Cat's Eye Carving

Recent commissions

10 January, 2023 – 11:10 am

Carpe Diem was carved into an old grinding stone that my customer brought in to me. After a chisel check to make sure it was suitable for carving, I measured in from the edge and adjusted these measurements to balance the letter forms, this gave me my construction lines for the words.

My customer brought in this piece of stone for me to carve his house sign into a few years ago, and he wanted me to use the same font. Burleigh had been painted onto the lintel of his house and that was from where I originally copied it.

As this one was designed using a calligraphy pen, it couldn’t just be copied from a book and so I used the original as a guide for the new one.

My customer loved the sign that I had carved for her a back in January 2022…

…and so she commissioned this one as a Christmas present for her Mum.

Using the letters and pictures to describe the words is great fun and helps to bring the sign to life. The piece of stone is from the Forest of Dean and is a natural shape, I can control how the stone breaks in order to get the shape my customer wants. I have painted it with a signwriter’s enamel paint to ensure the longevity of the finish.

Finally I drill the holes and provide the fixings. For an small extra cost I can come and put your house sign up for you.

Prices are worked out per letter, the variables of size, complexity, finish and stone type are what informs the final cost.

Please get in touch if you would like a free, no obligation quote.

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St Margaret’s Bay sculpture.

3 January, 2023 – 3:42 pm

I am so excited to share my photos with you of my 1st in a series of sculptures inspired by St Margaret’s bay near Dover.

Inspired by the flint pebbles that are tumbled around by the waves in the chalk and create beautiful shapes.

Shapes of footprints, waves and pebbles, nodules of flint that form in the hollows in chalk.

The flint that I used for the base comes from a farmer’s field (with their permission) rather than off the beach.

I am really excited to start my next sculpture.

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Chalk beach sculpture.

31 December, 2022 – 4:50 pm

This is the first in my new series of sculptures inspired by St Margaret’s Bay near Dover.

I decided to use a 2 inch thick piece of French limestone for the purity of colour but also it’s density and suitability for this sculpture.

I decided to use flint for the base, this isn’t from the beach as I don’t want to remove something that is part of the coastal defences. I have collected, with permission from the land owner from fields, where it would be a nuisance.

Here’s a video of me carving a particularly hard area, there is some fossilised shell in the stone so I have to carefully chisel over this area. The ringing sound indicates that this stone has no flaws in it.

I have cast the base using the flint built around the uncarved base. It should be ready in a few days then I can finesse my sculpture.

Here we go, as of today, almost finished.

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New jewellery.

13 December, 2022 – 1:40 pm

I was asked by a friend if I could make a replacement for a lost earring. I have thoroughly enjoyed sourcing some beautiful lucky dip beads from Etsy shops. This has left me with lots of choice and some beautiful glass beads to make new earrings for my shop.

I already use Pearls and slate, and all my jewellery is made from scratch using sterling silver wire.

Here are the ones that I have made so far, needless to say, I have some more beads on the way to create some more.