Samuel Alexander

Hello friends, I hope you are well. 

I apologise for the silence on my channel. I have had a rather turbulent summer and have spend a few weeks in hospital.

I had just began my summer teaching season, having arrived in the UK when I had a spontaneous pneumothorax for the second time. It happened on the first morning of Spoontown - a beautiful festival and my season was over before it began.
My lung had a large leak that didn't inflate for over a week and I was taken to London for lung surgery.
I was then repatriated back home where upon a follow up X-ray, I had more air trapped that had to be drained again.
It has been about 5 weeks since the incident and finally, after a hospital follow up appointment this week, my lung seems to be doing well and has finally expanded almost fully.
I have one month of recovery before I am able to resume normal work activities and make again. I do have a couple of videos to edit for you all, so there will be more content - fear not! I have also had a lot of time to think about this channel and I have some nice new ideas to share with you all to help me really enjoy these productions.

I am so lucky to have had amazing support around me. Not only did the incredible community as Spoontown raise some money in their raffle to help with the disastrous loss of income this year, but I received amazing cards, gifts and amazing gestures that made this trauma, well, less traumatic!
My wife and kids were so patient in waiting for me to be home and my London friends helped me by visiting regularly to keep me sane!
I would like to mention my friend Ed for his incredible support from the first call of the ambulance to the final discharge. And to Nic and Fuzz for their help in generously running courses on my behalf whilst I was absent. And to Lee-John Phillips for keeping my pre-festival students happy. To Jill and all of the festival team for thinking of me and all of the incredible members of London Green Wood for their support.
Thank you to all of the medical teams for looking after me.

I am so sorry if you planned to learn with me this year. I really hope that I can travel and teach again next year.

This has all been very challenging for me for so many reasons and I think it'll take time to mentally recover as well as physically. Luckily, I have my family and a lovely outlet of making that I am familiar with enough to soon be able to unpack and unravel my feelings whilst creating some more calm carving videos.


Soon, I will be uploading all of my festival stock to my website. I have a few of my vessels and a few spoons too! As shipping regulations and new rules are so up I the air for small sellers, I can't really ship to many countries in Europe, I hope this will change. If you're interested in purchasing my work and live in a European country, please email me via my website and I can perhaps hold onto stock for you until I better understand the new regulations.

I apologise for the image, this is the best of all of the selfies I took. I believe I had just had surgery at this point haha.

That's all for now and I will return to taking things gently and slowly editing this new video for you.

1 week ago | [YT] | 438

Samuel Alexander

Dear friends,

I wish to share with you some exciting news.

A Calm Carving Membership is here!

It has been three years since I launched this channel and about two since I started to produce Calm Carving videos.

My YouTube channel has grown gradually and organically over these years and I love the sense of community that has blossomed. I am now able to add a little time outside of producing videos to increase your experience and to bring this community together so that we can gather, carve and discuss our crafts together.

I am now going to be offering a low-cost membership invitation for you to join called “The Calm Carving Circle”.

The Circle will be a place where we can all interact during live streaming, where your questions, inquiries and voices can be heard, where we can share what we have made and our tools and maintenance tips in a designated chat room. I also have some lovely future ideas such as monthly carving challenges, zoom carving clubs, and even online - and maybe in person carving exhibitions!
It may take a little while to get off the ground, but it has to start somewhere! For now, I would like to set the first live stream carving for Sunday June 14th at 6pm CET. I will be live for about 1 - 1.5hours.
Added perks will also include Member only polls to help me decide what to carve next and Calm Carving video credit shout-outs.

I wish to be clear that I don’t want to offer beginner carving techniques online as I feel strongly that the fundamentals are best learnt off-screen. I will however offer tips and critique if asked.

Please let me know if you have any questions about The Calm Carving Circle and I look forward to seeing where this goes!

If you wanted to show your support for my channel without any interaction, I have made a lower tier “Support Samuel Alexander” option should you wish to help fund the production of the Calm Carving videos you watch and enjoy.
The perks here will include: Loyalty badges, Emojis, Priority reply to comments and Early access to new videos!

If you are not interested in joining a membership, fear not, I will not be changing the format of my “Calm Carving” videos and they will still continue to roll out gradually as I make them.

As always, I really appreciate your support and feedback, and I cannot wait to bring you more and meet you all.


All the best,

Samuel Alexander

3 months ago | [YT] | 107

Samuel Alexander

Dear friends,

I hope you are well.

Tomorrow, I have a big surprise for you all.
My most ambitions calm carving video yet!
I made this large coffee cup for myself over the span of three months and captured it all into one video for you to see.
It captures from log, to first sip of coffee with all of the bits in between.

It will be live tomorrow at 4pm CET

I can’t wait for it to come out! I hope you like it.

- Samuel Alexander

3 months ago | [YT] | 282

Samuel Alexander

Dear friends,
I hope you’re well

I have added 5 new spoons to my online shop. It is somewhat of a random sale but I really enjoyed making these and learnt a lot from them. I am happy that that that may now leave the workshop.
Here is the link if you wanted to see
samuelalexandershapes.com/shop

All the best,

Samuel Alexander

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6 months ago | [YT] | 170

Samuel Alexander

Dear subscribers, 

I have just updated my online store with some signed copies of The Green-Wood Carver! I have also added a big bunch of spoons and kitchenware, some things that I have been slowly working on this springtime. 
Thank you all for the kind responses with the book and for your support and encouragement.
samuelalexandershapes.com/shop

Wishing you all the best

Samuel

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1 year ago | [YT] | 101

Samuel Alexander

Dear friends, I hope you are all well.
I am overdue a TLC video detailing how I care for my spoon knives.
I intend to shoot this when nI return from a teaching trip in the UK.

I'd love to now any questions or quires that you might wish me to answer! I have had a few interesting comments asking for particular interrogations and I wish for this post to create a space where you can ask questions of which I will answer in the next TLC (Tool Loving Care) video.


I will be out of town for 11 days and teaching a flurry of courses at the wonderful London Green Wood. There are still spaces available if you would like to come along. I have also shot a lovely little Calm Carving video that I will edit and post on my travels.

All the best and take care,

Samuel

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1 year ago | [YT] | 112

Samuel Alexander

Hello everyone.



I am finally ready to share with you all my big news!



I HAVE WRITTEN A BOOK!!!



It is called:

The Green-Wood Carver:

Slow Woodcraft For Beginners



It has been such a labour of love and I can’t express just how thrilled I am to be finally sharing this project and achievement.



It is a beginners guide to ignite a mindful wood carving journey and takes you on a guided walk through the forest of the craft. From the preparation, tools, materials, safety and maintenance and fundamental techniques, all the way to being able to independently carve a verity of projects.

Importantly, it echoes healthy themes of creative mindfulness, patience and slowness that like many others, I have learned and experienced along my own journey.

It is a perfect starting point for people to try something different with their hands whilst connecting with ancestral techniques and the beauty of nature.



As you know, my relationship with carving is deep. Since recovering and being discharged many years ago, I have made it my aim to help spread the healing power of woodcraft with the hope that it may reach those who might need it. Through teachings and sharing my processes I began a ripple that has introduced many to the craft but never would I have thought that I would be able to give back to carving in this capacity.



I would like to say a huge thank you to all those at Skittledog Books for recognising my mission to share my knowledge and for making this book so perfect!

To Charles Emerson for his wonderful photography and a huge thank you to the folk at Winderness Woods and the people who have helped create the incredible oasis that celebrates a woodland. It felt incredible to be surrounded by so much energy both within their cabin surroundings and also the inspiring trails.



Thank you to my family here in Czechia and my sister Em, my wonderful wife and beautiful daughter and to my incredible friends and makers who have helped and inspired me.



I hope you enjoy this first look at The Green-Wood Carver and I hope that it inspires many new makers to understand how important it is to connect with woodcraft.



It will be available both online and in stores from the 8th April (US) and the 10th April (UK and rest of the world) in all places that sell books! It is currently available for pre-order in many places online (some with a slightly different cover image). I have attached a link in my bio for those who my wish to take a look



I will share more about it closer to the publication date but for now, I will be found in the workshop, carving.



Warmth,



Samuel 🍏

1 year ago | [YT] | 229

Samuel Alexander

Dear wonderful subscribers, I have something to share with you all this weekend. 
Some exciting news and a reveal of a big project that I have been working on for a very long time! 
I am so excited. 
Stay tuned!


Image by: Charles Emerson

1 year ago (edited) | [YT] | 145

Samuel Alexander

Dear all, my winter collection of carved wares will be available this evening at 8pm Central European Time on my website. Thank you all for your support and I look forward to making more videos for you all!

1 year ago | [YT] | 65