Where does our inspiration for our Green Men designs come from? This is a question that Anne, one of our recent customers, asked me and it is a question that many people put to us so I thought it would be a good idea to answer it as best I can in our blog.
Hawthorn and Elder intertwined.
The biggest inspiration for us is the English Countryside. Even though it has been damaged and suffered insult and injury from generations of bad farming practices, poor planning, nasty buildings and pollution it is still beautiful. It still has some wonderful woods, pastures, hills, brooks and rivers, mysterious springs, romantic ruins, tumuliand stone circles that make it a magical place. For us this magic is embodied in the figure of the Green Man.
There are hundreds of places that I can think of that have the special Green magic. One is depicted above. In a field near our home there is this elder and hawthorn growing together. My younger son, Thomas is on the right hand side. Children sense and appreciate such places. Unfortunately adults can't always tune in to them. It's a skill they need to relearn. Somehow the Green Man can give a focus to this process.
Another, and to me closely related source of inspiration, are the old churches that cover England. They frequently hold carvings of Green Men. Above are photos of Green Men from churches in the Lincolnshire area that a friend sent us.
We also take leaves and other natural materials that we pick up on walks and work these into our designs. Here's an oak leaf I picked up last winter which became incorporated into one of our designs. Oak leaves, ivy leaves and holly leaves have been our particular favourites, along with their fruit. Evryone is aware of acorns and holly berries but not everyone notices the lovely little berries that you find on ivy.
After all the preliminary work of looking at shapes and images, we make a drawing which is the basis of our design. Here's one we did for a special order for someone who wanted a smiling Green Man. We work mainly from the back of the pewter, hence the words are mirrored. Once we have the design at this stage we transfer it to the pewter.
The high grade of pewter we use has been difficult to source in recent years due to a decline in the metalworking trade in Birmingham, but we have now found a new supplier who can deliver the thin, finely rolled and finished sheet that we need for the repousse work. The repousse work is done with a variety of specialised tools with rounded ends. My favourite is an old brass ferrulled burnisher with a highly polished agate tip shaped like a claw which can produce a lovely shiny finish.
The final piece is produced painstakingly line by line, patinated and polished, and then mounted and framed. A lot of work goes into it. It sometimes seems ridiculous how much time goes into our pieces. Whoever buys one gets a lot of our time for their money! But we love making them. It is a deeply satisfying process that I would not swap for the bigger financial reward we could get from having them stamped out in the Far East.
Here's a recent Green Man by Sharon:
This has already been sold but we can do a similar one. Price £180.
Occasionally we are rewarded with the sight of a mysterious figure in the undergrowth on our country walks. This one spotted near Belvoir Castle last summer.
Phil.
