A Compass Rose for Sandwich Quay
9 February, 2025 – 12:00 pmJohn Van Der Dol, a business owner from Sandwich approached me with his drawing of a compass rose and asked if I could produce it.
This commission is being paid for by the Levelling up fund that national councils were able to apply for, Dover District Council are working on a regeneration project to boost Dover’s economy and rebuild some of the rundown commercial properties.
The stone for this commission is benefitting British quarries, the British tool maker that I buy my chisels from, the builders who will be installing the compass rose and of course me.
I interpreted it for the practicalities of carving and chose the stone that that was suitable. Forest of Dean Sandstone from Gloucestershire for the main part and St Bees Sandstone from Cumbria for the details.
After tweaking the final details, I drew the design onto the stone.
I designed the typeface to fit around the curve of the centre, because the outer circle is obviously longer than the inner one, I needed to use my knowledge and experience to design a typeface that looked right. Sandwich Cinque Port will be gold, but the rest of the lettering will be unpainted, as everything I carve is done with a hammer and chisel, I can make sure that the lettering is deep enough to last and create shadows so that it can be read.
The next stage was to carve the compass points in the St Bees sandstone.
I got advice from a local business, Highway Marina to make sure that the orientation of the compass points are as they would be on a static compass. They have kindly offered to help me make sure I put North in the right place too, when it comes to installing the carving.
The next stage was to draw out and carve the Coat of Arms for Sandwich, there are several different examples of this heraldry, but this is the one that they are using now.
The boat will be painted silver, the lions will be gilded and the half that the boats are on, the background will be painted a matt blue.
These two photos show the carving finished, the left image is when it’s wet after washing and the right is as it’s dried.
I am please to say, that before I decorate the stone, I will be making a silicone mould of the carving, the subsequent casts in Jesmonite, will be available to buy. A proportion of the sales will go back to the town council.
Once the decoration is complete, I will be flooding the carving with clear epoxy resin to protect it.
I will be starting the carving of the rest of the Compass Rose shortly, it will be installed down by the Toll Bridge on the tow path in March.
