My name is George Watkins and I am a sculptural wood turner living in the heart of the National Forest, England. I have been turning now for approximately thirteen years and I am completely self-taught, learning what I know from books, videos, practical application and mistakes. I specialise in turning organic hollow forms, classic shaped vases and vessels using mainly wet wood (otherwise known as green wood) and the scale of my work ranges from miniature to large in size.

My main supply of wood is taken from local tree surgeons that would normally split it to sell for firewood. It takes allot of time and effort to convince them to sell me the un-split timber. It still upsets and annoys me to think that really nice quality timber is just burnt as firewood. In addition, I also accept and collect donated wood from storm damaged trees. Normally I repay the donator with a piece turned from their batch of wood as a token of gratitude.

When I first began turning it was using a small starter lathe which was capable of turning miniature pieces. I have now progressed to a VB36, supplied by Hegner UK Limited, which is a very capable and well built lathe weighing in at some 300kg. The key factor in selecting the VB36 was that it does not restrict me as anything I throw at it be it large or small can be handled easily and safely,I have still yet to find this lathes limits!