Woodn't you know
Chris Carroll called in yesterday with some long awaited bowls made from Scots Pine and Sycamore.
Chris has always had a passion for wood, making walking sticks for his pals as a young boy, then winning the senior prize for ‘techy’ at High School. Even when adult working life took over, a penknife and a stick were never far away! When Victoria met Chris it wasn’t long before his artisan abilities became obvious: an avid ‘comber’ of beaches, mountains and even the odd skip, Chris is the original womble, turning almost everything he finds into mixed media art, shelves, hutches and workbenches.
When Chris made his home at Lochend, Lake of Menteith, in 1994, the sheer abundance of trees surrounding the lochside cabins and lodges rekindled his interest in wood. Aided and abetted by father-in-law Jimmy, also a keen craftsman, the pair whiled away many an evening making plates and chopping boards on Jimmy’s lathe, shoogely* though it was.
After some training with master turner Tracy Owen and now armed with his own lathe, Chris started selling his art in galleries and shops across the Trossachs, which he continues to do when not busy with his main job at Lochend Chalets. Chris has produced many of the tables, work surfaces, shutters, lamp bases and knobs in the lakeside accommodation at Lochend.
Chris recognises that his work in wood is shaped by the patterns that lie within the natural grain. ‘I start with an idea but the life of the wood ultimately tells me where I’m going.’
If you stay in the accommodation at Lochend, you can arrange to view and/or purchase Chris’s beautiful work, most of it using wood from Lochend, locally sourced windblown timber or reclaimed wood from Sustained Woodlands Charitable Trusts. This is important to Chris as it reflects the natural harmony that he feels lies within all aspects of his work.
Find out more about Chris’s work at www.grainbychriscarroll.com.
*Shoogely: Scots word for wobbly!!
