Woodworking Projects
Below is a selection of woodworking projects and commissions I have been working on, beginning in 2022. This section of my portfolio is dedicated to projects that fall outside of my usual way of working, including self-guided experiments, works-in-progress and commissions for others.
Kamishibai/Crankie Storytelling Box
This bespoke wooden box combines two ‘low-fi’ visual storytelling traditions:
American/European ‘crankie’ storytelling: a scrolling picture set within a frame and animated by a pair of handles or ‘cranks’.
Japanese ‘kamishibai’ storytelling: a series of illustrated slides, framed within a box and traditionally mounted on the back of a bicycle.
The box was commissioned by storyteller and writer Sara Hurley. It is built from a combination of native spalted ash and American oak.
Westminster Angels
In Summer 2022 I assisted heritage woodcarver William Barsley (www.williambarsley.com) with carving unique scale replicas of one of the 26 angels that decorate the medieval hammerbeam roof of Westminster Hall – the oldest part of the Palace of Westminster. I was tasked with carving angel wings from English oak (see below), which are careful copies of Will’s original prototypes (also pictured below). This was a new challenge for me as I usually carve my puppets from lime wood, which is a much softer hardwood than oak. Oak is one of our toughest and heaviest native timbers and requires a little more stamina to carve at speed! My Instagram reel (embedded below) documents the full process of carving an angel wing.
This project is the intellectual property of William Barsley and the Houses of Parliament. You can find out more about the project and it’s conception here: The Westminster Hall Angels on Youtube
Experiments in Spalted Ash and Oak
This is a self-guided project and is currently still a work-in-progress which I hope to return to at a future date. When complete, this will be a miniature otter marionette. The main objective of this project was to experiment with carving some spalted ash and beech timber, which I obtained a little while ago from a local Devon source. Both ash and beech are inappropriate timbers for carving larger puppets as they are too heavy. However, the unique figure of the spalted grain was perfect for the ‘ripple’ pattern on an otter’s back, so I came up with a miniature puppet design especially for it. If and when complete, this piece will be available for sale as a bespoke collector’s item.
Building a ‘Pose-able’ Puppet
Early in 2022 I received a commission to build a puppet of an eagle-like mythical creature called a Garuda. Unlike a marionette or a rod puppet, this puppet needed to be rigid but pose-able, a bit like a stop-motion puppet. In other words, the joints needed to be built a snug as possible, as opposed to loose and free-moving (as I am used to making them). This involved prototyping some high-grip ball-socket joints, which was completely new territory for me as a puppet designer.
Sadly, for personal reasons, the client pulled the plug on this commission part way through its development and consequently it has been put on the back burner. However it proved a useful exercise in developing new techniques, and I may well return to it in the future as a self-guided endeavour.
Giant Jig Dolls
These puppets were built to commission in Autumn 2022 and are based on a type of busking puppet called a ‘jig doll’, which has its origins in British and American folk music traditions.
They differ from my usual way of working as they are deliberately ‘naive’ in both aesthetics and movement. For example, both the knees and hips are double-jointed for full comic effect when ‘jigging’! They are much larger than a typical jig doll, measuring approximately 45cm high. The control rod therefore had to be detachable for ease of transportation.
The dolls will be costumed by musician and artist Griselda Sanderson and are to feature in a touring folk music act, currently in development.
