This commission was for a woodnymph with her hair blowing in the wind. Because of the way this log had developed, it really wanted to be carved with the woodnymph inside as she is. The customer still wanted a woodnymph with her hair blowing so we carved her another one and kept this one.
This commission was for a "Barbara Hepworth Style Sculpture" which was a delight for me to carve as Barbara Hepworth has been my favourite sculptor since I started sculpting wood at school.
The Tim Watkins Orienteering trophies were commissioned to be smart but different. There are four trophies for the main and 'senior' competitions; cherry for the womens' and oak for the mens'. The bases are stained oak.
This Dr. Who umbrella handle was commissioned in order to use it to make a mold that would then be used to make plastic handles for umbrellas to sell at a Dr. Who convention.
"Lady with Hair" was commissioned by a new Salon in London as a window feature. (In my defense, I wish to point out that this was the only time in my life I have taken an angle grinder to a lady's bottom.)
House and farm signs can be carved in all sorts of different styles. Painting the carved letters can increase the clarity of the sign.
The challenge here was that my customers wanted me to make two matching bowls from their own tree (ok so far) but they specified the shape they wanted! This was a rounded square as seen from the top and very deep with nearly vertical sides. The difficulty was that it couldn't be made on a lathe or carved by hand with conventional carving tools!
The Mobius Strip fascinates me; that a three dimensional curved shape can have only one side and one edge still amazes me nearly 40 years after I first carved one. It is also a very tactile shape and I enjoy seeing the way that some people respond to it. That first one was stolen recently and I was asked to make a replacement by the lady I gave it to. That has lead to making a series of others in different woods.
These pictures show the gradual process of hand carving a Mobius strip through to the finished item. If you wish to have a go yourself - enjoy! I use a paper one, or a previous effort, as a model; mark out on my chosen timber, cut with a bandsaw and drill out the bulk of the waste with a Forster bit. Then it is a case of carving and abrading while keeping a careful eye on the shape of the model. At some point, drill through at each end at the point of the tightest bend (I would now do that earlier than shown in these pictures). When you have got close to the size and shape you want, carefully cut through in the middle to separate the two perpendicular sections to give you your basic continuous loop; for final shaping and smoothing, normal power sanders do well for the convex surfaces and flap wheels are really helpful for the concave sections.
This commission was from a customer called Peacock who wanted a walking stick stand and two pairs of coat hooks inpired by one of the Mobius strips. Each of the three pieces was to have an appropriate peacock for decoration!
