More playing in the studio

Various playings in my studio, as ideas float in and float out, later to be pursued or not.

These are special moments, moments I love when I have that luxury of playfulness.

Charred oak and pressed flowers in perspex

Carved oak apples

band saw playfulness in oak

Charred lovelies in larch

Charred oak with pressed grass

Charred lovelies in larch

Bronze etched apple

Charred oak, acorn galls, pressed daisies in perspex

Detail: Charred oak, acorn galls, pressed daisies in perspex

Bandsaw playfulness in oak

Charred oak dish

Oak apples on wire and charred oak

Charred oak with pressed ferns in perspex

Charred Lovelies in larch

Charred Lovelies in larch

Charred Lovelies in larch

more recent comings and goings

Charred wood with pressed flowers, and beech nuts as an idea for a project in Tadpole village near Swindon where I am creating a series of way marker shrines which will incorporate collected items and pressed items.  Plus a series of workshops in the primary school with Jo Hartas (gardener) who will be overseeing the pressing and creating of lanterns, wreaths and other decorative forms for the project.

Leaf and Lichen Stick

Another idea for the way marker shrines

Teasels held on a marker

Knoppler oak galls inserted in charred wood

Acorns

Nettle leaf between two layers of perspex

Burning

the result

Lots of projects in the pipeline, for way markers, nature shrines, sculptures and the like.

Natures Shrines

In Young Wood in Somerset, I have created a structure to collect and hold all the bounty of the forest, be that acorns and seeds to lichen and moss, bones and hairs.  The idea is that everyone visiting the wood can collect and collate, store and notate the finds in the woods.
As you can see from the photographs I had a good deal of help install the main structure from the Neroche Woodlanders Volunteers, a big thank you to them and of course Gavin Saunders who not only commissioned the piece but cut wood, cleaved, lifted and helped throughout, it would not of been possible without him.  To Jo Hartas who is the spirit behind the shrine collection and will soon go deep into the wood and do the first ordering of species and decorative art.

splicing the rope

manhandling the main piece

more manhandling

checking the inside

PitchFork Rebellion Monochord Instrument

Another one off the production line.  made from oak, letterpress letters and an old pitchfork that Louise Baker had lying around her studio. This one has one nylon string, held in place by a violin tuning peg, a piezo pic up under the bridge and standard 1/4 inch jack for output to an amplifier

New instruments in the making

So with the Gig coming up on the 9th March at CICCIC in Taunton with Tim Hill and Matt Saunders so I have some new instruments to play and show off with.  

Firstly the Suitcase Instrument which features a handle for ease of carrying and aesthetic reasons of course

It also has more strings, a selection of shorter strings for the higher notes and then the longer strings for variation and distortion.

This was followed by the "Hand of God"  I got over excited at the sight of this articulated hand that has lain around my studio for years and that was that.  I also included some alabaster inserts picked from a beach local to me.  This has three strings and is tuned to GDG for an open blues sound, played with either a bow or using a bottleneck.

Details of the Gig

Wildlife Habitats for Bellway Homes.Cardiff

Butterfly home

I have finished these last year but have been awaiting time to deliver them, photographed here are the House Sparrow homes, the butterfly homes and the bee homes, the large four metre habitat hotel although delivered is impossible to photograph until it is in situ, these others have been photographed at Hurstone, as they will not been installed until later in the year.  But it is so good to have them out of the studio and away, I can now think about making some smaller things and another sound sculpture to play in 'Swine' for the gig on the 9th March at CICCIC in Taunton.
Being out of my studio for so long has done me no good and I am raring to get back in and start making again.

House sparrows homes

Bee Homes