The headstone was for the former school chaplain and was laid in the grounds of the school’s old Michael Kirk. It’s a truly lovely setting among the trees, next to the old church.

Hand-carved lettering inscription and Celtic knotwork motif in Moray Clashach sandstone.

The bench which was installed on the Speyside Way long distance trail near Nethy Bridge, not far from my home. As pine is too soft to hold the fine detail required of a letter carving, I chose to carve the memorial inscription on a separate hard wood board and inlay it into a routered groove on the front of the bench.

Hand-carved lettering memorial plaque inscription. Scot’s wych elm on pine bench, Nethy Bridge. Approx 1.8m long.

Red deer stag and family name hand-carved wall-plaque – Scot’s wych burr elm. Approx 600mm long.

Scot’s wych elm, wall-mounted trout sculpture. Approx 350mm long.

One of my closest neighbours is Glenfarclas (just about a mile away) but within sniffing distance are such famous names as Glenlivet, Glenfiddich, Macallan, Balvenie, Cragganmore, Cardhu, Knockando, Aberlour… But (almost as important for me) we have a cooperage still making and servicing whisky barrels in the traditional way.

Whisky is matured in either port barrels or bourbon barrels. It i from these that whisky gets its colour. The barrels can be used three or four times before they are discarded. I’ve been able to use some of the individual staves before for my tree carvings, for instance, as well as a special commission for an iPhone docking station.

But I recently got my hands on a barrel and some barrel ‘tops’ and tried some new ideas with them.

The barrels are made from either American or French oak and, once they have been cleaned and sanded, the timber has a lovely character. In some cases it comes up a lovely salmony pink colour.

I cleaned up one barrel and turned it into a post box to save the legs of my posties! As it is oak, it has quite a tight grain and can take detailed carving such as lettering. I carved my surname on the face and built an opening flap at the back for retrieving the post and for larger items.

These could have family or house names carved into the face.

One of the barrel tops has become a new ‘pavilion-style’ clock for the gable end of my workshop. The wood has a lovely colour to it in this example. Once again, I have chosen to hand carve some lettering onto the face of the clock. Names and/or house names would work well here too or maybe some whisky-related relief carving? Perhaps I could get the distilleries of Speyside to commission their own post boxes and clocks?

It is a free-standing carving in Scot’s (Wych) burr elm with a ruby gemstone set into the throat and a hand-forged steel beak. Approx 12 inches long by 9 inches tall.

I’m opening my workshop and home for this year’s North East Open Studios. There will be a few of my pieces on display – outdoors and in my new gallery for indoor pieces. Come along, meet me and see me working and claim a free cuppa and some home baking.

More details will follow as time goes on.

For more information about NEOS… CLICK>>

***UPDATE***

NEOS has been and passed and was a great success. Lots of lovely people came from all over to see me, my studio, my gallery and my work. As well as meeting some new contacts and clients, it was a very useful exercise forcing me to complete some home improvements about the place!

Although I didn’t really have many items to buy, a couple of large sales were made as well as four or five confirmed new projects as well as some very promising future commissions. I’ll certainly be doing it again next year.

Thanks to everyone who helped and to everyone who took the time to pay me a visit.

Chainsaw, power tool and chisel carved from a single spruce log.

Congratulations to Jenny Duncan for submitting the winning drawing of the golden eagle. Image shown below.

Recently, the headmistress and some of the pupils from the school paid me a visit to inspect the carving and have their photo taken for the local press!

Arrangements are now being made for the eagle to be installed in its new home at the school. Hopefully we’ll manage before the snows come!