The Makers Mind

Its hard to know where inspiration and ideas come from. Sometimes its as though the connection to inspiration is in overdrive, and a raging torrent of thoughts and ideas flows into us. At other times all goes quiet and there is an eerie silence.

Well at these times there is no value in becoming frustrated or trying to force things.  I already appreciate that our best work will not come at these times.

It was during a recent time of plenty that the idea for the Ash Heart Mosaic came to me.

Dad as a carpenter is well aware of the qualities of Ash.  Ash is the woodworkers friend in terms of workability.  Whether using hand tools or power tools to cut, shape and create.  Due to this he his staircase from Ash.

Through careful selection of the timbre it is possible to work with some wonderful grain patterns.  Which when finished and oiled or waxed will reward your effort by shinning and shimmering.  Sometimes it appears to be actually glowing in the light.

So thanks to Dad I had chosen a lovely board of Ash from my local timber supplier Yandles.  Then I started to work with Ash, exploring, learning its characteristics for myself.

As I worked with it I was rewarded with such good results.  The carves, cuts and engraving from my tools where clean and true.  Sharp tools cut through the Ash as though going through smooth butter, and not a hardwood.  No  Clean sharp corners no tearing or feathering.  I know I will always have Ash in the workshop.

I had all of these thoughts in my mind when I also started reminiscing about my childhood and memories of happy play.

The land where our house stands was farmland before it was given over to housing.  All along the end of the back garden is ancient hedgerow.  These days there are houses on both sides.  Before this as I mentioned it was farmland on our side and a garden nursery on the other.  Still standing and visible are are a variety of different trees running down through the gardens.  The last survivors and reminders of the old nursery.

Within the hedge is a large Ash tree which helped to form a lovely place for a den, or tree house, although not a truly up in the tree type.

I spent many happy hours camped out in this den.  Imagining all sorts of different situations and roles for myself.

So with my mind in inspiration mode and my heart full of love I wanted to say thank you to the Ash tree and pay my respects.  This was when the concept of creating a heart in an Ash board and then filling the heart with a mosaic of small sections of cut Ash from twigs came to me.  To finish it I poured a non toxic epoxy around the mosaic to preserve and protect it.

As you can image the it was a lot of fun working through the small pieces of Ash and seeing who wanted to live where.  Then taking a small section at a time out to glue them in securely and trying to remember just where I had originally had each piece !

This really was a special piece that I made and I put a lot of myself into it.  I spoke about the meaning of the piece in a Youtube video.

I don’t have the piece any longer.  I am pleased to say that I sold it locally when I spent a lovely sunny day at Cheddar Carboot.  A lovely young couple looked at my creations and they chose the heart.  Which was beautiful and fitting as I felt that there was a bond of love between them.

However after I sold it I was almost in shock for quite some time.  As I said I put a lot of myself in to the piece and was connected to it.  For some reason there was a sense of loss at it finding a new home, and conversely the huge joy at my work connecting with another individual (or couple) and them wishing to hang it in their home.

Thanks for reading

David