Making the Jackie Collins Woman of the Year award for Jacqueline Gold, the boss of Ann Summers

Each year, for the last three years, I've been honoured to be asked to carve this award. It is presented annually by the cancer charity Penny Brohn UK to a woman who is particularly inspiring: not only because of their professional or charity work but also because they have spoken publicly about their fight with cancer.

The recipient in 2018 was Jacqueline Gold, who is the chief executive of Ann Summers. This company sell lingerie and other items to spice up people's love lives, from shops in town centres all over the UK. 

Each award is specially designed for the person who will receive it and this year's was no exception. The charity contacted Ms Gold's Personal Assistant, who told them what things she likes, then that information was relayed to me and informed the first design ideas. 

I used some Lawson Cypress timber (known as Port Orford cedar in the US) from Bristol, as the charity's headquarters are just up the road from the place where the tree grew.

I find that this wood is often easier to carve using power tools than hand tools. No matter how sharp the gouges or chisels, the timber will tear a bit whereas cutting discs and abrasives fitted to power tools give a good finish quickly.

The final design was a rabbit, which was inspired by one of Ann Summers' most famous products. I feel that that the sculpture echoes it in a subtle and fun way. The serene-looking bunny has certainly been a hit at the workshops around my studio and apparently among the staff at Penny Brohn UK. I hope that Jacquline Gold likes it too.

There is a box in the back of the rabbit, suitable for holding small items such as keys, change or batteries. The lid is held on using rare earth magnets and has a really satisfying 'thunk' noise when it closes!

Here's a photo of Jacqueline Gold receiving her award:

Photo credit: Andre Regini

Carving the 'Jackie Collins Inspirational Woman of the Year' award 2017

Last year, I was commissioned to make this award for the Penny Brohn UK cancer charity. It was a real pleasure to be asked to do the same this year.

The award was to be presented to Jo Malone MBE, who is well-known for creating perfumes and fragrances. I used timber from a cedar tree that was cut down in the grounds of the charity's offices in Bristol, which was an off-cut left over after making the 2016 award.

The award was designed to be the kind of thing that Jo would like to have. Apparently she is a very practical person, so it made sense to produce an award that would have a practical use. A bowl seemed ideal, as it can be both beautiful and useful.

The shape was inspired by the leaf of a pomelo, which is the key scent note in Jo's new line of 'Jo Loves' fragrances. These leaves are quite distinctive, having secondary leaflets coming off the petiole (the stem of the leaf).

Image from: http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/moorea/dicots2.html

It seemed appropriate to use cedar wood to make the bowl for a person who works with scents, as the wood has such a distinctive smell of its own.

Most of the shaping was done with power tools, for speed and also because I find that power tools often give a better result when working with softwoods such as cedar.

The words carved onto the bowl - 'Passion, Resilience and Creativity' - were chosen by someone who works closely with Jo, as they were felt to be particularly important to her.

The bowl was finished with a good-quality finishing oil and was presented to Jo at the end of May 2017. Here's a photo, supplied by Penny Brohn UK and used with their permission:

Carving an award for Penny Brohn UK, to be given to a very deserving person

Penny Brohn UK  are a charity working with people who have cancer. They contacted me recently to ask if I could make an award to thank a remarkable person called Nina Barough for her hard work raising money for cancer charities.

Among other things, Nina founded Walk the Walk events, which have been hugely successful. They have raised millions for organisations helping those affected by cancer. 

The folks at Penny Brohn were very keen to present her with a thank you gift carved using timber from a recently-cut Cedar of Lebanon in their grounds. It also had to be carved for a deadline in a month's time.

While cedar is a fairly stable wood as it seasons, using the green timber did mean that certain things had to be considered. Seasoning timber will move and change and the design had to take this into account. I normally carve timber that has been seasoned for much longer but I do also love a challenge!

Slices were cut from the log, keeping the rings as close to being at right angles to the large surfaces as possible. This means that the seasoning wood moves mainly in one plane (at right angles to the rings), rather than warping all over the place. 

The piece of wood wasn't really big enough to get a single large slab from, so I decided to join smaller bits together carefully. It took a few tests to find the best glue to use (Bostik Wood Adhesive) but eventually they glued well. I like the bands of differing colours through the timber.

After drawing the design that they had requested on to the timber directly, I started carving. The cedar carved very cleanly, even though many other softwoods don't.

The bands of colour worked nicely in the design as fields going into the distance. When the carving was completed, it looked good but I wanted to put a frame around it that would hold the cedar panel and account for any movement in seasoning.  Some seasoned ash timber was ideal. 

The frame has a small gap between it and the cedar, with the panel being held by four dowels (two at the top and two at the bottom) that aren't glued into it but are glued into the frame. This means that any movement in the cedar panel will just travel along the dowels and the assembly won't be weakened by the change. The finishing touch was a brass plaque with an inscription that was fixed to the frame.

A representative from Penny Brohn UK collected the plaque and seemed very happy with it. I suggested to her that it be hung somewhere away from direct sun and sources of heat such as radiators (to stop it drying too fast). 

Apparently Nina was very happy to have received the award and it now hangs on her wall. Here's a photo from the award ceremony, kindly supplied by Penny Brohn UK and used with their permission: