In my three years at Barking and Dagenham College learning carpentry and joinery, we never covered the art of wood carving. We hung doors, built staircases, window frames, made a basic roof, built kitchen cupboards, created mouldings and cut all manner or joints. But we never did any wood carving, in fact I don't think it was even mentioned, except by me. Yet wood carving goes back thousands of years to old testament times.
In the book of Exodus chapter 31 verses 1-5 we read: And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, see, I have called by name Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah: And I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, To devise cunning works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, And in cutting of stones, to set them, and in carving of timber, to work in all manner of workmanship.
Go into many old churches and you will will see fine examples of carpentry and wood carving, some on a very grand and magnificent scale. But I suppose most people would not even notice the carving, except it was pointed out to them. Complex carving, all done by skillful hands, using the tools of their day. Tools which are pretty much the same as master wood carvers use today. My own church of St. Helen’s Bishopsgate has some incredible woodwork and carvings, the pulpit and the rood screen stand out in particular. During the time of Oliver Cromwell, many of these ornate wooden carvings and structures found in churches were destroyed. I believe it was felt by the the Puritans at the time, that these works of art, rather then bring glory to God, brought glory to man. People would be distracted by there surroundings and not be focused on worshipping God. Thankfully not all was destroyed and fine examples still remain to this day. If you your interested in wood carving and it's history, there are a series of programs on youtube to be found called “CARVED WITH LOVE”.
THE PULPIT, ST. HELEN'S
The second week of my carving class, I was joined by two other would be carvers. A lady from New Zealand, who was interested in carving spoons, and a fellow Londoner, who wanted to carve a big fish for his garden. The art of making wooden spoons is still very popular. Since man started using utensils to eat with, the spoon has been around. From what I know, and believe me, I am no expert, the best timbers to use for spoons are willow, poplar, lime and ash. I met someone once who made bespoke wooden spoons. They were beautiful, unique and when you touched them, it was like handling silk. He made his living by it, charging hundreds of pounds for a single spoon. My hope is one day to be able to make a living just by carving and making things out of wood.
The first letter I ever carved was the letter 'E'. Bill my teacher, had me draw a giant E on both sides of a piece of wood. The exercise was to on one side remove the 'E' from the wood, leaving a sunken 'E'. Then on the other side, remove the wood from around the 'E', so the 'E' stood up from the wood. This took all evening and looked nothing like I saw in Cris Pye's book. But is was my first attempt and I was not going to be put off at this early stage. Before I left that evening Bill said “Next week we can start you on a word, think of a word you would like to carve”. “A word” I thought. “Is he mad, I haven't learned the alphabet yet, let alone string a word together”. Bill gave me an idea as to what wood to look for at the local wood yard. One of which was lime a very popular wood with wood carvers. Lime is light in colour, easier to carve, often used by puppet makers because it's not too heavy. The famous wood carver Grinling Gibbons (1648-1721) favoured lime.
VALLEY OF DRY BONES - Grinling Gibbons
When I started to learn the basics of wood carving, what I wanted was my own tools, my own own set of chisels. But good wood carving chisels are not cheap at the best of times, let alone when your out of work, as I was at the time. Bill told me what were the best quality chisels to buy and roughly what they might cost. He also told me a good place to look for chisels was on ebay. So that is what I did. My funds were limited, but after much searching, I found a set of six Henry Taylor wood carving chisels. They were a pretty good make, second hand and no one was bidding on them. On advice from my wife, I put maximum bid in at the last minute. Seconds later I was the owner of my first set of carving chisels. The first of what would become many.
The following week my chisels arrived from ebay, and I managed to lay my hands on a piece of lime wood from Whitten Timber (no relation), up the road from where I live. But what word should I carve? My name perhaps, or one of the children's, Aaron, Shannon, Grace or Lizzie. No, if I did one kid's name I would have to do them all. In the end Judith came up with the word, and that word was Arcadia. Now if you were around in the mid 80's as I was, you might think, why do you want to carve the name of a pop group made up of members of Duran Duran. Well the idea had nothing to do with Simon Le Bon or any other member of the band. ARCADIA – is a Greek word meaning “an image or idea or life in the country side, that is believed to be perfect” As far removed from where we live in South London as can be. It was in fact the house name of my wife's grand parents who lived in Waterford, Ireland. I must admit having lived in this noisy, over crowded city of London for 53 years. A city I love dearly, the quite and peace of country side is very appealing.
Over the next 4 or so weeks my carving progressed and took shape, Arcadia began to reveal itself until it was finished. After sanding it down to a smooth finish, Bill suggested I should maybe gold leaf the letters, to make the letters stand out even more. Well once again governed by cost, I got some fake gold leaf, 10 sheets for under £5. That very first carving now hangs on our wall, waiting for the day we hang it outside our country cottage. Well that’s the dream that seems a very long way off. Or maybe I will have to take it to heaven with me and hang it outside my mansion in the sky.
Since that first word I carved some six years ago, I have carved many names, all with meanings, all with stories attached to them. My plan is to share those stories with you over the coming months. I want to finish this blog by telling you about about one of my very first commissions.
Gary and Jenny Hayes have been friends of mine for probably 30 years. They have long supported my work, and purchased several pieces. But on this occasion they asked me to carve the name of there beloved son Matthew Stanley. In Hebrew the meaning of the name Matthew is: Gift of the Lord. In the bible Mathew was one of the 12 apostles. He wrote the first gospel account of the life of Jesus.
Matthew and my son Aaron were born one week apart, both on a Sunday. This month of July 2017, they both celebrated there 25th birthday. The carving was for Matthew when he was 21, Gary and Jenny wanted an American feel to the carving. The family loved America and I am sure they still do. I came up with the idea of putting the 21 in a road sign style, like the famous Route 66. The wood I used was Iroko, a sort of Teak from Africa. It took several weeks to finish the piece, but to this day it remains one of the best things I believe I have carved. I think when you have a real love for something or the subject matter it comes out in the carving, or what ever art your producing. Whenever I see Matthew these day's, which is not very often, he always has a smile for me. God Bless dear Matthew.
BEN, MATTHEW AND AARON
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