#cabinet makers

[almostarts]

Ian Ingersoll, Custom Live Edge queen-size platform bed frame,

USA, c. 1990,

Walnut, 45 h × 110 w × 88¼ d in (114 × 279 × 224 cm)

[goat-boots]

Excerpts from A Cabinetmakers Notebook by James Krenov, a 70s book on woodwork that’s very hard to find in paper, but free on internet archive. Photos from my empty train journey in Scotland.

I made these for my Patreon but they felt tumblr spirited.

[tilbageidanmark]

Driftwood that lights

[londonedge]

Contrasting times on the side of a building, Bethnal Green

The ghost sign for the old cabinet makers and upholsterers contrasts with the modern graffiti

[scotianostra]

August 20th  1872, saw the death of the Scottish “the laureate of the nursery”, William Miller.

Miller served an apprenticeship to a wood-turner, and became a skilled cabinet-maker, a trade which he followed for the rest of his life. He began to write poetry while still a youth, contributing to local newspapers and periodicals; the appearance of ‘Willie Winkie’ and several other nursery poems in the 3rd and 4th series of Whistle-binkie (1839-43) established his reputation.

William Miller wrote Willie Winkie for his son, Stephen.

It has been translated into countless languages and has become the greatest known and one of the best-loved nursery rhymes around the world. Here it isthe full poem in its original Scots tongue;

Wee Willie Winkie Rins through the toun, Up stairs and doun stairs In his nicht-gown, Tirling at the window, Crying at the lock, “Are the weans in their bed, For it’s now ten o’clock?

“Hey, Willie Winkie, Are ye coming ben? The cat’s singing grey thrums To the sleeping hen, The dog’s spelder’d on the floor, And disna gie a cheep, But here’s a waukrife laddie That winna fa’ asleep.”

Onything but sleep, you rogue! Glow’ring like the moon, Rattling in an airn jug Wi’ an airn spoon, Rumblin’, tumblin’, round about, Crawing like a cock, Skirlin’ like a kenna-what, Wauk’nin’ sleeping folk.

“Hey, Willie Winkie – The wean’s in a creel! Wamblin’ aff a body’s knee Like a very eel, Ruggin’ at the cat’s lug, Rav’llin’ a’ her thrums – Hey, Willie Winkie – See, there he comes!”

Wearied is the mither That has a stoorie wean, A wee stumpie stousie, That canna rin his lane. That has a battle aye wi’ sleep, Before he’ll close an e’e – But a kiss frae aff his rosy lips Gies strength anew to me.

His best poems were thus produced before he was thirty-six; he then wrote little until the year before his death. He died in poverty in 1872, and is buried in Tollcross, in a plot that does not bear his name. There is a memorial to Miller in the Glasgow Necropolis, and in 2009 a plaque was placed on the wall of the brewery which now stands on the site of his former home in Dennistoun, another blue plaque marks where Wee Willie Winkie was seen in his night goon!

The clip is from my archives and was a FB live video from November 2017.

If you’re ever running through the toun, be it in yer nicht goun or other attire, you’ll find the Wee Willie Winkie blue plaque halfway along the block between the Tron Theatre and Saltmarket in Glesga.

[ultrabrite-dl]

Here's some of my work in marquetry from school (2020-2021), made by hands and mostly at home (thanks Covid).

There's ebony, movingui, plane tree, amaranth wood, maple wood, padouk and a variety of wood burr.

The Sun and Moon and the Snakes patterns are my creations while the others one were patterns given to me by my teacher.

They were fun to make but honestly, I hope you never have to experience the stress of cutting through ebony and sweating madly because HOLY MOLY ebony is beautiful but IT'S SO FRAGILE GODANG IT!

[scotianostra]

August 20th  1872, saw the death of the Scottish "the laureate of the nursery", William Miller.

Miller was born in Glasgow in 1810 and spent most of his boyhood in what is now the city’s Parkhead area. His ambition to become a surgeon was ended by serious illness and he was eventually apprenticed as a wood-turner. He became a skilled craftsman, developing a particular talent for cabinet-making. Early in his life he began writing poetry and children’s rhymes, mainly in the Scots language he used in everyday life.

His song Wee Willie Winkie along with other verse by Miller, first appeared in Whistle Binkie: Stories for the Fireside, a compendium of songs, in 1841, it went on to appear in further editions of that and many, many more publications since then. However it was not received well at first, indeed the editor of Whistle-Binkie,David Robertson was not keen on the grumpy figure personifying sleep and it was received with mixed opinions by Robertson’s friends. To settle the dissent, he dispatched the manuscript to R. M. Ballantyne of Edinburgh (who had himself contributed much to the publication and was the writer of over 100 books in his lifetime) who asserted, according to the Perthshire Advertiser that:

“There is not at this moment in the whole range of Scottish songs, anything more exquisite in its kind than that little Warlock of the Nursery, “Wee Willie Winkie.”

Miller suffered from ill health throughout his life and never managed to make a career solely as a poet and continued to work as a cabinet-maker and wood-turner for most of his life, most of the time from his own house, he did however have his fans, Lord Jeffrey, founder of the prestigious Edinburgh Review, being one, another was the Countess of Selkirk, and it was during one of his bouts of illness it became known she helped the erstwhile poet out when reported in The Glasgow Herald in 1846 that…:

“We learn that the Countess of Selkirk has transmitted to Mr David Robertson of this city, by the hands of the Rev.Mr Underwood of Kirkeudbright, the sum of £2, for behoof of William Miller, the author of “Wee Willie Winkie,” &c.; her Ladyship having been impressed with a favourable opinion of the poet from having perused his Nursery Rhymes. Mr Miller is so much improved, that he is now able to pursue his occupation of a wood-turner.”

In November 1871, an ulceration of the leg forced William give up his trade. Despite the increasing frailties of his body, his mind remained as sharp as ever and he continued to write and disseminate poetry, works which appeared in publications such as The Scotsman. Learning of his condition as an invalid, The Greenock Telegraph and Clyde Shipping Gazette on the 1st March 1872 urged its readers to furnish monetary contributions ‘for this deserving old poet:

WILLIAM MILLER THE POET.

“Perhaps the most delicious nursery song that has been written by a modern minstrel for the delectation of the “bairns” in these northern regions is the song of “Wee Willie Winkie.” We are sorry to hear that the writer of it has for a long time past been an invalid, and that he is in poor circumstances. William Miller has a strong claim on the public for some help to smooth his declining years. He is now upwards of sixty, and at his advanced age, afflicted as he is with serious disease of the limbs, there is no prospect of his ever being able again to resume work. By trade he is a wood turner, and he resides in Glasgow, of which city he is a native. One who knows him says that his heart seems still young, his mind still vigorous; but he feels his position irksome and his spirit galled that he cannot now, as formerly, earn by the swear of his brow the bread of independence.”

You have to love the language of the day used in these newspapers!

The following July, Miller stayed at Blantyre for a time, hoping that the town’s airs – the settlement was 8 miles from Glasgow – would reinvigorate him. The trip proved futile and he was soon returned to his son’s house in the city, having suffered a paralysis of the lower limbs. He passed away, destitute, at the age of 62 on the 20th August, 1872.

The poet subsequently received a number of obituary notices in the newspapers lamenting the loss of this Scottish talent. The account below, in The Greenock Telegraph and Clyde Shipping Gazette on the 22nd August, 1872), reports the grim news:

DEATH OF WILLIAM MILLER, THE POET

“The death is announced of William Miller, the nursery poet. He was born in Glasgow in August, 1810. He was early apprenticed to a wood turner, and by diligent application to business made himself one of the best workmen of his craft; and even in his later years there were few who could equal him in the quality of his work. It is, however, as a poet that he is known to fame. In his early youth he published several pieces in the Day and other newspapers; but from the fact that no record of these productions was observed, it is impossible to know when they issued from his pen. 

The first thing that brought him into public notice was the publication of the nursery song “Willie Winkie.” The MS. of this song was sent to Mr. Ballantine in Edinburgh, who gave it unqualified praise, as being the very best poem of its kind that he had ever seen. This led to the publication of the poem, and it at once attracted a large amount of attention. This was followed by a number of other pieces of a similar description, all of which were received with great favour, and led to the author’s acquaintance with Lord Jeffrey and other gentlemen of literary tastes. 

The best of his nursery songs which have obtained for him the well-earned title of the Laureate of the nursery were all written before he was 36 years of age; but it was not till 1863 that, at the request of several friends, he collected together and published a small volume, entitled “Nursery Songs and other Poems.” It had a wide circulation and has earned for the author a reputation that will never decay.

Miller is buried in Tollcross Cemetery in a plot that does not bear his name a sad state of  affairs that led to friends and admirers raising a memorial stone by public subscription and it stands in the Glasgow Necropolis, near the Bridge of Sighs.

In 2009, Glasgow City Council unveiled a tribute to the poet at his former dwelling, 4 Ark Lane in Dennistoun, erecting a bronze plaque on the wall of the Tennent’s Brewery which now sits on the site of William Miller’s house. A blue plaque in the Trongate also serves as a quirky tribute to his most famous creation, declaring that ‘Wee Willie Winkie was spotted here in his nightgown’ in 1841.

It is clear that, even now, William Miller’s pyjama-clad figure still urges children to get into their beds and sleep as a nursery song learnt and replayed the world over

Here is the  Scots version of ‘Wee Willie Winkie,’ a rhyme anglicised very soon after its publication:

Wee Willie Winkie runs through the toon,

Up stairs and doon stairs, in his nicht-goon,

Tirling at the window, cryin’ at the lock,

Are the weans in their bed, for it’s now ten o’clock?

Hey, Willie Winkie, are ye coming ben?

The cat’s singing grey thrums to the sleeping hen,

The dog’s spelder’d on the floor, and disna gie a cheep,

But here’s a waukrife laddie that winna fa’ asleep.

Onything but sleep, you rogue, glow’ring like the mune,

Rattling in an airn jug wi’ an airn spoone,

Rumbling, tumbling round about, crawing like a cock,

Skirlin’ like a kenna-what, wauk’ning sleeping fock.

Hey, Willie Winkie – the wean’s in a creel,

Wambling aff a bodie’s knee like a very eel,

Ruggin’ at the cat’s lug, and raveling a’ her thrums-

Hey, Willie Winkie – see, there he comes!’

Wearied is the mither that has a stoorie wean,

A wee stumple stoussie, that canna rin his lane,

That has a battle aye wi’ sleep before he’ll close an ee

But a kiss frae aff his rosy lips gies strength anew to me.

[mdkitchens]

How to Choose Cabinet Makers in Geelong for Your Kitchen

Looking for cabinet makers in Geelong? Learn what to look for, the right questions to ask, and how to find the best fit for your kitchen pro