Workshop

Owl Infants

  My workshop at present is a real mess.  I don’t just mean the usual dust and stone chips – it is splattered with Owlet poo and littered with their pellets. The Barn Owls nested in my new box and raised three chicks.   They’ve been out of the nest for about a month now but […]

Swaledale Fossil Stone

  Swaledale is a typical limestone Yorkshire dale, with its narrow valley bottom and steep glacier-formed vale sides.  The dale takes its name from the River Swale which passes through the valley Eastward and is said to be the fastest flowing river in England. This North Yorkshire dale has in turn given its name to […]

Does stone type affect what I carve?

    Earlier this week I went to Dunhouse Quarry to select stone for a project I’m working on.  This is a new quarry for me, so the trip was filled with excitement.     I know the look of their sandstones but haven’t carved them before.  Bringing different, and new-to-me-stone back to the workshop […]

Is my fossil a Rough Horsetail?

  From time to time I find fossils in the sandstone I’m carving – most always they look like plant stems or leaves, and occasionally seed pods.  It is always a rather exciting revelation as I excavate them, trying to keep the fossil complete.  The reason these discoveries are so compelling is that they represent […]

Snow Curlew

  I’m making good progress on my Curlew sculpture despite the east wind bringing with it snowstorms.  Carving continues – the flurries don’t last long, and they give me the chance to stand back and look properly at how things are developing. This stage of working the sculpture is thrilling – there’s definitely a Curlew […]

Wintry Workshop

  My footsteps in the lane made crunchy noises and my breath formed thick white clouds in front of me.  A glimpse through the hedge of my workshop – all very still and crisp. By the time I reached the gate, the sun was making everything golden, and sparkly. And thawing patches of grass.  My […]

In the Workshop today – Partridges

  There’s a growing bevy of partridges at the workshop – stone carved ones, and also the wild birds themselves, that seem to like to gather around my sheds. Other collective names for Partridge are bew, covey, jugging, and warren.  I seem to be working in multiples, indeed in flocks, at the moment.  It is […]

Summer Begins

  What a day to fledge – as if in celebration of the summer solstice  – my Pied Wagtail chicks at the workshop flew the nest into a gloriously warm, sunny day.  Everywhere I turned there seemed to be a startled, calling, fresh-feathered fledgling. Though they are still demanding of their parents for food, I […]

Birds at my Workshop

  This time of year is is a spectacular frenzy of birds, everywhere hungry mouths to feed and first flights for fledglings. I count myself very lucky to have a number of birds that have chosen to make their nests and raise their broods here in my work sheds.  It means I can watch their […]

In the Workshop today – otter carving

  The stone is warm from the heat of the sun and I’m trying to keep a clear head as I work the details of my otter sculpture.  This refining and making of small alterations at this stage of carving can have an enormous impact.  The chisel, with the smallest cut, may change the character, […]