marginalia axe hare

If you’re familiar with the tiny drawings that appear around the edges of medieval manuscripts, then you already know what this is. If not, then it probably seems totally inexplicable. And you’re kind of right. Battling hares appear quite often and we don’t really know exactly why. I think maybe because people in the middle ages were just fond of a world turned upside down. So they liked the idea of a hunted animal fighting back.

This hare stands about 13 inches (33 cm) tall, including his plinth. He is shaped from local fleece around a wire armature with a coat of New Zealand and Merino wool.

Turning a drawing from around seven hundred years ago into a three dimensional object is one of my favourite things to do. Calling into being a thing that only ever really existed in the mind of someone long gone. What I really like about them though is that crazy thousand yard stare.