Daily Rituals with Amberley Long | Readying Tools 

“It has one window and one door, and it holds the belongings that make my body feel strong and inspired. Tools, stones and pieces I made with my own hands, that are individually special to me. 

I rearrange the space every time I go into the studio. I've got all this energy when I arrive, even if I'm tired after a full day of work. When I walk in, I'll feel quite instinctively – oh, I don't like that there. I move everything; first, I’ll move the rock I'm working on.  

There's so many stands, and furniture, levels and positions. If I feel I want something different, like a bench, I'll make one. 

I want it to feel aesthetically pleasing before I start. It has to look good in context; it might sound shallow, but that’s what helps to inspire me to create something beautiful that lives within a space.” 

In her studio, chisels and mallets live on a wheeled workbench she made specifically so she can reach for them without looking. Bends, breaks, bluntness and dust: these are how she knows her best-used, most-loved tools. Having them to hand is integral to the way she works. 

Her most precious items are functional and ergonomic, her sculptures tactile and organic. It all feels connected to the ancient landscape where she lives, recalling a time when need was the primary driver of creativity. Sometimes the connection to that time is literal; on a trip to Marrakech where she fell in love with some old arrowheads, carefully chipped and shaped and ancient, and how later she used them to slice bread when she couldn’t find a knife. 

“When I'm touching the materials, touching the tools, it gives me ideas. I rarely have an intention to work on something, unless I'm in the middle of a project.”  

After moving her work and placing her tools, she will sit with the space for a while to take in how the light will fall, and where the dust will fly. “Sitting still and quiet pulls me in and anchors me.”  

“Even if I'm carving and it's loud, if I've got ear defenders on or headphones, there’s still the stillness. Everything falls away: worries or stresses. The stone is like my solitude. I'm really glad I found it, because that gives me the space to be calm, and it's taught me how to find it when I'm not with the stone.”