Walking Sticks by Raif Killips

Walking Sticks by Raif Killips Folk and fine art, decorative walking sticks. Heirloom pieces by artist Raif Killips

I don't know how many of these I've completed in six years since I carved my first. I find the bittern a captivating sub...
21/05/2026

I don't know how many of these I've completed in six years since I carved my first. I find the bittern a captivating subject and still enjoy carving each one whenever I receive a commission. Reflecting the way I work, and natural variation in the subject, each one is a little different. It's going to be a while 'til I carve my next, but this bittern stick will be available during an exhibition at Rheged Gallery, Penrith, UK, 3rd July - 4th October.

I shared a photo of my first fox stick (the one here on the right) four years ago having made it six years earlier - I w...
05/05/2026

I shared a photo of my first fox stick (the one here on the right) four years ago having made it six years earlier - I wasn't sure there would be any interest. The carving was a personal piece of work, made for family. You may remember the roots of its design reside in folk tales and song, in this case from 1500s England. If you've a mind to, you can sing along to the modern version of the tale. These words were rattling around my head ten years ago and still lurk on occasion 🎶 “The fox went out on a winter’s night, Prayed for the moon to give him light, He had many a mile to go that night, Before he reached the town-o”… (And if you're strumming along on guitar, these are all you'll need D, A7 and G 🎶 )

A ring-necked pheasant in natural wood grain with hand painted glass eyes. Carved from cherry, I think I've only ever ma...
06/03/2026

A ring-necked pheasant in natural wood grain with hand painted glass eyes. Carved from cherry, I think I've only ever made four of these. The carved portrait sits on a hazel shank with stripped hazel spacer.

I've been told there are common cranes living wild and free on the Norfolk Broads but I've not seen any yet. Instead, I...
20/02/2026

I've been told there are common cranes living wild and free on the Norfolk Broads but I've not seen any yet. Instead, I got my reference material for this carving from photographs I captured at the Great Crane Project, Pensthorpe Nature Reserve, north east of the Broads.

In addition to the partridge mentioned last week, I've been working on a puffin like this recently. In fact, I've a good...
16/02/2026

In addition to the partridge mentioned last week, I've been working on a puffin like this recently. In fact, I've a good number of projects in flight at the moment, not least an exhibition I'm working towards. I hope to bring news of that, and a few other items in the weeks ahead.

I have at least three grey partridge like this under way at the moment, including one for me. That one will join my grow...
13/02/2026

I have at least three grey partridge like this under way at the moment, including one for me. That one will join my growing collection of working sticks. I tend to pick a stick from my stand according to where I'm walking, my mood, and the weather. I think my new partridge stick will quickly find its place, probably on my walks around Oxton, perhaps to Robin Hood's Hill; most definitely to Combs Wood and the surrounding fields.

"Blimey, time doesn't 'arf fly! Over two years since I carved a gannet! About the same since my last puffin!? Maybe a pu...
09/02/2026

"Blimey, time doesn't 'arf fly! Over two years since I carved a gannet! About the same since my last puffin!? Maybe a puffin next then..."

First there was sketching, thought and reflection. Then wax models and a handful of design profiles. All culminating in ...
06/02/2026

First there was sketching, thought and reflection. Then wax models and a handful of design profiles. All culminating in this thumb stick, carved from rippled maple. My first tiny sketch was made while sat eating pasta in The Queen's Medical Centre refectory. Nine years later, as sometimes happens, it took a commission to trigger a final emergence from the cerebral and 2D to a finished carving. In this case, a leaping brown trout.

No longer one of my works in progress but completed stick instead. A red grouse carved from maple, with beak carved from...
04/02/2026

No longer one of my works in progress but completed stick instead. A red grouse carved from maple, with beak carved from buffalo horn. This subject is amongst the UK’s eight native game bird species - one I used to see sometimes on Warslow Moors, Staffordshire, in the 1970s and 80s.

This is what work in progress looks like for me. Anything up to twelve sticks in various stages of making. When a custom...
29/01/2026

This is what work in progress looks like for me. Anything up to twelve sticks in various stages of making. When a customer commissions a piece, the first thing I do is record the height the stick will need to be. Then I select the best piece of hazel for the project, cut the timber piece for carving, and join the two with a traditional peg joint. Thereafter it’s a case of carving, painting and finishing each piece. In some ways it’s simple, certainly it sounds it when I read these words. But work usually spreads over several weeks each design having its own unique challenges.

Address

Sherwood
Buxton

Telephone

+447969480150

Website

https://www.instagram.com/raifkillips/

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