So way before Lockdown here in New Zealand, (due to COVID19 virus), I had started carving 'Walking Staffs", as they intrigued me with the possibilities of weaving a story into a carving, yet having an item that was not too huge heavy or bulky to work with, and which was not going to take forever...(unlike some previous projects....naming no names....). I enjoyed doing them, but was anchoring them down into 'V' shaped carving brackets using a loading strap which went trough holes in the bench, and anchored to the workbench structure. It could be ratchetted up to clamp hard down onto these smallish diameter poles, but because they are relaticvely small - about 50 to 75mm diameter, I would need to be moving the staff around every few minutes sometimes.....and it drove me CRAZY !!!. In fact it put me off working for quite a while. So....I applied my mind, and Mr Googles to the problem, and found some ideas, and passed them to my wonderful 'problem solving, welding, fabricating and engineering' partner John, and he made me these two wonderful clamps to hold the poles down, and they take very little time to adjust, and I don't have to limbo under the workbench to do it. Then a month or so later, Lockdown happened, (we had already moved any kit we may need from workshop in town back to our home). I'm not sure if it was the background 'fight or flight" anxiety that was burbling away in my brain...but I've hardly been able to concentrate on carving a thing....the artichoke walking staff pictured is further on, but not finished....but the garden has had lots of attention, as that was my place of peace and meditation. Now I am getting back in the mood for carving, it is now too cold to do it outside as I was planning to do....Hey ho....We are fit and well so all is well. Go well y'all out there....be kind and care for each other...bye til next time!

What was my favourite chisel for many years....(nearly 25, and it was 2nd hand when I got it!!) has finally earned a rest (or break!!...sorry). Come to think of it, the mallet isn't looking too flash either....

This is the fourth of five totems, and represents ones journey through life (in a Waka). I hesitated to use traditional Maori symbols, which are not part of my heritage, but the children at the school requested them, and their representative from local Iwi said twas fine, as those symbols had passed into common usage.  So,,, there is the 'Tiki' for good fortune and 'mana' for the journey, the fish hook 'Matua' for prosperity. and the Double twist 'Pikorua' for good relationships within community, and right at the bottom is the  Unfurling fern frond ,'Koru' for new beginnings. And of course the Silver Fern for New Zealand!

And the fifth and final one, twas too big to get one photo.... This represents the environment again, and the top photo shows the lake edge, with flax plants and a mother and baby Pukeko, the lower photo shows the flax flowers, with swan rising up from the water to flap its wings. Wherever it has made sense I have tried to keep the raw texture of the wood beneath the bark, which has such beautiful  fine markings in, almost like hair or fur. Such a privilege to work with Pohutakawa, So hard and so beautiful and sensual to touch.
Sorry to be so boring and factual on this post.... a day of wrestling settings on website etc has caused the logical brain to get a little uppity (and the creative side is curled up somewhere snoozing.....

I have been talking about putting a website together for quite a while, but it just was always easier to find some other pressing priority instead....Move house, build a tiny house, sort my 25 years of photos out....aaargh...no go and clean the oven instead... then suddenly the stars etc all lined up and I now its almost done, and hardly hurt at all (thankyou weebly). So this is the part where I will record the work in progress, in fact any creative activities - it becomes a useful 'aide memoire' for me as well as keeping me on track hopefully. And I may even get some feedback - which is always useful to us lonely artistic types up in our garrets (except I couldn't carve or move big pieces of wood up into a garret....).  
Pictured below are 3 of a series of 5 posts or small totems for a school on North Shore. They will be viewed in an upright position normally of course, but being pohutakawa, they a flippin heavy even at this small size - there were good reasons for calling it 'ironwood'. The texture under the bark is amazing, it looks like hair or fur, and I have tried to keep an area of it on each piece. There are 2 more to do, and hopefully this blog will help keep me on track. With the extreme heat and humidity around at the moment it is not a fun prospect working on such hard wood, By the next post, the next post should be on the brackets and taking shape....