I’m not asked for many carvings, which is a shame – I enjoy doing them, so I charge less than you might expect.
Here we have two aumbry doors, both carved in sycamore. The wheat and grapes are on the front of an aumbry containing the reserved sacrament. The olive branch is on one containing the oil of chrism. (The first is pictured with no finish, the second is oiled and waxed.)
Then there are two carvings which ornament a library in a private house (featured elsewhere on this site). My customer wanted carvings of the symbol of St Joseph and of a pelican, in its guise as a symbol of sacrifice. I looked at a wide range of designs in books and online before coming up with these. They are carved in English oak.
The ripidi, or liturgical fans, are for an Orthodox church in Suffolk. The carving looked crisper before they were gilded. We live and learn.
The music stand is for the chapel in Trinity Hall Cambridge and displays their crest.
There nothing churchy about the koi carp among the lotus leaves – it’s a bed end and it’s just here to show off a bit.
The weird beasts (I know of no more precise name for them) are copied from an ancient font in St Mary’s, Old Linslade. My customer asked for a bookcase ornamented with animals and foliage. These curious creatures, with tails that sprout into foliage, seemed to fit the bill exactly.
