Since I completed the compass rose, I am able to start working on the rest of my commissions, as you can see, I have an interesting and diverse schedule.
I am currently repairing a Ball finial, carved by my customer’s Dad, who was a stonemason at Canterbury Cathedral. Sadly the carving had been broken and the repair had failed. I do like making good broken objects especially ones that carry great sentimental value.
I couldn’t remove the stainless steel bar from the ball end and it wasn’t a threaded bar so there wasn’t anything for the glue to grab hold of so I sawed some grooves into the surface. I will be cutting some of the stone away from the join and filling it with lime mortar. I have cleaned the stone and will apply a lime shelter coat once I have completed the repair. This is a work in progress, I will put a photo up once I have finished this job.
I was commissioned to carve a grotesque, my customers had been to a talk at Canterbury Cathedral. After the talk, a clay model of a grotesque was brought out. The grown up children later remarked that their Dad bore an uncanny resemblance to said grotesque. They came to me to see if I could carve one as a lovely birthday surprise. I am pleased to report that they loved my carving.
I can now share the finished carving with you.
Next up is a date stone that needs to be re-carved, it was taken out of a party wall which was recently re-built. After 225 years, the stone has weathered extremely well, I believe it is Portland limestone. I will re-draw the numbers and letters so that I can carve them back in. In between the two letters there is an interesting squiggle, by shining a light across the stone and taking a rubbing, I could identify an ampersand, I will carve it as close to the original as possible.
Last Summer, I was commissioned to re-carve a house sign. It needed to be put back up on the house between the upstairs windows. I was very pleased when my customers sent me this image, back in pride of place.
Memorials are a large part of my commission work, this one is hand carved out of a piece of Forest of Dean sandstone and measures 18 x 12 inches.
I have almost finished my current commission, a house sign in a piece of Oak, once finished, I will treat the wood, paint it, then finish with Yacht varnish.
My commission list continues to be added to, I currently have an 8 month waiting list.
At the end of February, I filled in an application for a small business award, I entered three categories as I thought that there is no harm in trying.
I am excited to announce that I am one of 8 finalists in the Sole to Sole Category.
As a small business it is very difficult to remain present, to be noticed and to keep going. It’s hard work, no-one else can do your work for you. I am very lucky that I have an amazing partner and my family to give me support and an extra pair of hands when I need it. But ultimately it is down to me.
To push myself out there, to keep on top of advertising, to do the social media and to smile and chat even when I’m tired and unhappy, I need to keep on top of my work, even with a broken ankle. Source the correct stone, fulfil my commissions and keep on top of making interesting and unique things for people to buy.
This year I am celebrating 20 years in business and what an exciting thing, just to be shortlisted, but I can dare to dream that I could maybe win.
Here is the press release;
Carrie Horwood of Cat’s Eye Carving in Sandwich in Kent SHORTLISTED FOR SMALL BUSINESS AWARD
Local firm Cat’s Eye Carving has been shortlisted for Britain’s best Sole to Sole business.
09/04/2025: Cat’s Eye Carving based in Sandwich in Kent has been chosen as a finalist for the Sole to Sole at this year’s Small Awards.
Now in its ninth year, The Small Awards is a nationwide search for the UK’s greatest small firms, across all sectors. It is organised annually by Small Business Britain, which champions and supports the nation’s 5.5 million small firms.
Carrie has been running Cat’s Eye Carving since 2005 and celebrates 20 years in business this year. She has been selected as one of just eight finalists for the Sole to Sole award for best self employed small business owner, and celebrates the resilience and drive it takes to grow a business alone.
This year sponsored by marketing solution Constant Contact, the Small Awards celebrate the successes of Britain’s small businesses, with eleven different awards for small firms leading the way across everything from sustainability to digital adoption, and showcasing all types of small businesses including social enterprises, family-owned businesses, sole traders and start-ups.
“Every year, the Small Awards celebrate the UK’s most inspiring small business owners, who are the heart of their communities, and are fuelling the nation’s economic growth,”said Michelle Ovens CBE, Founder of Small Business Britain.
“The awards are a great opportunity to recognise the success and contributions of so many small businesses -Carrie Horwoodis extremely deserving of being a finalist, and we look forward to celebrating together in May.”
Erika Robinson, UK General Manager at Constant Contact, said: “SMEs represent over 99 per cent of the business population in the UK, so they play a vital role in boosting the British economy, and deserve to have their tenacity and success celebrated.
“Constant Contact is committed to helping small businesses succeed, so we’re delighted to support The Small Awards this year and help celebrate the best of British SMEs.”
Carrie is so excited to be a finalist in this category, it has been a roller-coaster ride, but what a way to celebrate 20 years in business.
Judged by a panel of industry experts, the winners of all categories, including the overall winner of the Small Business of the Year award, will be announced at an awards ceremony in London on 22 May 2025.
The ceremony will this year be held at St Mary’s Church in London, with plans underway for a fun-filled night of celebration, entertainment, and inspiration for guests.
The Small Awards is run by Small Business Britain, the UK’s leading champion of small businesses, supporting all 5.5 million small businesses in the UK – no matter their location, their sector, or their ambition level.
Through a series of reports, events and campaigns, Small Business Britain champions, inspires and accelerates small businesses in the UK to foster growth and increased confidence.
Carrie was the first single honours sculpture graduate from Canterbury Christ Church, after completing her degree, she took up work experience with Canterbury Cathedral, sadly their apprenticeship had already been filled, encouraged by the cathedral masons, Carrie applied for one of two apprenticeships at Gloucester Cathedral, with just a small suitcase, Carrie’s journey into the creativity and discipline of stonemasonry began. Carrie was the oldest apprentice at 25 and the first female at Gloucester Cathedral.
Unfortunately just 6 months into her apprenticeship, she suffered a career ending injury when a 70kg block of stone smashed the fingers of her left hand. Although she completed her apprenticeship and spent 3 more years working as a stonemason, the struggle was too much and although she considered giving it all up, something kept her going and in November 2005 she decided to start her own business.
Her business name and mason’s mark, the Cat’s Eye come from her A-level sculpture project.
She worked out of Craft centres in Gloucestershire for 18 years before the call of family and home became too strong.
Carrie returned to Sandwich in August 2023 after being offered a shop to rent in the heart of this medieval town. Since returning, her business has blossomed and her most recent commission was a compass rose commissioned by Dover District Council.
She is the stonemason in residence for the recently renovated Maison Dieu in Dover and has carved some pieces for their museum. In 2026 she is organising a stonemason festival for them to celebrate their re-opening.
She is the official letter-cutter for the Worshipful Company of Founders in London and a Yeoman Mason for the Worshipful Company of Masons, a title bestowed upon her in recognition for her charity stonemason festivals that she organises.
Carrie works on her own, but has been helped out and supported by her partner and her family.
She hopes to help train the next generation of stonemasons in the future, but for now she has a healthy commission schedule to work through.
Carrie is celebrating 20 years in business this year.
Find out more of Carrie’s story on her website; https://www.catseyecarving.co.uk
Once I hade finished carving the stone, I put them all in position on the floor so that I could put all the compass points and coat of arms in their positions.
The minor points could be dowelled and glued in, but the other four and the coat of arms would have to wait as they are on the joints.
Before the brick pavers were cut and removed, we marked where North was in order to get it positioned correctly, and before the final piece was lowered in, they checked that it was still in position.
Justin’s team made the hole with minimum disruption to the rest of the bricks. Bedded on a cement mix, levelled and ready for me to set the remaining compass points and coat of arms in and then point in.
I used hydraulic lime, coarse and fine sand for around the granite setts and hydraulic lime and stone dust for the smaller internal joints. I sieved the stone that came from the carving so that it matched.
We had perfect weather for pointing with a lime mix and managed to complete the outer area to schedule.
On Saturday evening, I poured the resin into the coat of arms to level it and dusted the final layer with dry playpit sand to give a non-slip surface.
On Mothering Sunday, my Mum and I put the coat of arms in and I put the final coat of paint on the letters.
Finally on Monday, I cleaned the whole thing down and carved my Cat’s Eye, my stonemason’s mark into the stone.
John Van Der Dol, (pictured) the designer of this wonderful project came by to see how his vision had been realised, and he was very happy.
At the moment, it looks better wet as it needs to weather in and a few hundred people to walk across it.
At the core of my small business is my ability to cut letters in both stone and wood.
My house signs are very popular as I can bring my creativity and style to each one.
This is a Welsh slate house sign, first of all my customer decides their typeface, either something that I design or out of a book, in this instance, it is the Carolingian style.
Once I have drawn it out and they are happy with the layout, I hand carve the letters using fine Tungsten Carbide tipped chisels. I have to wear a dust mask to protect my lungs from silica.
I also carve wood, this is the starting point of the next one and one that I have completed. The wood has to be treated and varnished to protect it from the elements. It is seasoned Oak.
Sometimes my customer brings me material to carve, this is a piece of Welsh slate from a very proud Welshman, the word has the sentiment of longing. Quite a tricky material to carve, but you know me, I love a challenge.
This is a cute commission for a new born, to hang on her bedroom door, painted in graduating greens.
During October, I start to consider new seasonal designs, these were my new ones for Christmas just gone. I consider that shapes of the stone and the letters, asking myself how I can incorporate the meaning into the word and using colour to enhance this. These are all hand carved out of sandstone from Gloucestershire. I used enamel and mineral paint and on the bells I used gold leaf.
This last set are some of the decorative words available to buy from my shop.
If you would like to discuss a commission, please get in touch, at the moment, I have a 7 month waiting list.
This was an interesting commission, my customer asked me if I could carve a piece of willow that had lain outside for a few years it had been covered up, and the bark had offered some protection.
She had planted this tree in memory of her husband and sadly the tree died.
I made a small test on the wood, it was just carve-able, probably another year and I think that it would have gone too far, I had to treat it for woodworm.
Her idea was some creatures in and around the trunk, there was a branch stump that I could carve a small mouse curled up in and one further up that I carved into the nose of the Squirrel. Carving end grain is difficult, but I used sharp tools to cut across the grain.
Using the nature of the wood, I was able to carve the Owls feathers, the oil really brought out some beautiful colours.
The wood wasn’t rotten, but it was heading that way, so carving any real detail wasn’t possible, so I carved the shapes of the animals, working with the wood.
I treated the wood with raw linseed oil to help protect the carving as it is going to be put outside.
The spider in her web was a late addition.
Due to the quality of the wood, this was a challenging commission. but one I thoroughly enjoyed rising to.
