Stone Carving and Letter Cutting
Well with all that I have been doing over the last few months, all the stress both physical and mental have manifested themselves in my back. It’s much better than it was on Monday and I even managed a 10 minute drive yesterday but it takes me 40 mins to get to work and then there’s the kind of work I do.
I am on the mend but have decided to close until Saturday 8th June, Food market day. Follow this link to find out more.
What a huge success, it was my first year organising this event on my own, I did 2 others in 08 and 09 in The Forest of Dean but they didn’t compare to this one.
The stone which was generously donated by Veizeys quarry in Tetbury was greatly received by all the masons and even the general public in my have ago sessions enjoyed carving it-as I have said before this is the best stone in the county!
The weather was glorious people sitting on the grass relaxing with their youngsters while the mason got on with their carvings, and what amazing carvings. They all started with a block 8 x 8 x 12 inches and a pre-designed idea to the theme nautical to tie in with the Tall Ships Festival.
The aim of this event was for the benefit and education of the general public and stonemasons alike, I think we ticked all the boxes, I know I did more that 20hrs have ago even though I had only scheduled 4! Who knew they would be so popular and when people were still turning up at 6pm, I couldn’t say no.
I am hoping to attract more sponsors next time; I had some good ones this year;
Mainpoint Fire protection who are based in Cheltenham lent us fire extinguishers, The NFU in Cinderford who provided our insurance gave us £100 towards the insurance, I managed to secure £750 from Heritage Lottery funding through Gloucester City Council. Gloucester College opened up their showers so my masons could wash off their hard work.
Marketing Gloucester the organisers of the Tall Ships Festival helped me enormously as well with various things one in particular was putting us out over the tannoy throughout the weekend alerting people to our presence, we also appeared in their published material and on their website.
The Priory trust for letting us use the Llanthony Secunda Priory site was wonderful and hopefully the money we raised will go some way to helping this historic site.
Obviously the biggest sponsors were the stonemasons themselves and Veizeys Quarry in Tetbury-without either of these there would be no festival.
The Marquee was put up by Alpha hire and the scaffolding benches were supplied by Lansford Access.
With the sale of raffle tickets for my Mermaid carving raising over £1500 I am happy to annouce that the event made just over £2500 profit meaning that The Llanthony Secunda Priory Trust will receive £1635 and The Gloucester Geology Trust will receive £1090.
The winner of my mermaid was Brian from The Forest Of Dean and naturally he was delighted with his win. The winning masons were, Alastair Mason from Dorset who won a £100 voucher from Gibsons tools for his carving of an Octopus, this made £300 in the auction,
James Wheeler won the senior masons prize, £75 tool voucher from Gibsons for his drunken sailor which made £140 in the auction
and Tom Kenrick for his peoples choice who carved a lovely Turtle which fetched £270 in the auction, his prize was £75 tool voucher from Gibsons.
If you would like to see more photos from the weekend then visit http://www.stonecarvingfestival.co.uk
I will be organising the next one for 2015.
Well here she is, I have finished the raffle prize and one lucky person will be able to take her home.
Here are some close ups, and my stonemasons mark in the centre of the middle photo
For just £2 you could buy a raffle ticket, if you can’t make it to my event but would still like to support my event by purchasing 1 or more tickets cheques should be made payable to ‘The Gloucester Stone carving festival and sent to Cat’s Eye Carving, Taurus Crafts, The Old Park, Lydney park Estate, Lydney. Glos GL15 6BU. All money from this raffle goes into the festival kitty.
Well there is only 2wks to go before the start of this event. I have worked tirelessly with the help of some very special people.
I am currently working on a carving as a raffle prize, the tickets are £2 each and the money that I raise form this will go in the kitty to ensure a successful event.
For more details on this event please visit http://www.stonecarvingfestival.co.uk
Here are the latest photos of the raffle prize, tickets are £2 each and will be on sale until the 27th May.
I have carved her hair to look like waves rolling back to shore.
As you can see I am piercing through the stone to allow the light through the carving, it also helps to make the carving not only look lighter but feel lighter.
I still have plenty to carve so imagine it will take me another 2 days.