Allan King – woodwork

I enjoy making wooden objects that are both functional and simple in design. The finished product gives a sense of fulfilment.

My only training took place up to year 12. In later years I worked with primary age children and it great to see the joy that they received when they displayed their completed articles.

Taking up woodwork just seemed to happen with encouragement given by my father-in-law Tom Ganderton.

I began collecting timber offcuts of red cedar placed as barbeque fuel at Rocky Creek Dam. Later with the help of several off-siders we felled and milled trees from farms, mainly Campour Laurel and Red Cedar which were destined to be burnt as clearing took place for nut plantations.

Now I use mostly recycled timber for toy making, also offcuts and scraps from sawmills and backyard prunings.

My toy making is simple in design and has proven reliable in the hands of youngsters as they get joy from being free to play freely with toys.

Timber should be touched to gain ultimate satisfaction.

Evol King – designer knits

I can’t remember when I first began to knit, my mother and grandmother were both keen knitters and somehow it just “happened” in primary school and it has been a passion, if not an obsession ever since.

Beautiful yarns inspire me, they provide a tactile almost sensual pleasure. There is a huge range of natural yarns to choose from – wool, in all of its forms, silk, cotton, linen, bamboo and even banana. At times a little synthetic is necessary to strengthen or stabilize the fibre. Unfortunately I have found it difficult to source good Australian yarns lately.

In the 1980’s I stopped using patterns from books as I wanted to knit to create and not be limited by the ideas of others.

Apart from socks and gloves, which have a defined form, I make everything just as the fancy takes me. I like to start at any point and see where my ideas take me. That way everything is unique and necessarily experimental. There are two things I can’t abide – one is sewing up knitting, so everything is knitted together never sewn. The other is knitting on four needles, hence the two needle glove and modular socks.

I am a life member of the NSW Knitters Guild. Anyone who likes to knit should join – it is a constant source of inspiration and companionship.

There is no limit to what I can make, by just using my imagination.