Order form the other side of the world Maria contacted me having seen a documentary about my work on a TV programme in New Zealand. So the immediate challenge is to demonstrate that I can deliver what Maria wants: A 3D chart of Preservation Inlet in SW NZ on the South Island. I use the UKHO Admiralty charts for most commissions as they have the world’s most comprehensive portfolio of charts, however in this case I used the New Zealand chart NZ7654 which is the most detailed chart of the area, now the beauty of what I do is that I then select the section that is relevant to the client , in this case Preservation Inlet. I include enough of the chart that will show the focal point and also a bit extra just to put the area in perspective so in this case I included Chalky Island and the outer entrance to Edwardson sound. This information is presented to the client in the form of a pdf that defines the content – this is key as it shows the client what “content” they can expect from the finished piece! This takes the risk out of the commission so now my client who is on the other side of the world can be confident that I will do a good job. If you think about conventional commissioned art, you are at the mercy of what comes out of the artist’s head (mostly good), but you have no idea until the piece is finished, there is no safety net. This is not the case with my work. Having secured the clients confidence I now set about making the piece which is painstaking as all of the work is done by hand. Presentation is as important as the making, I take …

My great, grandfather was born on the Isle of Jura, so the island – and the table – are of great sentimental value to me I first met Tony Flemming  at the Southampton Boat Show where he was exhibiting his Flemming 65 Motor yacht. He is a renowned designer/entrepreneur. Tony saw my table designs and commissioned me to make a 3D chart for his boat Venture 11. I worked with him on the design of the table so that it would integrate seamlessly into the boat interior.The requirements were that the table would resemble his current design, which had a curved elliptical shape.Tony has strong ties to Jura in Scotland, which was the focal point and we would include as much of the west coast as possible.  The 3D chart itself was a B&W chart which I sourced from the UKHO Archive.The next challenge was to establish content and determine the overall size. Working closely with Tony I worked out the content V table size and set about creating the 3D chart. The overall piece was large and complicated, the west coast of Scotland is rugged with many islands and deep channels. The main features included Mull, Isla, Jura, Aran and the Kintyre Peninsula. The first step is to scale and print the charts, several charts are required in the making of each individual 3D chart. The paper charts are then cut by hand, for example on the first chart we will cut out the land, the second will be the 6 fathom depth, so on and so forth. On a chart this complex you could have as many as 800 individual pieces.  Each and every piece is then mounted onto a special substrate. Everything is cut again……….yes, another 800 cuts! So now we have to assemble the pieces, it …