Wood Carving - How I got started

Woodcarving is one of the oldest crafts in the world.for me,it has been a labour of love since 1992.
My first contact with carving was in 1988, in Cardiff, Wales. a neighbour of mine at the time gave me some chinese carving tools and a couple of peices of wood. i carved two heads like those on easter island. i did nothing with wood after that untill 1992 when i did a course in galway city, Ireland.

As i was learning on the course i kept practicing and researching in my own time. looking for reference books to buy,and buying tools. My finances were very limited so i bought what i could bit by bit.

Its amazing what can be done with nothing but a few gouges. about six months after the course ended, my former tutor took me on as a relief teacher,and gave me a lot of support,giving me comissions he did'nt have time to do. People started coming directly to me for commissions and I started to make a name for myself.

When that starts happening, you've got to keep going and things will develop naturally. The course was 25 hours long, spaced over ten weeks. Many hundreds did the course,but only a handful continue to carve on a fulltime basis. Since then i've carved about 1,000 peices or more with various levels of detail, size and form.

From signs and sculpture, celtic design, chip carving and hearldry. The avenues are endless. i would encourage everyone with an interest in woodcarving to look for a course. Many of my carvings are from patterns readily available such as the book of kells which has been reproduced time and again in many different media, jewellery ,postcards,stationry, etc...,unlike these,individually hand carved images are unique, even when the same image is carved over and over again no two peices are the same. woodcarving. Its a gift from god.