Collaboration

I think everything goes better with collaboration.  My primary occupation is as a sheep farmer and herding dog trainer.  When out working the sheep or when competing at a trial I have the most success when the dog and I work together, when we collaborate and help each other.


I think of my stick making in the same way, while for many of the sticks i may do all the actual work on them I never make a stick where i don't show it to someone as it is in progress.  I am also keenly aware that much of what i do is not something i thought up all on my own, a number of the design ideas I use and a lot of the techniques I use come from a good friend and mentor George MacDonald.

On a more direct level a number of my most intricately carved sticks are a collabaration between my wife and I.  Raven is a professional artist specializing in pet portraits but she has also been a wood carver in the past and her carving work can be seen in a number of my sticks including the one shown here.  I expect raven will be doing a lot of the detail carving on the current project stick below as well.