Cat's Eye Carving

Snow Carving in San Vigilio

We flew into Innsbruck on Tuesday afternoon, the weather was overcast and snowy and the mountains looked incredible.

There had been heavy snowfall and we were lucky as the airport was shut the day before.

We took the train from Innsbruck to Brunico through the Alps, there was so much snow and beautiful cloud reaching mountain peaks. The sky was clearing and there was some blue sky and sunshine. When the wind blew the snow flurried off the mountain sides and there were columns of icicles hanging from every visible rock.

Once we reached the border between Austria and Italy the snow began to clear, there were lorries and cars, transporters loaded with new vehicles.
Unlike the UK there is no snow on the road and life carries on as normal but when there is this much snow and ice they are prepared for it.

We had to make a change at Fortezza for our train to Brunico, we were running late due to some checks that were carried out at the border and had a 30 minute wait for the next train, it was getting dark at this point and there was little or no snow. 
Travelling with the quantity of luggage we have is a tricky process, not only do we need enough warm clothing to protect us in sub-zero temperatures but also all of our tools for hacking and carving the snow. The chain with the bolts through for sawing the snow weighs 3kg on it’s own.

We were welcomed to the Hotel Majarei in San Vigilio Di Marebbe and shown our home for the week, a beautiful apartment with delicately painted doors, sturdy Austrian wooden furniture and ornately decorated balconies and most importantly comfy beds.

On Tuesday morning we were welcomed in the town for our pre-carving briefing and the block picking, we were no. 5 so right in the middle which was great, The snow was created artificially (but just water) as there had been no snowfall. It was great quality and shone blue. They are 10 metres cubed.
We had the Serbian team on one side and one of the Italian teams on the other.

Once we had drawn the design on the surface, the first job was to saw the 4 corners off, like chopping a tree we hacked in underneath so once we were through it would fall off. The next job was to cut the corners off the corners to create the sphere. More difficult that it sounds on this scale. The hand developed gradually along with the curve of the sphere.

The tools we use are a mixture of gardening implements, sharp metal chisel like tools and sanding blocks made out of old cheese graters.

Here are the final finishing photos from our carving and some of the other teams.

The view from the road of all the carvings and the view from our apartment balconies

We are off to San Candido next to carve our next snow sculpture, loosely inspired by the 3 wise monkeys. We have 3 more days and the winners will be announced on Wednesday evening.

If you would like to see more up to the minute photos you can follow our progress on my facebook page. 

Posted in Carrie's News, Snow Carving Competitions | No Comments »

From the past to the future.

The last stonemason’s festival that I took part in was in Ludlow in 2012. The subsequent 5 years would see me organise 3 more festivals and help raise money for The Llanthony Secunda Priory in Gloucester. They are open to the public now after alot of hard work by the trustees and also thanks to all the stonemasons who took part in my 3 festivals held here.

I am looking forward to taking part in some stonemason’s festivals next year but 2019 is going to start with a snowy adventure as I have been invited once again to take part in not one but two back to back snow carving competitions. There are three of us on team GB and we will start out in San Vigilio where we will carve my design, called “fate of the world”.

We will be provided with a 10ft cubed block of compacted snow and just 3 days.

We will then be transferred over to San Candido, where we will carve my team captain’s design based on the three wise monkeys.

More recently I have been working on a new carving from an old design, it was the carving that I designed for the Ludlow carving weekend but as with all events such as this we pour out heart and soul into our carvings and then they are sold to raise money for charity and we never see them again. I did actually bid on my carving as I genuinely wanted to keep her but luckily for St Lawrence’s Church I was outbid and she contributed £640 to the restoration fund.

This carving is half the size and carved from Lepine limestone, using this stone meant that I could carve more detail, as I wasn’t working to a clock I could also finish her as I had originally intended. This carving took me roughly 70hrs.

I put 2 pictures on because I couldn’t decide which one to use.

Happy Christmas everyone.

Posted in Carrie's News | No Comments »

Latest Creations and sculptures for sale.

I have been busy working on some new carvings and creations which are available for you to buy from my studio at Taurus Crafts or from the Crafters shop in Wotton-Under-Edge.

Here are some photos of what is available at the moment. I have almost completed this years commission list so I will be able to knuckle down and get some more new carvings carved before Christmas. I’m also hoping to get some more work done on my long term Bacchus carving. 

Here is a small selection of carved words in Forest of Dean sandstone with 23 3/4 carat gold leaf, these are suitable for outside. I have plenty more all different as shown in the wider images. Prices start from £38 (item not shown in these images)

These are a few carvings in a variety of sandstone, slate and limestone, I have lots more clocks available all different shapes and sizes, the one shown can be wall mounted but comes with a Cornish slate base if you wanted to have it free standing. prices vary but start at £15.

These photos show a wider angle of some of my creations available to buy from my studio. Prices start at £4 for the painted letters and for some of my more complicated carvings the prices go up to £3800+. 

I will be making some more pendants and earrings, I use Welsh slate, Freshwater pearls and Sterling Silver. My jewellery is made from scratch so they can be to your full specifications. I can make studs and clip-ons, I buy premade ear clips and bars. Pendants start at £20 and earrings start at £35.

I currently have a 5mth waiting list for commissions.

Posted in Carrie's News, Gargoyles, Gifts and pendants, Letter cutting, Sculpture, The Green Man and Grotesques | No Comments »

Second commission for Gloucestershire Constabulary

After my success with the police shields I created, I was asked to design a retirement gift for a senior officer.

The brief was to incorporate stone from 5 districts; Avon and Somerset, Gloucestershire, Devon and Cornwall, Dorset and Wiltshire.

The design I came up with was a layered bowl. Unfortunately I hit a brick wall in terms of getting a piece of stone from each area and staying within budget. One quarry had a minimum charge of over a £100 + delivery and VAT.

I decided to use what I had in my workshop and the bowl from then on could only be 5 x 8 inches at it widest.

I was struggling with the Wiltshire stone and decided to make up a layer using the Jesmonite, which once formed and sanded I would cut holes and put flint in to represent a chalk layer. 

In order to keep the cost down I cut the stone on my tile cutter, hollowed it out as best as I could using my drill and then glued each layer together.

I was able to sand the outside and some of the inside with my angle grinder and my dremel, finally finishing off with my diamond sanding pads. I had previously tumbled the knapped flint pieces so that there weren’t any sharp edges. I cut the holes out with my dremel and glued them in.

I thoroughly enjoyed creating this unique bowl and hope that the recipient it is really chuffed.

Posted in Commissions | No Comments »

Commissions for Gloucestershire Constabulary

I was approached last year about designing and creating awards for Gloucestershire Constabulary Police Officers.

This was a very interesting proposal and obviously there was a restricted budget to take into consideration. We settled on the Gloucestershire Constabulary shield which is instantly recognisable. I soon realised that this would have been virtually impossible to carve in the size needed and to the budget.

I had recently been experimenting with a casting material called Jesmonite and decided to present a clay model of the shield which I would then cast.

The process was tricky as I needed to stamp the letters Gloucestershire Constabulary around the centre with letters only 5mm and not centralised on the stamp itself. I hadn’t actually been given the commission so didn’t have the budget to get the stamp professionally made.

Thankfully my sculpture training stood me in good stead and I was able to produce a lovely clay model. The design was approved but I still had to figure out how to make a mold to cast multiple copies. At college I’d only ever used hot rubber molds and I had the equipment so this is where I started.

The molds pulled away, bubbled and were just not creating the results I needed by this time I had some ok casts but they were by no means presentable and if I had to create multiples this way, I would have to re-carve each one making the commission financially impossible.

The clay model had been essentially fired in this process but was beginning to crack and there was no way that I could continue this method. I chose the best cast and re-carved it using my scalpel.

The master copy was perfect, next I had to research the best method to create the mold. I had a chat with my suppliers, South Western Plasters who I have been buying from for over 10 yrs. They were incredibly knowledgeable and very helpful. They recommended their Smartsil cold cure silicone rubber. It would be suitable for at least 50 casts and was reasonably affordable.

The cast and mold as you can see are just what we were looking for and so far I have produced 18 as awards for our hard working heroes.

Posted in Commissions | 1 Comment »