Fred Smith first introduced his collection of snowmen Those that had not been acquired by friends and relatives, that is!

The scarves are mostly knit by Fred’s wife.

The beehive was made from a piece of yew branch. This was treated in much the same way as the snowman to produce a domed shape of bee hive proportions. A Robert Sorby beading tool was used to create evenly spaced beads. The finishing touch was the ‘Happy Bee” button (See The Button Lady). This was glued into a small hole drilled between 2 of the beads.

Although this example is solid, the shape is ideal for a box.

Fred started with a piece of silver birch branch, which he turned down to a cylinder between centres. He then cut a spigot for the chuck at the base and a smaller one at the top for the hat. After parting in for the neck the shoulders and head were rounded over with a skew chisel.

The bowler hat was made from a piece of 1” mahogany. The top was turned and finished first then reversed into a jam-chuck to undercut the rim and make a recess to fit the spigot on the head.