Cat's Eye Carving

Church visits.

When I’m out and about I like to make time to stop and admire the Churches on my route.

A few weeks ago I found myself making a detour home because of a road closure and this beautiful Church is what I found. It had a timber framed brick tower with some lovely carving around the doorway.

Upleadon is between Ledbury and Tewkesbury. there are also a number of very fine quality Sandstone and slate memorials in the Churchyard. Hard to imagine that these are up to 300yrs old and the carving is barely worn. The chisels would have only been iron but they would have been forged to a very high standard.

I was installing a memorial at Orcop Church just South of Hereford and once the job was complete I took some time to have a look around and take some photos, this one memorial with a charming inscription, no fancy carving but this gentleman was obviously much loved.

On the other stone. you can see the lamination that takes place over the 200-300 years. This Churchyard is high on a hill and probably gets a lot of extreme weather therefore erosion is more apparent in contrast to Upleadon which is down very low and is well protected.

On my way home, I stopped at Weston Under Penyard Church on the A40 between Ross on Wye and Huntley.

I appears to have been a Norman Church originally looking at the pillars and carvings inside, but there was obviously much later architectural features on the outside. There were once more some exquisite mid 18th century headstones and tombs outside, showing small amounts  of wear but what surprised me was that some of the modern granite memorials were dissolving under the Yew trees where the local sandstone ones were fine. it just goes to show that the local stone is more durable.

I like looking at things that are interesting, carvings that I see may sit in my subconscious and one day I will be carving some detail and it will have been inspired by what I have observed.

Looking at tombstones and memorials helps to inform me about the various stone and how it weathers in different landscapes, altitudes and the impact surrounding flora has on it. It is also about the styles of lettering how it was carved and the fashions of the day.

Maybe next time you are passing a Church you will stop and just look.

Posted in Church Visits | No Comments »

Pumpkins for Halloween

I have been a busy bee making some lovely lasting seasonal decorations to hang in your windows!

I have cut some Chinese slate into pumpkin shapes, sanded them and then painted them up with different pumpkin colours and spooky faces!!

They are between 40 and 50mm wide and all completely different. They all have silver plated loops and waxed cotton to hang on and are £8.50 each.

Posted in Gifts and pendants | No Comments »

St Swithin’s Church open day

I was invited to demonstrate and run my have a go sessions at The St Swithin’s Church Community open day. The event was run by the Churches Conservation Trust and enabled the people of Worcester to have a look inside ask questions and see what the trust are trying to do. There were other activities for young and old to do and obviously my section was very popular with people of all ages.

I really enjoyed talking to people explaining about stonemasonry and conservation and obviously demonstrating my skill as a stonemason.

With money raised the trust are hoping to get some Urns carved which replace the ones that stood on the parapet of the church. Using this I decided to make some drawings and design an urn that reflected the Palladian style that the Church is constructed in. Obviously I wouldn’t be able to finish the carving but I made a start before the day so that I had something to show the general public and I was able to demonstrate the masonry techniques as well as have some rudimentary drawings to show people.

I hope that giving talks and demonstrations show the general public are able to appreciate the work and dedication that goes into preserving and restoring ancient buildings.

Watch this space for more dates.

Posted in Talks and Demonstrations | No Comments »

Pendants and Earrings

Using Sterling Silver wire and soldering where necessary to make bails or wrap various pebbles and rocks that I have tumbled and polished.

Here is the latest selection of pendants and earrings that I have made. Prices start at £18 for a pair of completely unique earrings in Welsh Slate or Red Jasper.

I have made a selection of pendants with Sterling Silver bails and cut grooves in some of the rocks then put wire in the groove finally finishing with the bail all one piece of Silver and then soldering to hold it in place.

The Red Jasper takes 6-8wks to tumble until polished and up to 20mins to drill. The Granite tumbles for 2wks and then I finish the polishing by hand. The Welsh Slate tumbles for a week.

I also find interesting and beautiful pebbles on the beach which I tumble to get a shinier finish.

Posted in Gifts and pendants | No Comments »

Animal portraits.

I have been getting a lot of enquiries about carving animal portraits.

I have done quite a few and there are two types I can carve;

In the round, this involves working from photos and the animal, where possible but it isn’t critical. I model the animal in clay and create the best likeness, this can take up to a week depending on how much detail and body is required, as soon as you the customer are happy with this I cast the clay model in plaster.
The next process is the most time consuming as I then start to measure removing large amounts of stone as I gradually work closer to the finished portrait. If you require just the head then it takes approximately 10 days to complete the carving. The price starts at £850 for the head, I can carve portraits of people as well but as this is a much more in depth and complicated process the cost is £2500

The second type is a relief, carved in Welsh slate, I work solely from a single photo preferably a two thirds profile. The size is approximately A4 with a border, I then cut down into the slate at about 1/4 inch the deepest part and create a shallow relief. This can take up to a week to carve and prices start from £250 depending on the size and amount of detail.

If you would like to see more photos please look in the categories section on the right hand side of the home page and there is a section titled commissions and portraits, this will take you to all the posts I have written about carving portraits in stone.

Posted in Portraits | No Comments »