Vivid Dove has been nominated for the Balvenie Whisky's Masters of Craft awards programme 2012! "This is an awards programme that champions British craftmanship and the people that care about it." It came as such a surprise, and such a lovely one, so I've just submitted my application in something of a daze and am now sitting back to see what the panel of judges may have to think. If you are interested to see who the judges are or to read any more about these awards (or the Balvenie Whisky & distillery) please click on the Balvenie button below:
It seems to be an Oak month. I am working on 2 signs from the same slice of absolutely beautiful Oak (Tiger Oak I believe) for 3 houses in the village. I needed to find a wood that is tough enough to stand up to the Exmoor weather with the occasional TLC. The grain in this wood is so tight it's amazing, and the patterns are stunning...almost like a Tiger's Eye stone in places.
It's not every day a local farmer turns up in his tractor and asks where to unload the bucket of wood he has for me. I was promised a lovely piece of Maple by said farmer but today he brought me 6 lengths of tree trunks...2 Maple, 2 Holly, 1 Elm and 1 Hazel. How fantastic! The Maple and Hazel are the thickest I've seen, they never normally grow that big around here. I need to be patient with Holly and Hazel as they need to sit for another year to fully season, but I can't wait to see what waits inside the Elm and Maple for me...
Wow! What a fantastic 4 days! A huge thanks to Barbara, Nic and Ian Wigley for their generous invitation for me to have my Vivid Dove stall at the Golden Horseshoe Endurance event. I sold and talked and received commissions beyond all expectations. A local farmer brought a gift of a lovely chunk of Beech from his fields and I have been invited to have my Vivid Dove stall at the Exford Christmas Fair and at the Red Dragon event at the Royal Welsh showground in October! The contacts I met have been amazing and I have even been asked to make 6 prototypes for a saddler...watch this space to see what I'll be making....I could tell you but ...! The Beech, thank you to Ken Dykes. Can you tell what it is yet? I can see a rhino...no doubt. I can't wait to see what else is waiting in there once the chainsaw has done its work! |