Availability
-- My brick carving is a hobby not a business. If you want a particular item for a specific date, please give me lots of notice. I prefer not to sell online from photographs as buyers need to see and feel how each item turned out. And bricks are heavy things to send by post! I aim to put a good selection together for each quarterly open day alongside my regular wood carvings.
Texture & Colour
-- A brick that appears red or yellow might have a black core, which will sometimes enhance an item's appeal but will sometimes mean the brick is unusable. Some clays used for brickmaking contain grit, small stones or voids. When cut through these often contribute to the attractiveness of the finished surface. However, interior discoloration or fissures can quite often necessitate late abandonment of a carving.
-- Some items are finished with a water-based semi-matt varnish, which is thinly applied to bring up the colours and eliminate dustiness, but doesn't prevent items weathering naturally if used outdoors. Some are finished with several coats of beeswax instead. Others are coated with yacht varnish.
-- Many of the bricks I use are over a hundred years old - scarred and weathered over time. I often leave traces of these old surfaces visible. Likewise some of the tooling marks left by my saw and chisel. Most items can be left outdoors, but a few of the more porous ones might suffer if exposed to a hard frost when saturated. I am happy to point out which ones are appropriate for exposed positions. Most designs are intentionally rustic, honouring the nature of the material; a few are more refined and appropriate to gallery settings. Candleholders are drilled 20mm dia x 20mm deep. Bottle and vase shapes are drilled 16mm dia x 90mm deep, for display of dry flowers or twigs. (They won't hold water for live flowers).
This website
-- I am not optimising this site for widest circulation - merely as a reference site for local viewing. I don't sell online. I aim to put a good selection together for each quarterly open day.