Cat's Eye Carving

Dog portrait part II

By taking measurements from the plaster cast I am able to map the important points on the stone and using my saw and hammer and chisels I can remove the excess stone.

I have a template that I put the model on I line up my squares and sliding squares to identify the one point, which is the height from the base, the distance in from the side and the distance in from the front-the three dimensions.

As you can see the more points I identify the more detail I can carve on the stone and the closer I get to carving an exact replica of the plaster model.

In effect I am mapping out points in three dimensions and then joining the dots. There is a certain element of visual mapping, I have to trust my eyes by comparing the points to each other and making sure that they look right. I also use calipers to check that my measurements line up with each other.

This commission represents approximately 130hrs work.

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Dog portrait

My latest commission was to carve a portratit of Marley, a Labrador/Rottweiler cross.

My clients were bought a voucher for a wedding present and chose to have their beautiful dog immortalised in stone!

The first stage was to model him in clay, I worked from photos and from Marley himself, however I only observed Marley!

As soon as my clients were happy with the model, I cast it in plaster. This involves several processes, the first is dividing the model into two halve with small squares of metal.

I then build up layers of plaster over the clay model, once this is completely dry I separate the two halves and dig out the clay.

The two part mould is cleaned and sealed using soap, plaster is poured into the two halves.

It is important to leave the mould with the plaster inside for long enough to dry out, I then start to cut away the outer mould.

The next stage is to use the plaster cast to take measurements from and start cutting the stone.

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Stonecarving Festival 2013

I am pleased to announce that preparations are well under way for my next Stone-carving event.

It will take place on the 24th – 27th May 2013 at The Llanthony Secunda priory in Gloucester. This historic site is on the banks of the canal near the beautiful Gloucester Docks.

The Stone-carving Festival will fall on the same weekend as The Tall Ships festival, this will give us the perfect theme. Everyone will be encouraged to carve something with a nautical theme, so I imagine mythical sea beasties, figureheads, all manner of sea creatures, maybe some boats and coiled rope.

All carvings created at the event will help to raise money for The LLanthony Secunda Priory Trust http://www.llanthonysecundapriory.org.uk/   and The Gloucester Geology trust  http://www.glosgeotrust.org.uk/

Obviously as I have more details I will publish them, there will be a dedicated website which will be launched in the coming weeks.

Watch this space!!

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Gallery tidy up

Hello to my visitors, I have been tidying up my gallery and adding some new images, I hope that you will agree it is easier to see what I have on offer and see what kind of lettering you could commission from me in various styles, finishes and stones.

Thank-you for visiting.

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The Freeminers commission

After I finished the carving of the pair of Freeminers, I was asked to do 2 more carvings in Welsh and Cornish slate and carve bases for them as well.

The bases are carved from Forest of Dean Sandstone, sadly the quarry I use has been closed for financial reasons so I was forced to use what I had in my stock to complete the commission, which is why the stone bases are different thicknesses.

Here are some photos of the finished carvings. The lettering is less that an inch high to give you an idea of the size. I have gilded them with 23 & 3/4 carat gold leaf.

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