Stone Carving and Letter Cutting
I hope you all had an amazing Christmas and celebrated the beginning of the New Year in style!
I am well rested and ready to get on with some very interesting commissions, including designing and carving a Birdbath, creating a memorial using the motif of the Sanzio angels, and of course I have a few house names and numbers to get on with!!
I re-open on the 4th January 2012 at 10am.
I look forward to seeing you this year!!
The three pieces completed!
My customer provided me with the names and dates in her own handwriting which I drew as closely as I could onto the two acorns-paying careful attention to match the character of the 2 men with the different acorns!
She didn’t want the engraving to be too noticeable and therefore I didn’t carve the letters too big or paint them afterwards.
The carvings were placed in an area of significance in the garden, a large Oak tree laying on it’s side, a giant sandstone Oak leaf which has lain there for years waiting for acorns to accompany it and of course candles lit in remembrance of loved ones.
I hope you like these-I think they have been my favourite commission to date.
So the next stage in this commission was to start shaping the acorns so they were no longer just barrels!
Sandstone is a very brittle stone and if I try and take too much off at one time it has a tendancy to pluck out where I don’t want it too, so it is essential not to rush.
In order to keep the shape I scribe circles on the top and bottom getting smaller each time, I pitch the stone off to these lines so I can control the amount of stone I take off.
As sandstone is incredibly abrasive it wears my chisels away very quickly and therefore it is very important to keep my chisels sharp.
The main set I used were Pitch, Punch, 1 inch flat chisel and 2 inch bolster and several claw chisels with varying teeth sizes.
But the punch was the most used! needless to say I had to buy a new chisel once this commission was complete-I upgraded to a tungsten carbide tipped punch-lets see how it fairs!!
As you can see I used the gap between my benches to nestle the acorns in, by doing this I was able to turn incredibly heavy stone over and keep it secure while I was carving it!
As I mentioned before it is very important to keep moving the stone and not concetrate on any one area-this would lead to uneveness in the shape.
I am able to alter areas I don’t like by checking the whole shape. Like a painting, it is important to step back and have a look!
To be continued…. 🙂
As promised some photos!
I was given an amazing commission back in July to carve a pair of acorns and an acorn cup. I used the grey/green Forest of Dean sandstone, which is incredibly hard to carve but is very durable and will resist the frost.
They were 2ft x 12 x 12 inches, and the stone for the cup was 12 x 12 x 12 inches.
The cup was carved by first of all hollowing out the bowl-by doing this first I ensured that I had a sturdy base on which to carve. Once I had done this I finished shaping the circle and then carried on down to the base by working methodically and constantly turning the stone I was able to maintain an even shape.
Once I had drawn on the circumferance of the cup and acorn I started to remove the rough with my pitch and bolster. The way a stonemason is trained is to remove chamfers off until the desired shape has been achieved-this was how I carved the first acorn so I could get an idea of shape and scale. However the cup and second acorn were carved using my knowledge of the material, my training, and trained eye.
These are all things that a stonemason develops during the course of many years and what enables us to make what we do look so easy!!
To be continued… 🙂
I am incredibly excited about my first Christmas at Taurus Crafts. I have lots of interesting new gifts that I have been busy making in between completing my commissions.
I have some Welsh slate coasters, pretty Chinese slate hearts-I can carve initials on these from £5 , candle sticks and obviously my firm favourites Gargoyles, Grotesques and foliage carvings. Prices start from £5.
My order book is fast filling up and I am trying to keep up so that there is space for last minute commissions, but please do not leave it too late to commission me.
For the difficult person in your life, why not buy them an hours carving class and then if they enjoy themselves they can come back for more! visit my page for more info.
There will be about 18 extra craftsmen and women to spend this weekend and next weekend, 3rd & 4th and the 10th & 11th December for the Christmas Craft fairs. visit http://www.tauruscrafts.co.uk/ for more information.
There is a real buzz around the place as everyone adorns their workshops with lights and wonderful green foliage. There is the smell of Christmas trees, pine and hopefully sausages cooking!!
I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and I hope to see some of you at my workshop!