With its outstretched wings and protruding claws it is poised ready to pounce on its prey.

The image of the bird in flight – a barn owl crafted with thousands of intricately hand-cut feathers – took Craig Dyson two months to complete and is one of many commissions he has turned his talents to since launching his sculpture studio in Haworth, where he lives.

For Craig it is a profession born out of playing with Plastercine as a child. “I was fascinated by anything material, from sculpting with food to painting on walls,” he says.

After spotting his sculpting talent, Craig’s parents were keen to nurture it. “My parents started to realise I was getting a bit out of hand, but in a good way!” laughs the 23-year-old.

A corner of the family’s living room was devoted to Craig’s creations and his imagination was allowed to run wild, clambering over wood at his grandfather’s joinery workshop. “I’d chisel bits of wood but the pivotal point was when I got a shed for my tenth birthday,” he says.

While other young boys were grappling for the latest computer game, Craig marvelled at his masterpieces.

The completion of a joinery course at Keighley College and A-levels in sports studies, photography and art led him to pursue photography studies at university, but he didn’t embrace that medium’s interpretation of art.

“I would often question what I was doing, but soon came to the conclusion that art is what you want it to be and it is what you make of it,” he says.

“I don’t encourage people to read what I do in a certain way. I want them to interpret in their way and get out of it whatever they want.”

Craig’s inspiration comes partly from his travels – he spent seven months travelling around South America, New Zealand, Australia and China.

“I have always swum against the current. From being a little village boy where most people stay within the village I was always so intrigued to get over the hill and see what was on the other side. I’d gone to Europe with family when I was young and that made me want to see what else was out there,” he says.

Nature is another inspiration to Craig, hence the owl – destined for a private buyer – but he also finds it in the simplest form.

“It is everything in my day-to-day life,” he says. “Pouring a cup of tea and a certain swirl in it can trigger an idea that can be massive.”

Before launching his business over a year ago, Craig started doing commission pieces in between helping his father. “Gradually it started to take off and I thought I would make a career out of it,” he says. “I got some funds together and looked into running a workshop.”

Craig began to look for potential workshops around Bradford but found the answer at the bottom of his garden when a building owned by a construction company – ironically called Craig Dyson – became vacant. Craig’s father bought the building he now rents.

Launching a fledgling business in a recession, he admits, was daunting. “It was a move I thought long and hard about, but being brought up the way I have, I’ve always been a grafter and to think that I would have got to 30 and regret not doing it would be the worst thing. If I try my hardest and it fails I could deal with that. I couldn’t not try.”

Now it is only a matter of time before the art world sits up and takes notice. Craig’s talent already speaks for itself. An 8ft copper lizard he created for his A-level art, crafted from hundreds of copper scales welded to the sculpture, sold for £7,000. Craig recalls it took half a school year to complete.

His works are dotted around the area – some of his bird sculptures have been specially commissioned and now take pride of place at local schools and he recently showcased some pieces at Castle Howard near York.

“I live and breathe it, I really do. It’s almost as if, with every piece I do, it’s such a process, it’s like giving away a child. You are giving part of you every time you give a sculpture, and that is how it has changed from a hobby to a business,” explains Craig, who also runs sculpture workshops in local primary schools.

As part of the celebrations for Haworth’s 1940s weekend, Craig crafted a pigeon from sycamore, highlighting the role of the birds carrying messages during the war.

He also sculpted a model of a Spitfire with a 10ft wingspan from spalted sycamore and ash and a golden eagle with a 6ft wing span created from copper, brass and bronze, for a raffle supporting the charity SSAFA helping servicemen and women, veterans and their families.

Referring to the sycamore wood he uses, Craig says: “I carved the Spitfire from sycamore that would have been a seedling or a small tree at the time the Spitfire was being designed. I think that is great, the history trees have.”

Everything Craig creates is made to last. “I make them to last 200 or 300 years – I like the idea may be my grandchildren can see something I made in the city centre 100 years ago,” he says.

He laments the traditional crafts that are sadly diminishing. “We completely ruled the world with our skills,” says Craig, referring to the beautiful stone masonry on some of Bradford’s buildings. “That is an era I love and I get inspiration from the old mills,” he adds.

Craig creates a time-lapse video for all his sculptures, so clients can see it in the making.

“I always think I can do better but, to be fair, I think that’s just being an artist really,” he says. “By creating something it is a learning process as well. I am happy and proud of what I do but I always strive to do better.”

Craig’s Gallery and Workshop, next to Haworth Steam Railway, is open to the public on weekdays from 9am until 5pm and from 10am until 2pm on Saturdays.

For more information, visit www.craigdysonsculpture.co.uk.