It has been 2024 for some time now, but it is finally starting to feel like Spring. Things slow down for me over winter on the woodcarving front, as it is too dark and wet to get outside and that is my preferred carving environment. Any artist will tell you that natural light has a special quality, but for me its main advantage is how diffuse it can be. This really helps when I am carving the inside of a hollow piece, because artificial light sources tend to be very direct and cast strong shadows. Perhaps one day I will have a workshop with an entire ceiling of diffuse lights, but until then I have to make do with a variety of workarounds. I have tried headtorches, desk lamps and even a pair of glasses that have LEDs on each side, but each one has its own practical hurdles!

Speaking of the inside of hollow pieces, my current project is nearing completion. I have been working on it on and off for about 3 years now, and racked up around 200 hours or work so far. It takes the concept of my previous carving, Triaxiallia 12, and extends it to start from a 30-sided rhombic triacontahedron. You can see from the pictures that it is about the size of my hand, and I am trying to make the inside just as smooth as the outside!

This piece is also carved from the same original piece of spalted beech that I made the 12-sided version from, so I think of them as brothers. The eldest brother is slightly more elegant in conception, and demonstrates what is possible, whilst the younger is somewhat more fiddly, fragile and complicated, the consequences of taking the original concept to near-breaking point. Thank you for coming to my Ted talk on self-psychoanalysis and extended metaphors.

I am really looking forward to May, as I have been asked to take part in a discussion panel and host a workshop in the Pint of Science event in Manchester – details to follow https://pintofscience.co.uk/events/manchester. I plan to explain a little bit about how I approach designing my works with repeating tiles and patterns, and a more detailed blog post up here to take you through the process if you are not able to make the event. A bit of bonus content on fractals as well?