Hands on Traditional skills and where to learn them

Green-wood furniture

What is it?Chairs, tables, stools and other furniture made from recently cut wood that still contains sap.

How it is done?First you must select the wood. Alison Ospina, who gives courses in making green-wood furniture, says hazel is best, as it sends out very few side shoots as it grows. It's also easy to find in hedgerows and shrubland. "You can also use birch, alder or holly, and in the United States they use maple and hickory. Essentially, any hardwood tree which has been coppiced" – or cut back to ground level every so often when it was in the ground, to encourage growth – "is suitable," she says.

What's next?For a green-wood chair, you begin by making the back posts from two slightly curved branches. Then you make a panel – the part of the chair that you lean against as you sit – for the back, joining it to the back posts with mortise-and-tenon joints. Next up are the front frame and the sides, followed by the seat and, if you are using them, arms. You can make the seat from planks of wood, such as elm, upholster it in leather or felt, or weave it from oat-straw rope (as in the traditional súgán chair), rushes or sisal. Ospina says, "I don't insist on everything being done by hand. You can pare the wood with a whittling knife, but we use sanders, cordless drills and a shaving horse as well. The most difficult part for beginners is learning how to use sharp tools."

How long does it take? Ospina reckons on a day to make a small table or stool and about three days to put together a chair – and she's sure the experience will stay with you. "Making these chairs touches a joy in people. I think it's the act of making something beautiful and functional out of a bundle of sticks. Each chair ends up a bit like the person who made it," she says.

Where do I sign up?Ospina runs one- and three-day courses in making green-wood chairs, small tables and stools from her studio at the Wooden House, Rossnagoose, Skibbereen, Co Cork (028-21890, greenwoodchairs.com). She sells her book Green Wood Chairs: Chairs and Chairmakers of Irelandat the courses as well as on her website. You can see her chairs at Transformations, a West Cork Craft Design Guild exhibition at the National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin, Dublin, until June 12th; Ospina will talk about making green-wood chairs tomorrow at 2pm (01-8040300, botanic gardens.ie). Her work is also on show at West Cork Inspires, an exhibition at Farmleigh House, Phoenix Park, Dublin, from May 30th to July 24th.