Blog

Graham Hill (01736 330117) paid another visit to show us the handaxes he makes from diorite pebbles, using only another stone & corroded granite. He then incises a drawing using flint. Using this method, the image here is entitled 'AirWar', and took about 20 hours to make.

Richard came back for a third visit. Working on a large block of Portland stone he started making a bird bath for his garden in Cumbria. Here Stephane, who comes regularly to carve, gives some advice.

BT manager, Roger Roberts, found a week's carving relaxing and restorative. Being absorbed in making something helps balance a busy working life.

Jacqueline Giovannini is a Brazilian artist. On this her first visit to the UK, she wanted to learn the basic methods of stonecarving so she could teach young people back home.

Tim's family booked 2 days carving as a birthday present for him. Someone, like Tim, who is open and ready for new experience, can enjoy having a go at stonecarving.

A father brought his son for a few days carving, giving him the time and space to come up with his own creative ideas and interact with others. This kind of creative encouragement is at the heart of the Steiner School which the boy attends.

Father & son-in-law, Steve and Andrew enjoyed a day with a different pace. With demanding and stressful jobs a day doing something completely different is a good way to relax.

We had a local woman, Mary, for a day's carving & she was very complementary - "A day with Baz and Maureen has to be one of the best Christmas presents my husband has ever bought me. Truly inspiring."

A number of students, with an interest in shamanism, come along to carve personal items for use in rituals, such as this pipe in progress.

Australian student, Tim, made an abstract piece in serpentine. Already gifted in turning wood he returned home and made a complementary bowl, creating a great personalised pestle and mortar.

We've had visitors from America, Australia, and Europe this summer. This couple from Switzerland and Romania were on holiday in St Ives and came over for an enjoyable day's carving.

Janeen & Ilona from Philadelphia, stopped off on their short tour of Britain, to try their hand at carving. They came on the coldest, wettest day of the summer so it was the perfect thing to do.

These two from London came with their parents for a day & were ready for anything. Dad came from Toussaint, Arizona, and so the family made some great little fetish pieces.

Richard, who came last summer, returned to focus on making heads. Here he is with a cycladic head (Cycladic art from islands in the Aegean circa 2500BC).

From time to time we have artists attending workshops who come to have time out from their usual medium and experiment with stone. Barbara Karn visited recently and whilst she mainly paints animals she also likes to work in 3D.

A group of students from Gloucester Girls School came for a demonstration. In common with most young people they showed no fear or hesitation in tackling a piece of stone.

We had a visit from Graham Hill who has been working along the road, making a hole in a large piece of granite, using nothing but hand tools made of stone. Graham has researched how holes were made in various types of stone and with a variety of stone tools across the UK.

Visitors to the Open Studio event made a positive response to the stonecarvings. With lots of Inuit and Celtic references the sculpture was new and educational to many viewers. Of course, there was plenty of entertainment too.

'There is a shape/ Defined by space/ And hidden by the folds of time/ Whose form describes/ To inner eyes/ a universal depth of line...' By Chris Gardner, a student.

Went down to Mousehole for a lunchtime picnic with students. Sometimes a break like this can generate new ideas or solutions.

Gary came for carving having already some idea from trying it before. He brought a little magic with his stories of a rich life lived on the road. Students always bring another slice of life.

Our guest at Easter made this lovely relief in soapstone. Never having tried carving before it took concentration and determination to achieve. The sun came out and put us all in holiday mood.

By the time the blackthorn blooms in the veg plot we like to have the seeds in the ground. Here you can see the potato drills with straw between them to keep the weeds down and act as a mulch. Our backs held up this season during digging. We are researching the no-dig methods with more interest, and have ordered the Permaculture Magazine, for more inspiration.

New supplies of soapstone delivered this week. Exciting possibilities. Baz has already carved out a bear. The supplier was 'Great Art' which has a vast range of art supplies. Check them out at www.greatart.co.uk.

Experienced woodcarver and woodturner, Peter Davey, attended a course, and overcame his fear of working in stone. He spent the day working with a range of stones; those that cut like wood e.g. soapstone, and harder composites such as granite.

We had a great weekend, courtesy of John & Sue Exton, in Monmouth. John heads up the art department at Monmouth School for boys, and together with Sue, an art teacher there, Baz ran workshops for the boys. They made carvings that the boys will enter for GCSE and A level work. John and Sue are terrific promoters of artists from Cornwall and have for many years organised workshops in Cornwall for the boys. Contact us for details.

Dad and daughter, David and Amber, from Provence, came for a days carving while they were staying in the area. They produced a walrus head and a fish. We had a gambol round the Merry Maidens with them and a fish and chip supper in Mousehole.

We had Jammy here for the weekend and we had a good laugh, a lot of eating, and he worked hard from the sketch he brought with him to create a great little sculpture of an embrace.

A rare event for west Cornwall and we only had two days of snow. Richard and Dan from Falmouth made it over despite the snow for a day's carving.