A totem pole and a sign

The totem pole is finished and I'm very pleased with it! When installed, 3 metres (10 feet) of it will be above ground and 122 cm (4 feet) below ground. It is carved from British larch. I'm particularly pleased with the portrait at the top, although it had to be carved solely from photos as the pole is a surprise gift for someone I've never met. Hopefully the likeness is close enough!

Another little job recently was making a carved oak sign for St Werburghs City Farm in Bristol, to be fixed onto their new play area. It is a 'thank you' to a former trustee of the farm called Martin Maudesley, who is a local professional storyteller and a very nice guy too. Martin studied aphids as his postdoctoral research, so the sign has an aphid on it as well as a long-taied tit (the latter just because they live in the area and are one of my favourite local birds)

Stoke Park 'Woodland Celebration' and totem pole carving

Last Sunday, I ran workshops in Stoke Park, Bristol carving pendants. This is the same park where we built fire pits and benches last month (see previous posts). Although it was the first day out for my new gazebo, the rain held off and everyone seemed to really enjoy making their pendants.

Apart from this, I'm still working hard on the totem pole commission. The pole has moved into the woodshed, so that I can work on it when it's raining as well.

I have also made a clay model for the portrait that is to go at the top of the pole. It's difficult to carve someone that you've never met, using only printouts of a few reference photos, but hopefully having the clay maquette will help me to get a reasonable likeness. Of course, the final face will have ears and a normal amount of hair - this model was important to understand how the parts of the face alone relate to each other.

Totem antics and a finished baton

The weather has been great here for most of the last few days, so I took the opportunity to get a lot of work done on the totem pole commission. It's coming along well, just needing more work on the portrait head at the top. I've really enjoyed getting to grips with carving a larger piece in green larch, which is a tricky wood to work with and demands practice and very sharp tools.

Owl, waiting for it's carved, outstretched wings to be attached...

Horse...

Trout, with bubbles...

Initials and date of birth...

...and some parasol mushrooms at the bottom (my favourite edible mushroom).

Today also saw the catch being fitted to the birthday baton. It is now finished! The box is made from oak with brass fittings. For more information about it, please see the previous post.

Birthday baton, Bailey's Court memorial and a totem pole

Lots going on at the moment!

I'm finishing off a special oak box for a friend of mine. She's coming up to her 30th birthday and has had the idea to get a 'birthday baton' made.This is a container for a scroll, which is to be passed from one person on their 30th birthday to another. Each person will write thoughts or comments as they come up to this landmark birthday on the scroll, which is then passed to the next person whose birthday it is. The previous birthday person has to visit the next to pass the baton over and they will not all know each other. They will also be dotted about all over the place.
Hopefully some interesting stories will come out of the project and Jess wants to make an exhibition about it all when it is completed. She came over to have a look at the box today and brought her Polaroid camera - possibly the coolest camera I have ever had in my studio!

I have also finished making a memorial plaque which will go in a wildlife garden at Bailey's Court school in Bristol. It is in memory of a boy called Ryan who attended the school.
The piece of wood measures 12 inches (30cm) square and is 2 inches (5 cm) thick. The central hole will be used to hide a coach screw used to fix the plaque to an embedded log. It will then be hidden with an oak cap. My friend Simon Nugent, a very talented furniture maker, donated the beautifully figured Sussex oak used in this project.
I hope that Ryan would have approved of the slugs and bugs carved around the message in the centre.

A 'Painted lady' butterfly

a slug

A two-spotted ladybird

...and a moth hiding amongst the wood patterning

Apart from these projects, today also saw carving begin on a totem pole, which I have been commissioned to make for someone in Hampshire (who I will not name, as it is to be a surprise!) 

The totem pole will be 10 feet high and carved from British-grown European larch, which is fairly durable stuff. Today's roughing-out carving involved using an Arbortech, a disc with chainsaw-like teeth that fits onto an angle grinder. It is a fairly terrifying, if useful, bit of kit that has to be very well respected!