Bill Thomsett and Brian Johnston, neighbours, discovered eachother through possessing similar tastes and creative talents. Their profiles below give a small insight into how their individual talents arose.
Bill Thomsett
"I started carving bone as a means to an end. I had seen fishhook talismen and wanted one for myself, (hoping that it might help me catch more fish). I thought that for the ‘magic’ to work, I should carve the fishhook myself. So I scrounged a piece of beef-bone from a stick carver I know, and set about it with files and sandpaper. After a lot of rubbing, I produced two hooks that had a pleasing shape and feel. This is when fate seemed to take a hand. Through a string of coincidences I met up with an old friend that I had not seen for many years. He liked the hook I was wearing, and offered to lend me a book on bone carving that I might find interesting.. That book inspired me, and I was soon pestering my local butcher for beef-bones, which I prepared for carving (much to my wife’s disgust).
Another stroke of good fortune came my way when a friend gave me a small flexi-drive drill with a selection of burrs and sanding drums. With this I tried to copy the Mario designs I had seen in the book. As my confidence grew I began designing my own carvings and experimenting with staining the bone. This adds a random element, which I like."
Enquiries: Bill@ablow.co.uk
Brian Johnston
"I don't know exactly when it started, but I fell in love with the mystery of making things out of wood at an early age. This developed into guitar making when I left school, and progressed to carving.
I 'played' with things for many years until by a series of coincidences I embarked on a stick making course with a local stick-maker / carver. We became friends and with his encouragement, inspiration and depth of knowledge I progressed to the present day."
Enquiries: Brian@ablow.co.uk
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