Stone Carving and Letter Cutting
So I have been busy working on this carving and developing the shapes, here are the next set of photos.
This piece will not be carved to the bottom to make it look like it is on a rock and to also preserve some of the historic tooling on this piece of Painswick limestone.
I am developing my next sculpture in my series of Seashell carvings. I know it seems like it takes me a long time to get to the next carving but I have commissions that I must fulfil in order to give me the opportunity to carve the things that I love. And, yes it does take me a long time as well, I’m hand carving rock.
Here are the first photos from my latest offering.
As you may remember from the broken seashell that I am drawing I am using the shapes that capture my imagination not the actual shape but that is beautiful as well. I will be carving some more literal seashell sculptures in the future.
What a busy few months I have had. Alongside my commissions for hand carved house signs I have been working on my carvings.
This one which I have been working on since August is the Bacchus Green Man carving. I am using an old piece of Portland limestone that I bought from a retiring stonemason. It has some interesting features in the stone which is forcing me to be more creative in my method of carving. One end of the stone is part of the roach bed layer. It is interesting as it has fossilised seashells but also some that are just spiral shaped voids where a creature once was. This is an excellent way of learning the natural differences in various stone that I carve.
The other end of the stone is called basebed so is geologically older and also much denser and more consistent, therefore easier to carve. These different beds in the stone are shown in the photos.
As you can see I am starting to undercut the leaves and grapes so I am gradually getting closer to the finish but I estimate another 150-200 hrs carving.
It’s alright, there is still a week until the big day and I have plenty of gift ideas for you to choose from.
I am trying to go plastic free, so please be patient with me as I wrap your purchase in cardboard and tie it with raffia.
I have some lovely hand carved gift ideas, prices start at £15 for a simple tealight holder in Forest of Dean sandstone, or a unique hand carved letter, prices for these start from £10 for the smallest ones, I also have hearts to make it an extra special gift for your loved one. I have a wide selection to choose from all designed and carved by me in my workshop here at Taurus Crafts.
If you feel like spending a bit more money I have some more detailed and larger pieces, all hand carved by me in a variety of Tetbury, Bath, Portland and Caen limestone, Forest of Dean sandstone and Welsh or Cornish slate. the designs include the green man and some beasties with cheeky grins or more classical carvings of beautiful and thoughtful faces. I have a delightful selection of my more abstract sculptures available for sale as well and these have been designed from my drawings using found objects that fascinate me from the natural world.
My carved words are not just a word, I have designed the lettering to enhance the word and chosen the stone because it is beautiful. I put alot of thought into my creations and they are unique to me. These are priced per letter, the finish, the type and size of the stone and of course any embellishments, these are also a great example of what you could have if you would like to commission a house sign.
I also have some casts of my clay or plaster creations in jesmonite, these are still unique to me but because they are casts they can be reproduced and so this enables me to sell them at a lower cost.
I design and make my own range of sterling silver jewellery which is available to buy from my shop at Taurus Crafts.
I have started selling a small selection of stunning metal pieces by the talented Missfire.
As you may have read from my last entry I have started to sell my paintings.
I have just had my painting of the gourd framed .
The pastel drawings are some of my designs that will be printed as cards and pictures.
The small face that I have carved in Portland limestone is my very latest sculpture and is a very exciting progression for me. I am really pleased with the thoughtful expression that I have captured and how my carvings are developing.
I am also carving some more words, letters and tealight holders, hopefully you will agree with me that they are great ideas for Christmas. The ones in the picture are not quite finished yet but will be on the shelf by Friday.