It all started a few months ago when I made a chalice to present to the Church of Saint Melangell, in Pennant Melangell. That chalice was a great success and led to the making of another four, all made out of the yew from the church’s own ancient yew trees. However, there were ideas bouncing around in my mind for versions of chalices that I really fancied making, so I decided to make three for an on-line, virtual exhibition that I’ve been invited to submit work for. My idea was to make three chalices, each in the style of an ancient artefact, possibly linked to an infamous person.
The first is”King Arthur’s Chalice”. This is the biggest of the chalices that I have made. I guess that if Arthur were to be seated at the round table, passing the chalice (or was it a grail) around to his knights to join him with his drink, then it would certainly need to be a big one. I’ve used an ancient piece of oak burr, which I feel is perfect for the subject, and I’ve incorporated materials that could be found in the Celtic Kingdom that Arthur ruled over; materials like stone, copper and leather.
The second one is ”Boadicea’s Chalice”. I had to really ponder this one and spent days thinking about it before I even chose a piece of timber, let alone started to work on it. For the warrior Queen Bodicea, I wanted the chalice to be more feminine, yet it still needed to reflect the strength and robust nature of our heroine. Thus I found a piece of yew branchwood for its strength, yet a piece that had an almost lace-like beauty in the contrasts of the pale sapwood and the deep, dark heartwood. That beauty was also reflected in the choice of stones; Crazy Lace Agate! This turned out to be a good choice because it was a stone revered by the Ancient Romans, who Bodicea was determined to defeat in her war against the Roman Army that invaded her Celtic Kingdom of the Iceni. It amused me to think of Boadicea waving her chalice aloft as she charged into battle, showing off to her Roman enemies that she possessed the very stones that they held dear.
…and finally….”The Chalice of The Ancients”. For this chalice I was thinking of the Neolithic and Bronze Age ancient peoples of Wales, and especially of the Isle of Anglesey, where I have visited many of the burial mounds and ancient dwellings, or perhaps of the amazing settlement of round houses at Tre’r Ceiri, near Caernarfon. For this, I wanted a simple design and I chose to use scorched oak to give an aged look. For stones, I kept it simple by using pieces of polished quartzite.
C&C Always welcome....Les
