Bring me everlasting flowers

Traditionally carved ‘off the knee’, wooden flowers hewn from coppiced hazel are blooming for a photographer-turned-craftsman, finds Catriona Gray

ARTIFICIAL flowers come in many shapes and forms, but one of the most charming is surely the wooden blooms that were traditionally carved by travelling communities. This almost-forgotten craft dates back to a time when they would stop for a night or two on a village green and, equipped with only a knife and a few foraged branches, whittle dozens of delicate flowers to sell. The process was simple: a peg knife was used to shave strips of wood from a peeled stick, which was held against the carver’s knee for support. Instead of slicing the piece off, the maker would stop just short of the end, folding each thin sliver over to form a petal. By repeating this process around the stick, a full flower gradually took shape. ‘This…

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Country Life (Digital) - 1 Issue, March 12, 2025

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