I have had some interesting commissions to repair sculptures. Here are some of the results.
This Ball finial came to me in two pieces with the stainless steel bar still set in place. I cleaned it up, and joined it back together using special stone glue and lime mortar, finishing off with a lime based shleter coat.
This Chinese rider was brought to me with the tips of the Horses ears broken off. I repaired them with a specialist stone glue and mixed stone dust to match the colour.
It’s so satisfying to make something broken and sad, whole again.
I repaired some chips and a corner on a marble wash stand, it was originally joined together with iron rods, these have since rusted. Obviously as a wash stand, there is going to be water. My customer has asked me to disguise the rust staining, I’ll let you know how I get on.
I am still working on a repair to a damaged commemorative plaque to a war hero, I’ll let you know when that one is ready.
If you have something that you would like repaired, please feel free to get in touch and I’ll see what I can do.
You’ll be pleased to hear that the Compass Rose is now complete. Due to frosts after it was put in in March, the resin on the coat of arms failed and I had to remove it, this took some of the stone away and I needed to carve a replacement. In order to make the surface non-slip, I was advised to use a light dusting of clean dry play-pit sand, when this was wet, it looked fine, but over the several weeks that it took the resin to fail, the surface became dirty and horrible. This ruined the overall look of the carving. In a way I was given a second chance, I decided to carve the replacement using an incised line, a v-cut around the edge of the coat of arms. I wanted to make the carving the best I could, but it wasn’t appropriate for the installation.
I am looking forward to what the next few months has in store, I’ll keep you up to date.
Hi everyone, what a tumultuous first half of the year. I am still recovering from my broken ankle, I have tendon damage which I am seeing a physio therapist about. I am doing my exercises and getting stronger everyday.
The Bronchitis hit me like a ton of bricks and I am glad to say that that is behind me.
I am ready to replace the coat of arms in the compass rose, due to the resin failure, I had to carve a replacement. I decided to do this in shallow relief so I could remove the need to level it and make it non-slip.
I am only a little behind on my commissions. I am currently drawing out a memorial on a large piece of Portland limestone. It will have the Royal Welsh Fusiliers cap badge carved in shallow relief.
I have a memorial plaque to repair, that will be placed back in position, next to St Peter’s Church in Sandwich, as soon as it’s ready.
Due to my injury, I haven’t been able to get up to Founders Hall yet to carry out the letter cutting of last year’s Master. I hope to do this next month.
I didn’t win the small business award, I was pipped to the post by a website designer. I am looking forward to putting together my application for the Duke of Gloucester’s stonemasonry award.
Finally, after 10 years and 252,000 miles, my trusty work horse has gone to the great scrapyard in the sky. I hope that my new vehicle, a Fiat Doblo, will last as long.
I will be adding events to this as they arise, but here are the ones so far.
Come and have a go at stone carving with me, £5/person. I will have some of my popular hand painted slate letters and hearts and my cute brightly coloured resin hearts available to buy at £5 each.
Back in 2022, I met the engagement officer from the Maison Dieu in Dover at the start of their re-awakening project, I couldn’t have known how many events I would become involved with as their stonemason in residence.
Over the Summer of 2023, I spent my days at a variety of events carving a two thirds scale replica of a lion grotesque from the stone hall at the historic Maison Dieu in Dover. https://www.maisondieudover.org.uk/.
I took loads of photos, measurements, and rough sketches and from these, I made scale drawings and templates to work from.
From these templates, I started work and the general public could watch my progress.
My carving was unveiled at St Mary’s Church in Dover in July 2023.
It remained on display at Dover Museum and at various events, the rubbing plaque came out on the road with me for youngsters to take rubbing from.
These are now in pride of place at the Maison Dieu which is set to re-open on Saturday 10th May.
Just over 10 days ago, I had a call from the Maison Dieu, giving me the terrible news that my beastie had been damaged at the hands of an inexperienced person charged with creating the base for both of my carvings.
As a traditionally trained stonemason, repair and conservation is a large part of my business, but no two repairs are the same. After careful consideration, I came up with a solution which would require another piece of stone. Thankfully Martin, the engagement officer was able to bring me a piece from the restoration project.
The first thing I needed to do was saw away the damaged portion of the stone. I had to be cautious around his foot as this could easily be damaged when the stone drops, this is why I decided to finish the sawing with him on his back, as in picture 3.
I was brought a piece of stone, that was destined for the building but was surplus to requirements, I wanted to preserve and show-off this lovely bit of moulding, that someone had already carved. Bath Stone is particularly difficult to saw and mason, not because it is hard, but because it has a lot of fossils and veins of calcite that are harder than the stone. Once I had drawn the mitre line around the moulded area, I sawed through this area to preserve the shape. I would mason off the rest with my hammers and chisel.
My idea was to cut a check (v-cut) out and set in the Grotesque with stainless steel threaded bars and lime mortar.
The dimensions drawn on the stone were for the box frame that it would sit in. Unfortunately due to the very short amount of time that I had to complete this repair, I forgot to take photos of the stainless steel dowels in position.
As you can see this was a very successful repair, but it now weighs a lot more than before. This was one of the reasons for carving him as a 2/3rds scale version, he was easy to carry around at the various events. I think you’ll agree that he looks splendid on his new plinth.
As you can see, he is sitting nicely on his display table and you are welcome to touch him. The plaque just needs some paper and crayons and it will be ready.
I will be at the Maison Dieu tomorrow (10th May) demonstrating my skill, I will be channelling my Medieval predecessor Agnes Ramsey.
