Documenting the hidden world of the bell ringers: making a peal board
The World Of Carvings With Stories
by Alistair
1y ago
  What is a peal board? Well, before this commission in 2022 I'd never heard of one either. Making it gave a chance to see a tiny glimpse of something that most people outside of bell ringing never see. In this post we go up the stairs in the church tower, through a small door and into the bell loft to have a glimpse at the hidden world of the bell ringers. Bells are traditionally rung to call people to worship in Christian churches in Britain. Ringing developed from the use of a single bell to several, which are rung in complicated patterns that require a lot of skill from all partic ..read more
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Spoon carving at Boiling Wells in Bristol, with the Boiling Wellness group
The World Of Carvings With Stories
by Alistair
2y ago
In July, I got the welcome chance to return to Boiling Wells in St Werburghs to teach spoon carving.  After four and a half years working there, funding cuts meant that I was made redundant in 2014. I had been back a couple of times to teach since then and it is always good to see the place develop and grow. This time, I was spoon carving with the 'Boiling wellness' group. It was great to be back in the nature reserve, carving wood with enthusiastic volunteers. We had a lot of fun and everyone got the chance to try a range of woodworking tools, some of which they mig ..read more
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Making the Jackie Collins Woman of the Year award for Jacqueline Gold, the boss of Ann Summers
The World Of Carvings With Stories
by Alistair
2y ago
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 ..read more
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The story of a saw
The World Of Carvings With Stories
by Alistair
2y ago
Like many woodcarvers and other woodworkers, I have a lot of old tools: some with names of previous owners stamped on them. Sometimes I wonder about these tools. Were they once used to produce pieces that I have admired in some great cathedral or stately home by a journeyman worker whose name is now forgotten? It's rare that the story of one of these tools turns up unexpectedly. That happened with this saw.  It is a tenon saw made by the firm of W Tyzack, Sons and Turner. The blade is stamped with the words 'Made specially for John Hall, High St, Bullring, Birmingham'. I inhe ..read more
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Making replicas of the earliest objects made by woodturning ever found in Britain, from Whitehorse hill on Dartmoor
The World Of Carvings With Stories
by Alistair
2y ago
I like woodturning. It's a nice compliment to my carving work and there's also something that feels quite relaxing about putting the tools to the spinning timber and watching the shapes develop. There have been a couple of commissions recently that have allowed me to do some turning and which have also been a little more challenging. Making some of the components for the instruments that are now installed in St Werburghs Community Centre meant turning larger pieces than I've worked on before.  I was also asked by a local furniture maker called Dave Porter to turn e ..read more
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Carving the 'Jackie Collins Inspirational Woman of the Year' award 2017
The World Of Carvings With Stories
by Alistair
2y ago
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 t ..read more
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Seventeenth century carvings, filming locations and stories of ghosts at Chavenage house in Gloucestershire
The World Of Carvings With Stories
by Alistair
2y ago
Chavenage House is situated near Tetbury in the Cotswolds. It may seem familiar to some readers, as it's been used as a filming location for many films and television series, including being Trenwith house in the most recent adaptations of Winston Graham's Poldark novels. The house has only been owned by two families since the Dissolution of the Monasteries. The approach that you can see above is very much as it was left by Edward Stephens in 1576. Edward's grandson was Colonel Nathaniel Stephens, who was Member of Parliament for Gloucestershire during the English ..read more
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Carving or painting? The emblem of the Hull City Tigers made using woodcarving techniques, wood bleach and stain
The World Of Carvings With Stories
by Alistair
2y ago
This piece was commissioned as a surprise gift for some fans of the Hull City football (or soccer for readers in the US!) team. At first, I considered carving the emblem in relief but felt that it would lose something if made too different from the two-dimensional version. The tiger was carved with a Dremel rotary tool and some traditional gouges instead.  The Dremel gave texture to the fur and more definition to areas like the mouth. It still didn't jump out enough, so I decided to use stain and bleach to 'paint' the design too. This would hopefully allow the oak timber to show t ..read more
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Ancient and modern woodworking on the Somerset Levels
The World Of Carvings With Stories
by Alistair
2y ago
The Avalon Marshes are three nature reserves (Shapwick Heath, Westhay Moor and Ham Wall) on the Somerset Levels, not far from Glastonbury. The wetlands are formed from the remains of peat workings that have since filled with water to form a valuable habitat for many kinds of birds. As part of new work at Westhay Moor, the Somerset Wildlife Trust had commissioned me to carve designs drawn by children at a local school onto two larch boards, each about 3 metres (8 feet) long. First, I enlarged the drawings and reproduced them onto the boards using a grid. Next, the des ..read more
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Exploring Bristol with Hazen Audel: craftsman and presenter of 'Primal Survivor' on the National Geographic channel
The World Of Carvings With Stories
by Alistair
2y ago
Hazen Audel was in Bristol doing some work connected to the show that he presents, called 'Primal Survivor'.  As well as his television work, he is also a very keen craftsman, working particularly with metal and wood.  A few weeks previously, I'd been running a woodcarving tutorial for Alex, who has worked with him on the series for Icon Films. He knew that Hazen would love finding out more about the handmade objects and historic buildings to be seen in the city and thought that it would be great if I could show him around. I always enjoy meeting other makers, particularly those ..read more
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