Blog
Small round stone succulent planter
I’m working on perfecting the curves and bowl shape of these little stone pots for succulents, and getting the rim just right. It is a slow and delicate task, but when each has its own little plant, the trials of working the stone are forgotten. Part of the appeal of succulents is their variety […]
Letter carved stone sundial
Usually I use brass dials for the sundials I make, insetting them into the stone top, but recently I’ve been working on a rather special Wall Dial which has had all the detail carved into the stone. It was designed by Stephen Holehan and calculated for the exact location for the client, taking into […]
Stem Dwellings
Or home for twigs, buds, blooms, posies, stalks – they also look rather well holding a feather or two. The trees are bursting with catkins and buds at the moment and tiny, delicate petals are emerging through the soil – I love to bring indoors some of these first signs of spring. I’ve carved […]
Pure Heart
A straightforward stone, shaped by wind and weather, tides and time. Nature smoothed and touched by pink, by me. Handled. Held.
Elementum
It was an unexpected find – I’d followed a link from a beautiful Barn Owl illustration by Rebecca Clark and found myself introduced to Elementum. The name intrigued, Elementum – A journal of nature & story. At the time I was much too interested in Rebecca’s beautiful work, but later went back to look […]
As light as a feather
Sometimes when I’m unsure about how a carving will look, or indeed whether I can achieve the result I would like, I have little practice runs. In this case I’ve had a trial run carving a feather – I wanted it to look light, and floating – not a quill sort of feather, but […]
Nature’s favourite shape
Is the hexagon nature’s favourite shape? I keep seeing it, and the more I look, the more the six sides jump out at me. It is quite a satisfying, solid shape – a stable shape. The Giant’s Causeway, honeycomb, tortoise or turtle shell, snowflake, flower shapes, poppy seeds – there are lots more examples. […]
The Story of Star Carr
Last night I joined the Appleton History Group for one of their evening talks given by Professor Nicky Milner from York University. Star Carr: An early Mesolithic site at Seamer, near Scarborough Star Carr is a Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age) archaeological site, dating to around 9000 BC, just centuries after the end of the […]
Red Bird
These little treasures of red pebbles and my other thoughts on red stone recently, have inspired me to carve a piece of red sandstone that I had in the workshop. It was a slim slither of quite course grained stone, with areas of differing textures and it somehow became a bird – Red Bird. […]
Big Garden Birdwatch 2017
The sun came out for my birdwatch, after days of cold grey. The bird sound is spring-like. Spotting and recording the birds is the easy bit – I hope to sketch them as I see them during my count, which I find is quite a challenge. Particularly the Nuthatch as it sneaks off behind […]