Flotsam and jetsam
Although I like to use pitch pine from the factories of the North West as the main component for my beds, there is something irresistible and romantic about making a new and creative use of the gnarled, characterful timbers thrown back by the sea and retrieved along the Mersey Estuary. By combining the two I like to think I am blending together the maritime and industrial traditions of where I have grown up and lived.
I found this beam close to the Blundellsands slipway at Hightown. It had to be sawn into three pieces and then dragged across the shingle to the car. Many thanks to Steve Rees who nearly put his shoulder out helping me!
It will make an impressive headboard at some point, weighing in at 110 kilos, although I am in two minds about the two gnarled head pieces in their original state.
This piece of keel from an old boat was also at Hightown.
And will eventually become a headboard and matching blanket chest for a Henge Bed. Although they can't be seen on this picture, the copper nails which hold the shiplap boards together polish up really well and make an attractive feature.
What attracted me to this piece of timber were the four huge, bent nails sticking out of it. They hint at the enormous power of the sea in being able twist them like that. This will eventually become the cross-piece for a headboard.
It was a very cold, wet day when I dragged these two pieces along the beach to the car, and they were so waterlogged it felt like they they weighed a ton! They had been embedded in the sand close to each other. Given that the pieces have the same dimensions it lends itself to the conclusion that they are landfill rather than flotsam, but what was sticking up still had lots of distinctive wave erosion.
But they are drying out nicely and will become the legs to a future bed. I will try to keep the eroded, sea-washed nature of their surface and just plane the inside surfaces where the mattress will be.
This baulk of timber is still on the shoreline at Hightown. It measures about 15" x 12" and is about 40 feet long, and there are rusted and encrusted bolts through it. I don't know how I'll cut it up or get it off the beach, or even what I'll do with it, but it's too good to miss!
