I was approached by a long standing client and family friend in 2020 and asked if I would be able to make them an octopus candle holder for their dining room table. I was already fully booked with commissions and made some suggestions for other artists and blacksmiths to approach but luckily for me, this client was happy to wait. Just thinking about the project was enough to put my tool-making brain on overload and while I had a good idea of the style of piece I would make, the complexities of forging the suckers on the octopus arms and getting the texture into the work was at the forefront of my mind before I even put pen to paper. With this commission, the brief was simple; an octopus that held 8 candles and would have a foot print and height suitable for a dining table. Being somewhat land locked in Wiltshire and not very well travelled – I haven’t met many octopus in person and wouldn’t eat one, my first job was to watch My Octopus Teacher and get a better understan
Spring 2021 After a quieter winter in the forge than normal, I am back running my blacksmithing day courses as per Government guidelines with one to one sessions for the people that have had their courses postponed from 2020. Ridgeway Farm Art Project is currently awaiting planning approval for both the entrance sign and the Community Orchard - I very much hope that these two aspects of the project will get moving soon! In the meantime, I am drying some larch boards ready to make bat boxes to go on oak posts in the hedgerows around the development. When community groups can safely and confidently meet again I still want to do community making sessions for residents to make their own bat boxes. I have been working on designs for another public art project in Oxford and very much hope this will be approved and I can make the lovely pieces I have designed. I was sent some great photos of Chippenham Town Bridge - a piece I designed many years ago which still looks great today!