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.
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Contact Details
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| 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: | |
260mm bowl in sycamore, pierced with leaves and seeds.
A selection of clocks shaped from solid blocks, with contrasting pillars. All are suitable for hanging or standing, and have battery powered quartz mechanisms.
Semi-elliptical table in local oak.
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.
280mm shallow platter in Sycamore, with coloured & textured rim.
190mm Burr Oak bowl with natural edge.
130mm thin flared bowl in Burr Oak, with brass inlay.
125 x 140mm natural-edged dish in Apple.
240mm tall vase in Laburnum.
100mm Goblet in Exeter Elm, with natural edge.
Small (210 x 150mm) Wall Plaque in coloured & textured Sycamore.
A selection of small vases with glass inserts, suitable for flowers as well as dried grasses.
A Classically-shaped hollow form in Blue Cedar, turned across the axis of growth and coloured with the shades of summer.