I have made various sets over the last few years. I started out with the travel set, then a neighbour saw it and commissioned me to make a full size set as a Christmas present.     

For these first sets I used dowel for the pieces and off-cuts for the boards, then I started to find wood in local woods and parks for the larger pieces.

  The next set I had been thinking about and designing for a couple of years before I finally made it. The wood for these pieces was salvaged from a building site in Manchester, the builders cut down some sycamore trees to make way for an apartment block, and I took this wood and started on these figures.

The next piece was made completely from one big piece of wood. There were storms across the country in January 2007 and a lot of trees were blown down. I took this wood from the local woods near my house after the trees had been chopped into sections. The set was made as a wedding present for two friends who got married in the summer of the same year.

 For my recent pieces, I have used wood from old Christmas trees, found in council recycling points in January. The wood for the boards has been off-cuts from timber merchants, or found in local parks.

Please have a look at the gallery page for some more pictures.