Home Page for John Rockey

You just have to pick up a finished piece and touch it!  It was his fascination with the textures of surfaces that first drew John to woodworking, and for several years he has made pieces for local craft fairs, where his clocks have become a firm favourite. Seeking to improve his understanding of why some shapes are more pleasing than others, John took a course in pottery: using your fingers to form a clay vessel on the wheel is so different to working with wood!  He now sees turning as a more fluid movement, drawing the shape from out of the wood, and so is moving towards more artistic projects. Taking part in various open-studio events has encouraged him to develop new turning skills such as hollow vessels.  Competition work has led to exploring pierced work, and exhibiting with local painters has prompted the use of colours to subtly enhance some pieces.  Much work retains some characteristic of the growing, living tree: maybe a piece of the bark, a knot or some other deformity.  Part of the challenge is to take an unpreposessing piece of wood, to realise the possibilities that it holds and then to reveal its beauty.  And that's the pleasure, too! Recent commissions include half-moon hall tables, a low table in Oak, large mantel-clock, kitchen spice-store with drawers, display shelving, various footstools, lectern, bookcase, set of fruit platters and other larger bowls.
Contact Details
Address:	Earldon Cottage,  Hennock,  Bovey Tracey,  Newton Abbot,  TQ13 9PY,  United Kingdom
Email:	Contact John Rockey
Home Telephone:	01626 833536
Work Telephone:	01626 833536
Mobile:

Pictures

Sycamore Bowl
260mm bowl in sycamore, pierced with leaves and seeds.

'Pegged' Clocks
A selection of clocks shaped from solid blocks, with contrasting pillars. All are suitable for hanging or standing, and have battery powered quartz mechanisms.

Hall Table
Semi-elliptical table in local oak. This is the second such commission for a light and attractive hall table.

Shelving - detail
This open shelving, in local oak, was commissioned as a four-tier plant-stand, but may easily be adapted for books or any other purpose.

Sycamore Platter
280mm shallow platter in Sycamore, with coloured & textured rim.

Deep Bowl
190mm Burr Oak bowl with natural edge.

Crocus form
Acacia has strong colour and figuring, shown to advantage in this natural-edged bowl or vase. 185mm tall.

Nebula
Small (210 x 150mm) Wall Plaque in coloured & textured Sycamore.

Vases
A selection of small vases with glass inserts, suitable for flowers as well as dried grasses.

Moorland Colours
A Classically-shaped hollow form in Blue Cedar, turned across the axis of growth and coloured with the shades of a Dartmoor summer.

Double bowl
An Australian burr - Brown Mallee - retains its spiky natural edge and has been cut with a pair of shallow bowls, suitable for change, keys or other small items.

Platter with coloured & textured rim
The rim of this 295mm Ash platter has the colours of the sea - or maybe a mackerel? - extending underneath.

Rocking dish
The underside of this ash bowl is continuously curved, so that as things are put in it, it will rock and settle to a different angle. The offset rim is inlaid with yew 'oysters' so that it naturally presents itself at a tilt.

Sycamore & Purpleheart flask
This hollow form was inspired by oriental ceramic pieces, and won its class in a local woodturning show.

Small Boxes
A selection of trinket and jewellery boxes suitable for a desk or dressing table, or just to enjoy handling!

Coloured bowl
Made from local Ash, this 250mm fruit bowl has been brightly stained inside, and the grain emphasised with coloured wax.

Platter with marbled rim
One of a series of wide-rimmed, 250mm platters in Sycamore, decorated with coloured dyes. This has been a useful learning exercise in the use of colour, discovering combinations which will work to enhance the plain-ness of the Sycamore.

Platter with marbled rim
Another in the series of Sycamore platters, this incorporates a metallic inlay to shimmer in the sunlight.

Selection of Platters with marbled rims
With softer colours, these may suggest the bottom of a rock-pool, a river-bed, autumn tints or even nasturtiums... The two outer rims use the same colour combinations, but the finished effects are never exactly predictable!

Selection of Platters with marbled rims
This later selection uses bolder colours...

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