Unlikely artist eyes world carving title

Deborah Lloyd says she was put off chainsaws by a childhood accident but, after watching a former partner sculpting a piece of wood, thought she would give it a go. Photo / Alan Gibson

Deborah Lloyd seems an unlikely carving artist - she stands just 158cm tall and used to be afraid of chainsaws.

But the Rotorua mother of two will represent New Zealand at the Chainsaw Carving Team World Championship in Dresden, Germany, next week.

Ms Lloyd, the only woman in the competition, was put off chainsaws when she was a little girl after an accident left her with a gash in her leg. She had been holding firewood for her dad while he cut it when his hand slipped and the instrument struck her.

She wasn't seriously hurt but the experience was enough to put her off using chainsaws.

But years later, while watching her former partner sculpt a piece of wood with a chainsaw, her thinking changed.

"I was just sitting around drinking coffee watching him and I thought, 'I could do that'," she said.

Ms Lloyd, who works for a construction company, has since won numerous competitions including the International Chainsaw Carving Grand Prix in Tasmania in 2007.

She came second in the competition last year and one of the organisers invited her to Germany for the team event, for which she has paired up with an Australian carver.

Teams of two have two days to sculpt a pillar to depict the theme "Soul of the Forest", using ideas from their home countries, to compete for a prize of £4000 ($10,280).

In between carving the main piece, participants have half-hour speed-carving races and are judged on how much they are able to complete in that time.