Hazel Bay

Celebrating the imperfections of nature. Unique hand made crafts.

I am a woodturner by calling, (Troi Pren in Welsh). In my little welsh cottage some years ago, feeding my log burner, I realised how intricate and fascinating these messy chunks of wood could be. Far from staring at the flames dancing around the fire, I would be studying the next log I was about to pile into my burner. Their textures, whirls and imperfections fascinated me. I started saving the odd piece from a fiery end and instead I would carve and polish it to reveal more of those wonderful curves and earthy blemishes. Eventually, I saw merit in every piece of oak and found myself so intrigued to see what I could do with it that couldn’t burn another log. To save my family from freezing, I converted to using compressed paper logs and collected wood purely to see what I could make with it.

This fascination developed into a skill, a business and a gallery in Llandudno for a short time. My work was characteristically individual because I would let the wood tell me what it wanted to be. Often I wouldn’t know what I was making until the first few cuts.
I began to trust the wood even more and allowed it to split, tear and warp. All of the stresses and drama of its decades of life were being expressed once again as I opened it up and released the strain. Like a recording of its experiences of weather and location, carving into it would tell a story of its life. And now the marks of my tools became another chapter and the buyer would be the next.

I started to experiment with the addition of colours, then different materials and mosaics. Eventually I discovered that mingling resin with wood afforded me endless possibilities and I am far from exhausting the fun and fascination I have with it.

So, why am I fascinated by resin? Well, it’s not just resin. It’s clear-as-water resin which has the quality of being almost invisible, transmitting, diffusing light. I use it for a number of reasons. It can open up my pieces, to allow the viewer to see the untouched form inside. Clear resin can also give the impression of floating, in a fixed position like a three dimensional snapshot of something that is moving through space. It also holds a material so well that I can carve and reveal all the above to create something intriguing that can be shared with everyone. And this I find exceptionally rewarding and satisfying.