Jim Kelso

That's so amazing and touching Dave! What a fine tribute... Jim

Thanks Steve! Thanks very much Luke. If there is an effortless look, it's deceptive! It seems these days that most of my work requires long periods of gestation, especially working out the various design elements and how they work together(or not). Lots of gazing, then leaving it alone for a while.

Thanks very much Chris! Very nice to hear that Doug...

Thanks very much Jeremy! Much appreciated...

A couple others saw the bark as stones, which I can totally see now. It's all good... Thanks Dave! I'll pass that on to Don.

Thanks very much Joshua, Wes and Gerhard. The lyrical content means ever much more to me. Gerhard, yes end-grain with bark on the sides. It's one of my favorite bits too! I did the bark first and puzzled over what to do on the top, and the light-bulb went off...

Many thanks for your comments guys. Much appreciated. Alan, we met last week and he liked it!

Don gave me this blade five or six years ago and said, "Make something beautiful with it". Hmm, ok, so it rumbled around in my mind until last fall. It was a slow process figuring out the transition, theme and all the details, but I think it came good in the end. I didn't find out until it was almost finished that it was Don's last patterned blade. I knew it had to be one of the last, but THE last. I'm glad I didn't know as I was working on it. Below is a little of what I've written. More to be read here: Kelso Journal And a slide show with more photos here: Fogg/Kelso

Daniel I have been sadly distracted this year and missed this. I love the Swedish flavor of your engraving and how it complements Roger's work. Jim

Many thanks James.

Thanks Prof. Actually a kind of weird thing happened. As I was taking material off I would run into the occasional termite carcass released from their woody tombs. As I made the final shape, one sort of stuck in the hole, and stayed there through some vigorous handling, so I decided to lacquer over him as he was not very visible. I took a look last week and some other insect was in the same hole trying to back out! I tried to help it but gutted it in the attempt. I thought it was extraordinary that it was in the same hole. Maybe after some tasty dried termite... Thanks so much Steve.

Thanks very much Joshua and John. All your feedback is very helpful.

And a top view

Thanks Brian. Much appreciated... Here are a couple more shots:

Thanks very much Charles.