The Lady of the Lamp
I was watching an episode of bargain hunt on the telly and the contestants came across a candlestick attributed to Archibald Knox from the arts and crafts movement. It was simple and delicate, made of copper. This had my brain thinking of candlesticks and in another program, a scene of a restaurant with a dancer on stage came into view. As the camera panned around the dance on the stage briefly became one with the top of the candle. The idea blossomed.
My attempt at carving a dancing female flame is poor and at some point, I will try to perfect my attempt at miniature figure carving and replace her with something better. The body isn’t bad just the face lets it down. About netsuke, size is about the smallest I have tried carved to date. My lack of an index finger makes holding small items difficult.
The bowl of the candlestick was meant to be thinner, but as I had managed to put a small hole in the bottom of the candlestick bowl, I aired on the side of caution with the rest. The decoration on the inside of the bowl mirrors the metalwork techniques at the time and what I was taught at school. The Candlestick is made out of Limewood, The base out of turned cherry wood. They are both coloured with a variety of spirit stains to get a brassy coloured effect and finished with a sanding sealer on the candle holder only, the candle is untreated.
