Who Am I?
My name is James Booth that’s me in the photo holding two “tattooed” oak wood newel posts that I made for a client (these actually match his own tattoos). I previously worked for a software company travelling round the world but had the opportunity to exit that gracefully and indulge my desire to exercise my creativity and work with my hands (and a robot) for a while. I really enjoyed working with other people to make something genuinely unique, the more difficult or unusual the better.
Although I am no longer trading as I went back to University in 2021, if you have questions about the work then please contact me using the information on the Home page and I’ll be happy to help and perhaps point you in the right direction if you want this type of work.
FYI: Ceorfan is the Old-English word for “carving”, roughly pronounced “tchorfan”.
What did I do?
Primarily I used to collaborate with other craftspeople to carve dimensional parts for their work. My focus was on difficult to make 3D shapes, mostly relief carvings but I also made component pieces and pretty much anything suitable for the tools I used.
I typically worked with cabinetmakers, furniture builders, architects, designers, model makers, artists and restorers. I was just as happy doing something modern and abstract as I was reproducing carvings in classic styles and could work with pretty much any source material, from a computer file, to a napkin sketch or even just a vague idea.
To see a small variety of things I’ve made please take a look in the Gallery.
How did I do it?
I used Vectric’s Aspire, a 3D computer relief modelling software (Computer Aided Design- CAD) to do the design and layout for any work. Then parts were carved on a digital CNC router (Computer Aided Manufacturing - CAM). I have over 20 years’ experience of relief modelling (Delcam’s ArtCAM and Vectric’s Aspire) and have created hundreds of different models in many styles and genres in that time.
The CNC Router (the robot shown in the image) can carve solid wood, plywood, MDF, machinable plastics and even non-ferrous metals.
I also used to share a space with a Cabinet Making company so had access to a workshop of traditional tools and their expertise if a job required it. Indeed we collaborated on many projects.