WHY?

I had bought a vase decorated with a simple outline of trees done with tube lined glazes reminiscent of Moorcroft pottery and I wondered if I could achieve a similar effect in wood.

How?

The first step was to find a suitable vase and then make a plasticine maquette. This showed that a simple low relief could be quite effective.

Next the wood. I love yew (that sounds weird) and sourced a log which I turned on a homemade pole lathe.

Hollowing out the resulting cylinder was beyond my skills and equipment and I got a local turner to finish the job and make a base.

The design was sketched onto the wood and the carving could begin.

Once the levels of the foliage had been sorted out the carving was relatively straightforward.

Texture was added to the trunk and limbs witha small fluter and the foliage finished by scraping and sanding.

REFLECTIONS

Quite a pleasing result. It is interesting to note the way yew moves over time. Sometimes the glass is a very loose fit inside the wood and at other times it is so tight that it is impossible to remove.