Making ‘Small Hand-Held Sculptures’
Hank Tyler shows a recent batch of SHHS in recently harvested Osage orange, his favourite species. Photo: D.D.Tyler
Words and photos: Hank Tyler
During the past two years I have produced a series of what have become known as SHHS – small-hand-held-sculptures. The tactile response to holding these small sculptures that can be easily manipulated in one’s hand is very appealing. Sanded to 2000 grit, polished with tung oil to a glass-like finish, and made from various woods in different shapes makes each one special and inviting.
The first SHHS was a 50mm diameter potato-chip design in bubinga that I have saved in my collection of special pieces. Later ones have been made in a variety of shapes: round, oval, discs, irregular and thin potato-chip like forms, tear-drops. Most measure 60–70mm in diameter, while a few larger ovals or round discs measure 80–90mm.
Osage orange and redgum SHHS are appealing to hold
Hardwoods such as Osage orange, jarrah, mulga, walnut and mahogany are my preferred timbers because they finish beautifully. The weight of hardwoods add to their appeal. Lighter weight and softer timbers such as Northern Hemisphere pines, cedars firs and spruces, and Australian Huon pines, banksia and grevilleas (silky oaks) are lighter in weight and more difficult to sand to a very smooth surface.
Roughing out each one is the most exciting phase of creation because there is an opportunity to read the wood grain and form a shape using its best aspects. When roughing out, I don’t usually have preconceived notion – the wood grain guides the final shape.
Above: a mixture of shapes and timbers includes ancient redgum, jarrah, black walnut, sheoak, redgum and banksia.
American Osage orange is my favourite timber because it is easy to work, the grain patterns are amazing, and golden yellow colour of freshly cut wood is brilliant. Also, as the timber ages, it darkens into a rich bronze color. Cutting, chiseling, rasping, scraping and sanding are all easy tasks with Osage orange. Some pieces have iridescent qualities, and people often ask if they are stones. I have found a number of sources of Australian grown osage in Victoria.
Ironically the smaller the sculpture, the longer it generally takes to complete. Each chisel cut or rasp cut is a small one, removing little wood. The size of the off-cut I’m using generally determine the size and often shape of the piece, however I try to maximise the size in each piece of timber I use.
Tear-drop SHHS in redgum
Eltham Pediatrics manager Jacqui Ward is a fan of the SHHSs in the 60–80mm size which are offered in the clinic to young people needing to keep their hands busy. ‘They have an immediately soothing and grounding effect, the moment a child picks one up. The smoothness is calming and focuses their attention on something beautiful and solid’, she said.
Fellow Eltham woodworker, Bernie McCarthy, a clinical psychologist, has also commented: ‘These objects provide a simple and undemanding sensory experience that is calming and soothing. For people who have anxiety, whether it be worry or in extreme forms of trauma response, these objects can be a way to detach from the outside world of demands and social complexities. And in this same experience they offer connection with the physical world that is simple, and prevents the person dissociating, providing them just enough low-level parasympathetic nervous system stimulation in a form they can manage.’
Spheres in 25-year-old Osage orange are 40mm diameter are also known as ‘eye-balls’.
SHHS are fun to create – most can be roughed out, shaped, sanded and polished in two to four hours. I use mostly hand tools – chisels, rasps and hand-sanding to finish and polish. Most workshops have off-cuts around that can be made into SHHS.
My work routine is to rough out a half dozen to a dozen small sculptures at one time and usually from a variety of timbers. I then use a cabinet rasp to form a variety of different shapes. Usually I work in batches of 10 to 15 pieces at one time.
The grain of banksia is highlighted in this disc form.
Timbers with knots and sapwood are incorporated into designs, and make very attractive pieces. Sometimes bark is incorporated into the design giving the piece a rough tactile spot.
Recently I purchased a large quantity of ‘cut-offs’ of a large number of different species from a retiring wood turner. I have already started to create new SHHS from this inviting pile. I am excited to explore using a number of pieces of unnamed and unknown timbers.
Creating SHHS can become addictive. When finishing one, your eye and mind quickly goes to the off-cut pile to pick wood for the next SHHS, and the next and the next...
From 8–9 November, 2025, Hank Tyler will demonstrate how to make his SHHS at this year’s Eltham & District Woodworkers' annual exhibition.