Rachel Faulkner from Newcastle continues to demonstrate considerable artistic talent, and is busy carving a pair of intertwined hands into lime for her professional course mirror – something that all our students have to make.

She’s already completed a sycamore and elm bench, with two drawers and two cabinets, with three images of her dog Skipper – him waking up, having a swim and having a much-needed sleep.

The images were replicated from photographs Rachel had taken, and were recreated on the bench using stained wood filler as a base, then painted with water colours and etched using a pyrography pen.

It’s a technique she’ll use again to finish her intertwined hands, because the hands belong to her and our woodcarving specialist John White – and John has a tattoo of a swallow on his hand.

The final piece of sculptural authenticity will be for Rachel, who originally served in the Merchant Navy, to etch in that tattoo.

She has friends who run a pub and micro-brewery in Brighton, and one idea is that the finished mirror, with clasped hands, will be a gift to them.

The name of the pub?  What else: The Hand in Hand.