Cat's Eye Carving

Starting Work on the WWII Side

Drawing on the stone in the rain can have it’s difficulties but thankfully I set my tarpaulin cover up before the rain started.

I was able to use these dimensions from my original third scale design to draw the lettering onto the stone. I made a few adjustments until I was happy with the layout. Obviously I also had to make sure that there would be plenty of room for the WWII soldier.

The lettering is the same size and spacing as the WWI side and as the WWII surface is flat it was more straightforward to draw out. I still had to contend with the rain and wind so I couldn’t stretch my tarp out so I only uncovered the letters one line at a time and worked between showers.

Thankfully the rain didn’t stick around for much longer and by the time I got to the higher lettering the sun was out.

I have made a clay model of Harold Edwards from a photograph that his son sent me, this helps me to get a better understanding of his face but it is quite tricky to get an exact likeness from just one photo so it is more about capturing a likeness than a portrait.

Harold was blown out of his tank in May 1944 at Monte Cassino, he was the only survivor from his tank and was medically discharged. He walked with sticks for the rest of his life but went on to serve the parish of Mitcheldean and Abenhall as the parish clerk.

The photo of the soldier was also sent by Harold’s son and although it isn’t Harold, it is what he would have worn.

By dividing the image of the tank soldier into a grid of sorts, I was able to scale up the drawing onto the stone.