Just the two of us.

Drink Demons

Dyfi Land Share

An illustration for The Dyfi Land Share postcard. To be sent to all those kind people who sponsored the project. I think there will be four designs in total, Can't wait to see what the others look like!

Ukibori Nose

 

Here's my latest box, the bumps on his nose are made using the ukibori technique I briefly described in my post on the Pickle man. These bumps came out really nicely, even if I do say so myself. 

Here's a bit of background information on the work I've been making lately:

These strange little boxes came about as a way for me to teach myself wood sculpture and functional woodwork while on the road. It's a tricky past-time if you don't have a workshop or much in the way of tools so theses pieces have been designed to be light and useful enough to justify lugging around with me. 

Their design also reflects the limited range of tools I've had access to, as well as there need to be lightweight, For example; the grooves for the cord are gouged out in a curve, rather than drilled, so that the inner dimensions of the box can mirror outer ones, making a lot more space inside the box and protecting the cord from damage.

When I do finally get my mits on a workshop I'm planning on making all sorts of weird and wonderful things, but until then, this project is a great way for me to hone my technique, and get good at carving noses.

Woodwork is a bit of a new venture for me, so any feedback or thoughts on this project would be 

a m a z i n g.

Tim Toffle

Another little wooden box. Ebonized cherry with box wood eyes and teeth.

Pedro

My latest box, It's taken 36 hours or there about to complete him. He’s made out of cherry wood, with holly teeth and eyes.

This guy again.

Okay, I've finally made full lino print of 'Sometimes, even tigers get lost'. 

No more tricky Chine-collé for me! I always seemed to glue most of the tissue paper to myself.So a last I have some available on Etsy, and as I'm staying in one spot for a little while, I don't have to set my Etsy page to vacation mode while I'm on the move.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/119882506/sometimes-even-tigers-get-lost-linocut

At last, some clearer photo's! They're not the best, but they were taken in a shoe box, with some tracing paper taped over a lamp, It's quite effective considering.

11cm x 11.5cm x 3cm.  Cherry with holly inlays, sumi ink, cord.

Severed demon head box

9.5cm x 15.5cm x 8.5cm, Sycamore with boxwood inlays, sumi ink, cord.

I'm almost finished with this box, only the ears to go, and a little polish here and there.

It's also a portrait of it's owner to be, so I'm glad that it has turned out to be quite cute after the hair and eyes where painted. The main body of wood is cherry, with holly eyes and teeth, the ink is Sumi ink, which is made out of pine soot and resin.

Eyes

 I'm pretty terrible at documenting the process of my work, so I'm keeping a camera on stand by from now on. I'm a fair ways into this box already, but better late than never I suppose, hopefully I'll make a habit of it. I'd say this box was probably about half way finished, the nose is almost done and just needs a little clearing up around the nostrils, just like a real nose. The eyes are in, which is a bit of a nail biting process for me still but I'm getting better at it. These eyes slotted in nicely despite being a tricky shape. Hopefully they'll look less creepy when they're painted.

A finished box and some work in progress

This is the my second attempt at box making. It's a prototype to see how well this design works before moving onto a more complex version. I have plans to make a two compartments box where the eyes will open when the top compartment is opened.

Again it's made form a hardwood plank with box wood inlays, the cord runs through the wood in a curve which was really fiddly to do.

box man

 This is a wooden box I've been working on while cat sitting, He's been made from a small plank of mystery wood, maybe some sort of fruit wood, with ebony inlay eyes and moustache, the teeth and opening mechanism are made from boxwood. He's the first of many strange little boxes I plan on making in the next few months, the next one is a snub nosed demon.

Here are some photos of some of the places I have been to recently, projects I've worked on; like the goat god scarecrow, for a heavily pecked orchard in the Pyrenees, a strange clay head, waiting to be have a cast made of it for a bird house, a severed head desk tidy, other odds and ends and some cats I've met along the way.

Tool making

Here are some wood working tools I've been making lately, the top tool is a skewed chisel, I have a little Japanese version of this that I use all the time, but needed a bigger one for letter carving.
The wood is Yew, with a little bit of boxwood next to the blade.

Below that is the little sword like knife was a present for the Yaffle's dad, she made the lovely crocheted sheath, the knife handle and wooden sheath are made from French boxwood and the blade from an old file, it was made in a very improvised and home-made forge, with a little bit of rail road track as an anvil. 
The bottoms tools is a slightly larger skewed chisel, made from boxwood and high carbon steel. 
It's been an interesting process learning about tempering the steel and getting a good edge on the blade, I have a little bald patch on my arm from testing if the edge is honed well.

Word spreads.

I've quite a few lino blocks hanging around that I haven't got round to posting. This one is for the word spreads/exploding sandwiches story that I've been faffing around with for a while now. The storyboard is finished at last, and a few key layers have made it onto lino blocks.
The colour layers for this print have been made using plywood, which is quite a lot cheaper than lino, but a bit more tricky to carve.