Carving a rabbit onto a wooden bench

This elm bench seat had already been made by Alex Arthur at the Woodworks Project in Bath. He suggested to the client that I could carve the design that they wanted on it.

I didn't want to make the lettering too deep, so carved a textured surface inside a double border. This catches the light so that the letters read easily from any angle. All of the carving here was done using traditional hand tools.

It was a nice surprise when the person commissioning the bench asked if I could also produce a simple, quick carving of a rabbit on there, peeping out from behind a log. The rabbit needed to look cute, but still fairly realistic. I'm very happy with the result as the young rabbit looks out from behind the old log with a bluebell growing nearby.

Some recently carved wooden signs and lettering, for clients including a cider maker and a well-known DJ (together with a sign featuring a portrait of a cat)

I've had a few interesting commissions lately, some of which I'll show on the blog when they are closer to being completed. Some of the recent commissions involving carved lettering have been quite unusual too...

This seat for a swing was carved from locally-sourced oak, which originally grew on the Quantock Hills in Somerset. It was shaped using modern and traditional techniques, including knives and drawknives, then carved with the name of the girl who will receive it. 

The wood was originally destined to become part of a ship's figurehead in memorial of a friend. After that project fell through, it's nice to know that this timber is going to be enjoyed by children playing and having fun.

This sign was carved for clients who wanted one of their Devon Rex cats to be shown on it. It's a bit nerve-wracking carving a portrait of a pet for someone, as they will always know the animal far better than I can from a photograph. 

Happily, they were very pleased with the outcome. It was quite a relief when a visitor to my studio saw the almost-completed carving and said (with no prompting) that it looked like a Devon Rex!

The next sign was carved for the Lenches Cider Company. I was particularly pleased with the lettering on this sign, as the squared shapes of the font used were not that easy to carve by hand and they came out very well. The oak was also a very nicely figured piece.

This project involved carving an inscription on a chopping board for a client, who had commissioned me to carve a similar project before. As you might imagine, it always feels satisfying when someone asks for another carving to be done for them because they are happy with the previous one.

An unusual next project, as the lettering had to be carved onto a sphere. I wondered at the time whether a computer-controlled routing machine would be able to do this kind of work?

I was also asked recently to correct someone else's letter cutting! The client had bought a rustic oak bench but wasn't happy with the inscription on it. It did look like it had been cut by someone with a blunt router blade who was in a bit of a hurry.

What a great afternoon, re-cutting the letters in their beautiful garden!

Everyone agreed that the lettering looked better once re-cut too:

 I received a lovely email afterwards saying ;

'Dear Alistair, Just to thank you once again fro the splendid job you did on my garden bench for me yesterday. I have to say also that it was a genuine pleasure to meet you and 'do business' with you! I wish you every success in the future'.

Finally, this sign was carved for a DJ and music producer. I'm reluctant to name him on the blog, as I'd rather respect his privacy (sorry!). I will say that he was a big part in the early drum and bass scene and is still playing to big crowds now. The sign was carved from oak and then stained.

If you'd like to see more of my previous letter cutting work, have a look at some by clicking on this link to the page on my website.

A sneak preview of some of the carvings on the bench for the Bristol Downs

I've been very busy for the last month or two working on a big new bench that will go onto the Downs. Very few large pieces of sculpture are allowed to be permanently placed there, so it's a really exciting project.

The bench is made from oak that grew nearby and it was milled near Chelvey, just down the road. The work on making the bench has been done at my studio at Bower Ashton, so it really is a local bench for Bristol. I'm carving one of the two backrests in the photo above. Each is about 2.5 metres (about 8 feet) long and 7.5cm (3") thick. Pretty sturdy!

The bench is scheduled to be finished by December and then installed in the children's playground next to the Observatory and the Suspension Bridge in March 2015.

It will be a cross between an information board and a bench, so people can read about wildlife and people associated with the area while having a comfy place to sit. There will also be a 'treasure trail' of carved little spiders for visitors to find; some easy to spot, some not so easy!

Here's a preview of a few of the other carvings for you to see:

The purseweb spider, a tiny relative of tarantulas that lives in the Avon Gorge.

The 'Bristol Dinosaur', Thecodontosaurus

Carving one of the bearers that will hold the bench up. It shows a brachiopod, a shellfish that is found fossilised in the Carboniferous limestone under the Downs. Much larger than life-sized though!

This bearer shows the coral Lithostrotion, also found in the Carboniferous limestone.

Chalkhill Blue butterflies live in the Gorge. They are nationally uncommon, living in very specific areas in the south of England.

 

This is Libby Houston, who is a poet, botanist and rope access expert. She has had several books of poetry published, and gave permission for me to carve two lines from her poem 'The Trees Dance' onto the bench. They read:

'Forest-father, mighty Oak,

on my back the lightning-stroke'

Libby spends much of her time abseiling into the Avon Gorge and mapping the rare plants that live there. For her work, she was awarded the prestigious H.H. Bloomer award by the Linnean society. Amongst other achievements, she has discovered some of the very rare hybrids of Whitebeam trees that grow in the hard-to-reach parts of the Gorge and nowhere else, one is even named after her: Sorbus x houstoniae. There is only one specimen of this tree known to exist and Libby kindly gave me some examples of its leaves to copy.

I researched most of the information for the bench myself, but could not have done it without the help and advice of a few people, who I'd like to thank here; 

Francis Greenacre has been a great help, providing feedback, liaising with the members of the Clifton and Hotwells Improvement Society (who commissioned the bench) and also supplying very useful images and ideas, particularly about Brunel's designs for the Suspension Bridge. Thanks also to RoseMary and Linda of CHIS, for meeting and chatting about ideas.

Ray Barnett, Mark Pajak and Isla Gladstone at Bristol Museum and Art Gallery all gave their time to meet and discuss ideas and images for wildlife and fossil subjects to use. Mark and Isla also supplied very helpful images to use.

Dr Clive Lovatt, Richard Bland and Linda Edwards helped in researching the poetry featured on the bench, as well as supplying information about local poet Peter Gabbitass who is one of the subjects.

Libby Houston very kindly gave permission to use her poetry and supplied leaves to copy, as well as explaining her work and checking the facts were correct! It was great to meet her.

Thanks also to Joe Cooper of Touchwood Enterprises, Andy O'Neill and Sam Mond, without whom I might not have had any local timber to carve into in the first place.

What's been going on recently? Carved oak signs, teaching woodcarving in Bristol and secret jobs!

There's been a mix of different work keeping me busy recently. I've worked on a couple of commissions lettercutting in oak :

Here's another house plaque, carved in oak for someone who is very keen on the 'Star Wars' films. It was fun carving the ewok in relief!

There's also been a commission carving 'rope' for the skilled furniture maker Jim Sharples.  Jim is working on an oak stand for the ship's bell from HMS Cornwall and wanted some carved 'rope' wrapped around the top crosspiece, to give a suitably nautical look to the finished piece. Getting it all laid out correctly was a bit of a puzzle, but I'm happy with the results. This bell stand may well end up in the Maritime Museum, which is a nice thought.

A pleasant Friday was also spent teaching Matt relief carving in oak. He spent the afternoon at my studio and got to use my own woodcarving gouges and chisels, which is something that I can only really do when working with small numbers of people, as some of the tools (such as the hook skew) are very fragile. We covered using a handsaw, a block plane and a V tool, some relief carving techniques, sharpening tools effectively and laying out a design onto the wood from a paper copy. Matt carved a chinook helicopter and seemed to really enjoy learning some of the skills that are an important part of this craft.

I have also been working on a couple of jobs that I can't talk about! One was for a client in mainland Europe and I have undertaken not to discuss it online (for good reasons; it's nothing illegal either, I promise!). I will say that it was very interesting though. Another project has been one of the most interesting that I've worked on and that will be posted about in the near future, so watch this space.

Sometimes, I have a big project on and can't discuss it until the finished carvings are unveiled or given to the person that they are meant for. It doesn't seem right to spoil the surprise of a gift by posting about it here and sometimes commercial clients need to keep things under wraps until a grand unveiling or promotion is completed.

Occasionally, a client will also ask me not to write about a job on my blog, for various reasons. Perhaps they wish to keep it personal to them or they need it to be anonymous. Needless to say, I always honour such requests.

So if you see gaps in the blog, don't think that I've stopped carving or blogging. Just wait and see what the next few posts bring!

Two recent lettercutting projects; an elm breadboard and an oak memorial

I was contacted by a client who wanted a breadboard with a carved inscription, made from seasoned oak. Oak is actually not a great wood to use for chopping boards, as it can split easily and contains a lot of tannins that could taint food. I suggested elm instead and am very happy with how the board now looks:

It has been finished with olive oil that has been slightly warmed, so that it penetrates the wood more deeply and doesn't sit on the surface going sticky. The surface was then buffed to a satiny sheen.

Another recent commission involved carving and constructing an oak memorial. It is to be sited in a natural cemetery and so it was important that no metal or stone was used in the construction (eg. metal screws). The sign is joined using glue and dowels instead and the board is finished with durable tung oil. A separate stake was provided, at the client's request, to make a pilot hole into which this stake could be pushed without damaging it.

A few recent projects: A giant creepy-crawley to hand carved oak signs

There's been some very varied projects recently...

This giant Arthropleura (an ancestor of millipedes and centipedes from 300 million years ago) is the seat for a bench to be installed at Pucklechurch, near Bristol. The bench project has been in motion for a while now, but discussions with a local landowner have slowed things up a bit. I thought I'd get on with making the seat anyway, so it is ready for installation when things have been sorted out. It was mostly carved using power tools: chainsaws, Arbortech, Galahad and other angle grinder discs.

The seat is about 2.5 metres (approximately 8 feet) long and is carved from oak sleepers. The holes are where stainless steel threaded bar holds the sleepers together. They will be capped with wooden dowels when the bench is installed. The backrest has already been carved;
(see http://carvingswithstories.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/tutoring-brisfest-and-giant-scorpion.html)
but I'm waiting to see where the bench will be situated before deciding on what kind of legs to fit to it.

Whilst working on the huge bug, I was also carving this charming gift for a commission. The quote: "A friend may well be reckoned the masterpiece of nature" was written by the American poet Ralph Waldo Emerson. The plaque is about 30 cm (12") long and shows an oak leaf, which ties in nicely with the oak timber that was used for the plaque.

Continuing with the carved oak plaques, this much larger one is destined to be fitted at the entrance to a new housing development near Bristol. All of the lettering was cut by hand and the sign is 159 cm (about 63") long . I am particularly happy with the contrast of the white lettering against the dark oak. The large 'V' is the logo of the developer, NT Voisey and Co.

9th October 2013:

Martin of NT Voisey has just very kindly sent me some pictures of the sign installed in place. Here's one of them:

At the moment, I'm focussed on sorting things out for the exhibition at the end of this month: 'Inspired' at Ashton Court, Bristol. Here's a sneak preview of the sculpture in progress. It looks quite cat-like at the moment, but will eventually be a strange-looking creature that would have evolved to eat the semi-mechanical insects from the 'Metainsecta' series ( see the previous post for more details).

Speaking of which, I'd better finish posting and get on with some carving - not long now before the exhibition opens!

Some oak signs that I've carved recently

I've been carving a few oak signs for commissions recently and thought it might be nice to share a couple of them here.

More pictures of other signs that I'm currently working on will follow after they have been delivered to the people who asked me to make them - it would be a shame to spoil it by showing the signs here in advance.

 I particularly like this next one, the spaniel's face has the look of a dog that knows you have a tasty  snack in one of your pockets!