Cat's Eye Carving

Half Term activities

My workshop at Taurus Crafts nr Lydney in Gloucestershire is home to other craftsmen and women.

So if you fancy having a go at stonemasonry then pop in and see me on one of my days but if that isn’t your thing then try out one of the other fun activities.

Dates, prices, times and duration of activities are all different so check leaflet for details.

For my activities you can contact me but for the other ones please visit http://www.tauruscrafts.co.uk for details

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Commission to carve a Brown Bear

Happy New Year, As you can see I am progressing well with this commission to carve a Brown Bear eating a fish.

I have drilled under his chin, that really took some doing as the stone is pretty hard but I am managing to dig out the stone to show off his belly full of Salmon.

I estimate another 10 days work which will be done between carving other commissions so the next batch of photos will be to the finish.

I have some house names and numbers to work on as well as some more sculptural commissions, carved out of Forest of Dean sandstone, Tetbury limestone and Portland limestone but there is always space for more commissions so if you have any project you would like to discuss please come in for a chat

I am also working on designs for a War memorial for a Church in The Forest of Dean, it will have some detailed carving of a first and second World War soldier carved in relief as well as a substantial amount of letter cutting and masonry. I will use Portland limestone and Forest of Dean Sandstone.

If you would like to see the designs please pop in and have a look, if I do get this commission it will be about 6mths work in 2018 and would be a huge honour to help commemorate those who paid the ultimate sacrifice.
I don’t have it yet and the next stage is to provide a quote and finalise the design to present to the committee.

I look forward to welcoming you to my workshop.

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House Names and Numbers

Last commission delivered and put up. This house sign isn’t carved but painted and gilded on Welsh roof slate.

I currently have commissions into the beginning of March so if you would like to discuss your requirements please get in touch.

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Carving a face

For me as a sculptor in stone I strive to become better with each carving.

I sometimes create clay models to practise and understand the form which is easier as I can put back the clay if I don’t like it but obviously with stone I can’t.

This is a practise portrait of no one in particular and it is out of my imagination. I am carving directly with no drawing or maquette to work from.

As you are probably aware once I remove the stone I can’t put it back so by searching for the best way to carve an eye ball with eyelids or a mouth that looks like it will open eventually I will get it just right.

This is a very exciting journey, as I look back at previous carvings I can see how to improve them for next time.

The various types of stone make a huge difference, the amount of detail obtainable depends on how course the stone is.

This is a piece of Sandstone from St Bees in Cumbria. It is very dense with fine particles making it suitable for a greater amount of detail.

There are no fossils to intefere with the detail but at the same time it is not fine or dense enough to polish. I would need marble to achieve that type of finish.

As you can see this is still very much a work in progress but without this type of developmental carving I would not improve.

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What’s for sale in my shop at the moment

I took some photos before I left today of my beautifully full shelves, I hope this gives you an idea of how hard I have been working to bring you some unique gift ideas for you and your friends and family.

The Noël in the 4th picture with the bookends is a reversible 3 tea-light holder, I have carved the word home on the other side and painted it silver.

I have put a few close up pictures in this post, The Faith, £65, Hope, £57 and Charity, £81 are carved in beautiful lilac Forest of Dean sandstone and finished with 23 & 3/4 carat gold leaf.

In the first picture I have a lovely piece of very hard Blakeney red sandstone, carved with acorns and oak leaves on 3 faces & drilled to create a pillar candle holder this costs £75, in pictures 6 & 7 there are some more examples of The Forest of Dean sandstone some with decoration and some left plain. I have carved an oak leaf on the four faces of a single tea-light holder in Blakeney sandstone this costs £42.

I hope these pictures tempt you to visit and perhaps buy one of my treasures.

I am happy to chat about commissions if you don’t see what you are looking for. I already have a pretty full January and I am currently taking commissions to work on in February.

Thanks for looking hopefully and if you would like any more help please get in touch.

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