Got Wood? Italian art in the middle ages… it’s not all painting.

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One of the least explicable aspects of Italian art culture that I have come across here is the way that painting and sculpture seem to be the only media that get any real respect. While admittedly great* and astonishing** painters and sculptors were apparently tripping all over each other*** in Italy between 1050-1700 AD**** at … Read more

What do Penguins and Camels have in common?

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I get a lot of my best ideas while brushing my teeth. This morning, as I watched the water swirl down the drain, I suddenly thought about how much expensively-heated water gets wasted every day from shower stalls around the world. And then I thought about penguins and camels. Because they both have an arrangement … Read more

Oh Finland, how art thou?

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Thanks to my latest posts, about Lucca and Florence, my Finnish friends are now thinking “right, we’ve seen the last of the English git. He ain’t never coming back”. But hold, not so fast. I have moved countries many times in my life (England ’73-78; Argentina ’78-80; England ’80; Botswana ’81-86; Peru ’86-92; Scotland ’92-94; … Read more

3 guidelines for tourists. And the highlights of Florence

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While living in Lucca, I am taking advantage of the opportunity to see something of the rest of Tuscany, and indeed Italy. Most recently, I went to Florence to catch up with Heidi Zimmerman, she of the sumptuous Meyer longsword plate reproductions, as she passed through with Chris Vanslambrouck (who was touring Italy teaching Meyer). I took the … Read more

Meditation Stool in Walnut

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It has been a very long time since my last post; I have spent relatively little of it in the workshop, other than to make some scabbards, but a while back my friend Heli asked me to make a meditation stool for her. I jumped at it as a cast-iron excuse to potter about with … Read more

How to Win More Fights, in one easy step.

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I have been stuck in bed with some ghastly ailment for the last week or so, and am still not recovered yet (don’t tell my wife I’m working!), so I’ll be brief. The question on many fencers’ minds is how to win more matches. The solution is pretty simple: be a better fencer. Good fencers … Read more