The first time Rachel Shaw started carving wood, she felt like she had come home.

The former interior designer had been searching for purpose since relocating from Sydney to the south coast in 2017 when her partner Melissa Mylchreest suggested she sign up for a woodcarving class at a festival at Bulli.

“She said ‘now we’re country folk we should go do something country folk do’,” Shaw says.

Despite thinking the whole idea was “ridiculous”, Shaw signed up.

“I sat down and started carving and I just thought ‘I’ve done this before’,” says Shaw. “I feel like it was instinctual and I just loved it. Honestly, after that three-hour class, I thought ‘I’ve got to do more of that .’”

Shaw says she ‘pestered’ woodcarving teacher, Carol Russell who directed her on what tools to buy to get starte

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