Blog
Some they fly, and some they swim
After the birds, a fish family.
Zebra Rock Birds
It isn’t often that I have red dust around, but I’ve been working on the Zebra Stone, making a couple of birds. The colouring and patterns are so unusual in this rock that I wanted to get the markings in the right places for the bird shapes – the splodges of red certainly influence […]
A pot for a baby Pilea
I’ve just bought myself one of these sweet little plants – its a Pilea Peperomioides (or you may know it by its other names Chinese Money Plant, or Pancake Plant). It has rather squishy, rubbery leaves, growing on vigorous plump stems. Here it is in one of my stone pots. It is going join […]
The Yews are filled with birds
I’ve just watched Goldcrest, but Blackbirds, Thrushes, Fieldfare and Greenfinches are turning up too. They’re stripping the Yew Tree of its fruits. Unlike many conifers, the common yew does not actually bear its seeds in a cone. Instead each seed is enclosed in a red, fleshy, berry-like structure known as an aril, which is […]
In the Workshop today – irresistible stone textures
I’m seduced.
It snowed, it snowed a lot!
It is still snowing! There are just four birds remaining, from my piece called Flock, carved in the purest ‘white as snow’ alabaster – now in my shop.
Oaks and Acorns
About this time last year I collected acorns, eight in total, and planted them in pots. For a number of reasons, along with natural withering and rot, I let two dry out during the summer beyond saving, and the geese nibbled three which didn’t survive, I have only two oak saplings left. They’re doing […]
Pyramid Gallery, York
This morning I delivered pieces to Pyramid Gallery in York for their Christmas Collection exhibition opening on 2nd December. It is ages since I’ve been to York, and this little narrow cobbled road (called Stonegate, which I rather like!) looks gorgeous with all its cheery, characterful, brightly lit shops. There’s a tempting glimpse of […]
Birdlets
They’re short carving days at the moment. Heavy overnight frosts take time to thaw, if at all, temperatures not getting much above freezing. Before I know it the sun is going down behind the hill at the back of the workshop and there’s no light left to work in. Today though I managed to […]
In the workshop today – chamfering
A chamfer is a symmetrical sloping surface at an edge or corner. Here it is the edge between two faces on a square column. A form of bevel is created at a 45 degree angle on adjoining right angled surfaces. There are four to do, one for each corner. In fact, this is a […]