A TALENTED young boy who garnered national attention for his woodwork is taking things ‘one step at a time’ after he was requested 30 years’ worth of commissions from tens of thousands of enquiries.

Gabriel Clark, from Kirkby Lonsdale, recently went viral after his dad issued a plea on Twitter for people to follow his son’s woodwork Instagram account to boost his small following.

Within days, Gabriel’s Instagram following rose to almost a quarter of a million including Radio1 DJ Greg James and TV presenter Zoe Ball.

The 12-year-old boy had originally planned to sell his bowls to fund a new mountain bike, but when 20,000 commissions flooded in after his dad’s tweet, he realised he could not fulfil all the orders alongside his school and homework.

Read more about Gabriel's story here.

The youngster, who lives with his TV and film director dad Richard Clark, and artist mum Teresa Clark, discovered his passion for woodwork at the age of just three, with his first creation being a balsa wood tractor.

Other early works include a directing stick for his father, a pair of drumsticks for a friend and a peanut dispenser.

“I started making things when I was about three,” he said.

“My mum gave me some balsa wood, nails and her dad’s old hammer.

“He was a metal worker but died a long time ago so I never knew him.

“I just started making things on the fire hearth. I really like the feel of different materials, especially wood. When I’m working on my lathe I like the way different woods feel and react to my chisel. I also like the precision.”

Gabriel said he never expected his woodwork to gain the attention of this many people across the world.

He said: “Woodwork and making things is just something I do.

“I don’t think it’s seen as very cool so I completely didn’t expect this sort of reaction. We were aiming for maybe 60 followers.”

Within days of launching his page, Gabriel’s Instagram following rose to almost a quarter of a million including Radio1 DJ Greg James and TV presenter Zoe Ball.

However, the interest of an array of celebrities does not seem to phase young Gabriel.

He said: “I don’t really know who all the people are who are following me. People keep saying some of them are famous but I don’t really know them. I just really hope that they like my woodwork.

Using his new-found Instagram fame, Gabriel carved a wooden bowl, etched with a blue and yellow ring, to raise funds for Save the Children’s Ukraine appeal, after seeing harrowing footage of the war-torn country on the news.

He said: “When I first got all these followers, I had commissions for over 20,000 bowls.

“We worked out that would take me about 32 years but I wanted to do something to respond because everyone had been so supportive and I wanted to share the kindness.

“I thought of making just one special bowl and making a raffle. The war in Ukraine has been worrying me and I wanted to help children which is why I chose Save the Children UK to support.

“I was hoping to raise £5,000 but now it is more than £80,000!

Read more about Gabriel's fundraising for Ukraine here.

“But I really want people to keep giving so when we stop the raffle at Easter I can say I’ve raised as much money as possible.”

Gabriel said he would like to take things ‘one step at a time’ after a ‘crazy’ few weeks in the limelight.

“I think I would like to keep helping but I don’t know about the future,” he said.

“It’s all been so crazy these last few weeks with interviews on TV and radio and haven’t had much of a chance to think!

“I’m still trying to save up for the mountain bike I really want and I’m going to set up a website to sell my woodwork. I think I just want to take things one step at a time.”

If you would like to make a donation to the Ukraine fundraiser visit: https://justgiving.com/fundraising/bowlforukraine