In May I had the pleasure of creating a family of wyvern sculptures for Powis Castle. As is becoming more common for me, I shared the process and progress on social media each day. They were so warmly received (thank you!), they definitely needed their own blog…
THE COMMISSION
The commission for the Wyvern sculpture came from Powis Castle, a National Trust property in Mid Wales. They wanted to preserve the life of a dead oak whilst also enhancing the visitor experience. Transforming it into a sculpture is a great way of doing both those things!
In this case, the sculpture was for the area near the pet cemetery – an area that didn’t get many visitors. Castle staff hoped that having a sculpture in that area would encourage play and attract people who may not otherwise visit.
Spoiler alert!
It worked! Within minutes of finishing I noticed kids climbing on the sculpture – success!!!
MY VISION
So how did we go from the initial hope of something that would encourage play and visitors to a family of wyvern sculptures for Powis Castle?
First, I drew my inspiration from the castle grounds themself. The castle has a set of gate posts topped with two wyverns and I thought it would be great to tie the sculpture in with them. Plus, you can never go wrong with a dragon in Wales!
I also wanted to create something with room for physical, imaginative play that would encourage children to come up with their own stories and adventures featuring the wyverns (more on this later). I proposed a family with the adults at either end and eggs hatching in the centre, with the spaces in between flattened for sitting, balancing, chasing, or climbing.
DRAGONS AND WYVERNS AND DRAKES, OH MY!
I’m sure at this stage some of you are wondering why I keep saying “wyvern”. Isn’t it just a dragon?!
Kind of!
I go into more detail in my Types of Dragon Blog, but although both fantasty reptiles, wyverns are anatomically different to dragons:
Dragons have four limbs and a set of wings whereas wyverns have four limbs, and the front two limbs are a set of bat-like wings. Of other dragons I’ve carved, Hemlock and The Dragon of Bethesda are great examples of dragons and Zephyr at Wyvernwood and Maggon the Dragon are both good examples of wyverns.
ONCE UPON A TIME…
It was a lot of fun making these dragons and I’m thankful to the National Trust for the commission. I had decent weather and being May, all the Rhododendrons and Azeleas were out all around the area I was carving in – stunning colour everywhere! It was great to see kids already playing imaginately on the wyverns as I was packing up too.
One of the things I like about this sculpture though is that although this commission is finished, it isn’t necessarily the end.
To begin with, they are just the starting point for visitor imaginations. Every time someone plays or creates a name or backstory or adventure for these Wyverns or engages in some imaginative play, they’re only the beginning of something. However, I created the sculpture with a vision for future potential in mind too…
DEVELOPING THE WYVERN STORY
Although this sculpture was commissioned as a stand-alone, I did see in it the opportunity for something more. Should my clients decide to build on this, that is!
The sculpture introduces us to these Wyvern characters and the start of their new family. It doesn’t tell us anything more though. That means it would lend itself perfectly to being the first piece in a future sculpture trail. Although there are no plans for that at the moment, it’s an exciting prospect.
I haven’t written a story, but if I did, it would involve Wyverns as the main characters. The Wyverns have a friendship with the children who visit, and have special saddles enabling the children to ride on their backs.
AND STILL MORE!
And there could still be more!
When Liz and I worked on the Fudge’s Evening Adventure trail, we published a book to go with it, and hope to do so at some point for another trail we worked on. If you’re a visitor, it’s lovely to have a book to take away to go with the experience. If you run the attraction, books for your trail can be another source of revenue.
So, what do you think? When you look at this wyvern family, what adventure do you imagine for them?
I hope this has sparked your imaginations – both for dragon tales and potentially for your business!
If you would like to talk about how a sculpture could enhance your business or even about a sculpture trail, please get in touch at www.treecarving.co.uk/contact. I’d love to hear from you!
You can find the wyverns at Powis Castle using What3Words: www.w3w.co/gears.crackles.remember