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Wood carving of dog

A carved wooden portrait of your pet

A truly personal gift; for someone else, for yourself or even for your favourite pet companion.

 

Carved portrait of a pet cat in wood

 

I normally carve portraits by hand from a good-quality photograph onto an oak plaque, then finish it with either wax (for use indoors), varnish or finishing oil. If you would prefer another kind of wood or even a carving onto something else, such as an object that your pet likes, get in touch and we can chat about what you have in mind.

 

wood carving portrait cat

 

I can carve an image of any kind of animal and, even though I can’t know them as well as you do, it will be a lovely reminder of them for you.

 

carving of gun dog

Carved Inscription on wooden object

Carved Inscriptions on Unusual Objects

Hand-carved inscriptions on unusual objects

 

I love a challenge! Sometimes people need inscriptions to be carved onto unusual objects and irregular surfaces, which many engraving machines would not be able to deal with. This oak ball was destined to be the stopper for a carafe.

 

carved lettering on a wooden ball

 

I carve lettering using traditional carving gouges and chisels or, sometimes, a small multitool. The multitool is like a handheld drill that drives differently-shaped cutters. Although it is a power tool, the delicacy and precision that it is capable of reminds me of traditional hand tools.

 

Dremel multitool used to carve an inscription

 

If you have a project that you would like done but aren’t even sure if it’s possible, please contact me.

cactus fruit eating kit

Cactus fruit eating kit

In early 2000, I spent some time living on the Canary Islands. The area was arid semi-desert and prickly pear cactus (Opuntia sp.) grew abundantly. The fruits were edible and delicious, but the small, hair-like spines that grew in clusters on them were very painful if they pierced the skin, as well as being very hard to see when trying to remove them.

 

cactus fruit

Image from: http://landscapingchennai.com/nutritional-value-of-cactus-fruit/

I therefore carved a pair of cactus fruit eating tools to safely eat these fruit. They came in extremely useful!

 

wooden cactus fruit eating kit

 

The pronged tool would be pushed into the fruit, then twisted to remove it from the plant. The sharp-edged spoon end of the other tool was used to slice open and peel away the skin of the fruit. The scoop- shaped other end of this tool was then used to gouge out any remaining tufts of hair-like spines. The fruit could be held on the pronged tool and eaten using the spoon-like other tool. Juice ran away down a slit in the pronged tool, which was shaped like a cactus flower.

 

cactus fruit eating kit

 

elm breadboard with hand carved lettering

Breadboard with hand carved lettering

I’ve made a few breadboards using the beautiful wood from English elm trees. Unlike oak, the timber is quite resistant to splitting and doesn’t contain a lot of harsh tannins, so it seemed a good choice from which to make and carve this breadboard. There are only two difficulties: elm is a bit trickier to carve than many other timbers and, since the ravages of Dutch elm disease, it is much harder to find pieces that are large enough to make a board from.

 

elm breadboard

 

Of course, I’d be happy to make carved boards using other appropriate timbers! If you’d like advice on this or if you’d like me to make and carve a breadboard for you, please feel free to get in touch.