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Bringing out the beauty of wood in the heart of Scotland

My inspiration comes from my feeling of a special connection to the forests of my native Mull. From the dark monoculture of the spruce plantations to the copper birch stands, the ancient oaks and the old hazel coppices. But I have strayed from that magical place, and I'm now based in central Scotland, near the famous Kelpies.

My primary material is wood, shaped and worked in different ways. It is an amazing medium, full of beauty that the craftsman can accentuate, lustrous in texture and for some species even fragrant to work.

At the smallest end is my jewellery, which is mainly pendant necklaces that are selected from beautiful pieces of wood, hand carved to shape with knives, coated with a special resin and then polished by hand to an extremely high shine. These are finished with a sterling silver bail and a choice of a silver chain or a handmade leather cord necklace.

Also, in jewellery, I offer handmade wooden rings. These are made in the bentwood style using laminated veneer to allow strength while keeping the band thin enough to be comfortable. Again, these are resin finished and polished.

Aside from jewellery I also make other small wooden articles, mainly incense stick holders at the moment. Currently there are two ways I make these. The first is relatively simple and basically I use the saw, gouge and plane to shape dimensional softwood into the final product. The second involves carving directly from a branch (or working "in the round") using a hand-axe to make a billet then planing down to get a surface able to be marked out. After that the process is the same.

My wee wooden spoons are hand carved with knives and the gouge from dimensional timber (planks of wood) or wood in the round.

Bowls are cut to size with a handsaw and then the gouge is used to hollow it out before shaping the exterior with a chisel.

Apart from the jewellery all my wooden products are usually finished with oil to impart some protection and to bring out the grain patterns and colour of the wood. Spoons and any other item that may come in contact with food are finished using a food grade mineral oil and for other object I use linseed oil.

But the above is just the beginning. Please check back as I will be listing new product types soon!

And, yes, Folksy, I have two cats ;)

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