Pages curl upwards, forming themselves into feathers. Their image emerging from the paper. The phoenix hovers above the book as if arcane knowledge has taken flight, the inked words becoming the beast’s head. Grammatical eyes stare at the inkwell, willing the quill to finish recording the secrets that were transcribed.

This is the second phoenix and I wanted to see how far I had developed my skills. The bird body is held up by pages that are still attached to the binding, creating a sense of flow from book to sculpture. The colour fades from leathery copper to light and up to metallic black as the piece stretches down to the broken leather binding at the base and up the sky. The feathers also change shape as they ascend the body. The piece is secured against a stack of hardbacks to complete the feeling that this is how books behave when no one is watching.