Happy Fathers' Day!

There's a lovely Fathers' Day feature in the UK edition of the Storque this weekend, all about crafty dads and their children. I'm delighted that a little piece I wrote about my dad has been included (thanks Amity!)

You can read the full feature here, but I just wanted to show off some of my dad's work on my blog too :) 

My dad worked in manual jobs all his life, but he always had an artistic side. His enduring love was fretwork - he made the most intricate wooden items, from beautiful decorative boxes to tiny Christmas ornaments. Sometimes I'd paint the finished pieces for him (like the wooden easel pictured here).

When he retired, Dad explored all sorts of things - watercolours, polishing stones, stenciling; he even took up knitting and cross stitch in his 70s, bless him (it still amazes me how he produced such neat stitches with his stocky fingers)!

Strangely it’s never occurred to me before to look for similarities in our work, so it was fascinating for me to realize that we do seem to share some things - a love of the ornate, curves rather than straight lines, and swirly patterns!

My dad sadly died a few years ago, so the things he made by hand are extra-special to me now. Having them is like having a little bit of dad still around - they're a great reminder of how talented he was, and maybe where I got my artistic side from.


I love that my dad had such a zest for learning and exploring new things, and appreciating the beauty around him. If you’re somewhere looking down and reading this, Dad, I’d just like to say - cheers, I love you, and I hope you know what a great inspiration you were (and still are) to me.