'Inspired' at Ashton Court-a few more images of work on show

Here are some more photos of the work on show at 'Inspired':

This photo shows one of the three rooms, with work by;

Chuck Elliott, Tim Chadsey, Waywood furniture, John Makepeace, Jonathon Markowitz, Barry Cawston, Graham Ilkin, Anthony Gray and Ben Rawlinson

The 'Audrey' cabinet, by Cadman furniture

This stainless steel hare was made by Miranda Micheals,  with the image behind by Tina Lewis

A bleached oak chest of drawers, made by Dunleavy Bespoke

The table and boxes are by Erich Fichter, with the dandelion study by Tina Lewis

This ceramic piece is by Dartmouth-based Bob Dawson

The 'Slow Wave' bench by Sue Darlison, the curator of the exhibition

These woven willow pieces are by Sarah Woodrow

'The Bridge' oak table by Martin Urmston, with Anthony Gray's 'Solitaire' table lamp

Kevin Stamper's 'Orford' table and lamp

'Night Horizon' bureau, by Knut Klimmek

A detail of William Self's 'Ellipse Squared' table

Petya Kapralova made this wall sculpture, which shows a detail of the Icelandic coast

Graham Ilkin's 'Triunite' console table

These sea images by Jane Reeves are actually made from fused glass

The marquetry pieces on the wall are by Christine Meyer-Eaglestone,

with the table made from oak and glass by Caroline  de Winton

The jewellery cabinet was made by Rhys Gillard, with the picture by Karyn Rossenrode

These glass pieces were made by Becky Wills, of Yellow Dog Glass

Visiting Patrick Small, a local woodcarver, ceramicist and jewellery maker

It was great to catch up recently with Patrick, who works from a studio at his home in Bristol. It's one of those studios that has a very cosy feel to it, filled with books, clippings from magazines and objects that he has collected along the way.

It's always interesting to see what he is making at the moment as Patrick's work covers carving, jewellery and ceramics. Recently, he has moved back to carving after making a lot of jewellery. One line of things being made at the moment are these ritual wands:

We ended up having a couple of pints at the local pub and having one of those chats that woodcarvers can only have with other woodcarvers:

"Ashley Iles are my favourite make of gouges. I love 'em, but I know that you don't get on with them"
" No, I find the steel too soft and I can never get a decent edge on them, although I love my new Ray Gonzalez hooked skew"
etc., etc.

Pity the other patrons sitting within earshot!

We also discussed things like the need to not undersell yourself as a maker. When chatting to the Icelandic carver Jón Adólf Steinólfsson earlier this year, he also noted this. 


Jón Adólf said that when it comes to pricing his work, he really values the opinion of his partner Karin as she can see it's value with a more objective eye than he can, as the maker of the work. Both Patrick and I noted that there is definitely a tendency amongst many makers that we know in Britain to play down their hard-won skills and to underprice their own products, to the detriment of marketing their work. Perhaps Jón Adólf's attitude towards marketing yourself is also influenced by his contact with the American craft makers' world, which seems to be much more direct in some ways than the frequently more reserved British approach. Making an effort not to be too modest and not to undersell yourself seems like a good approach to take to me.

Of course, however, one needs to be able to back up any claims that one makes!

If you would like to see more of Patrick's beautiful work, you can visit his website at:
http://www.smallcreations.co.uk

You can also see more about meeting Jón Adólf Steinólfsson at:
http://carvingswithstories.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/woods-and-woodcarving-in-iceland-bit-of.html

Wooden stamps for Steve Carter of Saint Werburghs Pottery, to use for embossing ceramics

I've just finished some stamps for a friend of mine, who will use them to emboss designs into clay.

 Steve Carter is a very experienced ceramicist based in Bristol, who runs the 'St Werburghs Pottery'. He loves using stamps carved from boxwood (Buxus sempervirens) to make embossed designs as he says that they don't stick to the clay like stamps made from rubber, plastic or plaster do. They are also a lot sturdier! The boxwood used for the new stamps grew in Gloucestershire, about 24 miles (39 km) from my studio. The older pieces used boxwood that grew near Exeter in Devon.

You can see more about the stamps made previously on my website, by following this link:
http://www.carvings-with-stories.co.uk/Ceramic%20stamps.html

Steve reckons that "Plaster of Paris doesn't come close to an Al Park 'Boxwood'".

Here's some that I've made previously for him in the last few years:

The two new ones will be used in producing a line of ceramics for the award-winning St Werburghs City Farm Café in Bristol.

Image from www.swcityfarm.co.uk/about/cafe/

One has the logo of the St Werburghs City Farm (a crowing cockerel) on it, and the other just says 'City Farm Café'. If you're in Bristol, why not go and have a look at them in the Café itself? The food there is great too.

You can see Steve's website by following this link:

 http://www.stwerburghspottery.co.uk

To find more out about the City Farm Cafe, you can go here:

 http://www.swcityfarm.co.uk/about/cafe/