Please click on picture for description of carving
Pictish Carvings
Carving
Carving can be a very expressive form of working with wood. The hand – eye skills are the same for making a carved sycamore wing as for making mortice and tenon joints, but the sycamore wing requires more feeling too.
I like to carve in oak and lime. Both woods can take detailed cuts well, and both are very traditional. Coat of arms, shields, bosses and heads are often found in medieval buildings such as castles and churches. These are often carved from oak. Oak can also be better for outdoor pieces, like the owl in the image above, which was made for the roof garden, or knotwork carvings. Lime is better for finer detailed work.
I have also carved in burr elm. The burrs are growths on the trunk and branches of the tree. The grain goes in all directions, but I like the colour and pattern it has, and it seems to lend itself to naturalistic forms. It can also be sanded to a fine finish.
The blackbird carving is life sized. The model visited the garden regularly and became quite friendly, so I was able to study it up close.