This weekend, it was all about making stuff. As I mentioned in my previous post, the brilliant Steve and Zoe of the Dual Works ran their first Girls with Power Tools workshop and I was lucky enough to be one of the participants. It was a great to have a refresher on my still relatively-new DIY skills. The best part? We got to put our knowledge into action to make our very own shelves!

The first part of the morning covered basic tools, types of timber (I fell in love with MDF about 2 decades too late), and ways to cut the timber. Then came the big challenge – SHELF MAKING! I was a bit stumped as I wasn’t actually expecting this and after some panic-designing in my head, I decided to make a shelf/ledge for my spare room. You can never have enough ledges, right? I wanted to use materials that I’d not used before so MDF and Plywood were on my cards. I also wanted to combine some more challenging techniques as I’m pretty au fait with cutting straight lines (that’s not to say I’m any good at it!), drilling and screwing. With the MDF, I decided to round off my corners, fully expecting it to go horribly wrong. However, after some advice from Zoe, I accomplished some very rounded corners indeed! Hello MDF – my new BFF!

OOOOOOOH. NOICE.

My shelf/ledge consisted of some basic components: a back, shelf with an extra lip to stop things from sliding off, plus some hooks on the underside because… I always have more crap to hang from hooks (mug collection aside). Steve and Zoe were attentive throughout the day (making sure that we didn’t slice our fingers off; we didn’t) and made sure we were comfortable with what we were doing. I think for all of us, the course wasn’t just about learning new skills, it was about building our confidence to drill the s**t out of some wood. Because at the end of the day, we are in control of the tool, and the wood doesn’t feel pain, so why the need for fear?

If you follow me on Instagram, I’m sorry to bomb your screens again with my little creation:

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I’m not going to lie, I am pretty chuffed. Can’t wait to get it home and slap on a bit of paint! Steve and Zoe have more workshops lined up so check them out!