enjoyment and making bits and pieces for myself and family and friends. So I decided to make a go of woodturning as a career,” William said.
He researched sourcing wood and found that local farmers and landowners were willing to sell wood to him, if he cut the trees himself.
“I rarely get wood from outside the county and I think it’s great to use locally sourced wood. Sometimes the people I get wood from, like for me to make something for them. There is an amazing variety in wood colour, hardness and texture with wood from across Clare, so it gives me good scope. I particularly like to work with yew when I can get it because it’s not as common as some other trees. But I work with almost any hardwood, including ash, beech, applewood, oak, pearwood, or laurel, which I have on my own site. I get bogoak sometimes too and I’d make smaller items out of bogoak.
The supply of wood is random because no one knows what wood will be available or how much of it, so the raw material is always a big surprise and determines what I make,” he commented.
He mainly likes to make items which are functional, with some of an ornamental element too.
“So primarily, I make bowls, lamps, boxes, items of everyday use like salt and pepper sets and other such items,” he said.
William stressed that woodturning is a handcraft. “I use a lathe, which simply spins the wood and the rest of the work is done by hand. It is quite time consuming but I think it’s worth the time. It would take up to one day to make one reasonably sized bowl. Each item I make starts right with the tree. I often cut the tree myself, season the wood and make the item. Sometimes I make the item from unseasoned wood and then leave it to dry. It can take a year or two to dry out wood.
People aren’t aware that there’s a lot of expertise involved in woodturning. There is a lot of love and care in this craft and without a real love and respect of wood, you wouldn’t do this. It also takes immense patience because what I’m selling now I had in my mind two to three years ago. I’m currently preparing wood for items I will sell in 2013 and 2014,” he remarked.
It is all one-off pieces that William makes. “No two pieces are quite the same and another woodturner wouldn’t have goods quite the same as mine. People do like that aspect of my goods and it is the main selling point. I love what I do because there is an element of surprise with everything I make. I never know from one day to the next how a certain piece will turn out. That’s what keeps it enjoyable and fresh. If it was very tedious, I couldn’t keep doing it,” he said.
Through most of the summer, William works seven days a week – woodturning five days a week and at fairs at the weekends.
“A market like this one in Limerick serves people very well. People who come to markets tend to have a respect for the work that goes into making goods. Markets present craftspeople with great opportunities for sales and commissions so it’s well worthwhile coming here. It is the only market of this scale in the Mid-West. There is a market from time to time in Ballyvaughan and sometimes in Ennis too in the run-up to Christmas, as well as in Bunratty, Killaloe, Nenagh and Loughrea. Markets are crucial for craftspeople like me,” William added.
He admitted like, most other self-employed people, and especially craftspeople, he has felt the sting of the recession. “Like other small craft businesses, in good times there’s a great demand for our work but essentially items like those I make are luxuries and not necessities, so if people are tightening their purse strings, it’s the luxury things that they cut out. I do find that the more unique the item, the greater that demand, so there is that pressure. Of course, selling items is important and is always encouraging but at the end of the day, I do what I do because I genuinely love it,” he commented.