Cat's Eye Carving

The Blue Pigeons

15 February, 2025 – 9:00 am

The Blue Pigeons in Worth was undergoing a renovation project and the owners had fallen in love with my carving, Pins and Needles.

They decided to compliment my sculpture with a pair of pigeons that would sit either side of Pins and Needles.

I used the same limestone from my favourite quarry in Tetbury, Gloucestershire.

Roughly 12 inches high by 8 inches square. Thankfully I had the presence of mind to stockpile this stone, as the quarry went out of business in 2020.

I made a simple sketch for approval and was given free reign with the embellishments.

I love this stone because of the colour and the veins of calcium Carbonate crystals and fossils running through it. The picture of the small shard shows the texture and fossil pieces in the stone.

I got both pigeons carved to the same stage and then started to focus on each one separately.

I carved them like bookends to maintain the integrity of the stone, and was able to create undercutting to add shadow. One was sitting on a grape vine and the other on a hop vine.

I loved adding the unique character to the pigeons, particularly in the feet and the face.

The two pigeons are very different from each other, but they are obviously a pair.

I absolutely love my pigeons and can’t wait to go the The Blue Pigeons in Worth to see them and Pins and Needles in their new home.

Posted in Carrie's News | No Comments »

A Compass Rose for Sandwich Quay

9 February, 2025 – 12:00 pm

John 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.

Posted in Carrie's News | No Comments »

A fantasy themed commission

2 February, 2025 – 9:00 am

This commission really caught my attention as I love to use my imagination. This one stemmed from a computer game called Horizon Zero Dawn. Set in a post-apocalyptic world, with trees growing over broken buildings and tribes struggling to survive. The main character is called Aloy and I have interpreted her as a slightly older character, inspired by Artemis the Greek goddess of hunting.

I hope that you like my interpretation.

This is hand carved out of Portland limestone and will be built into a wall in a house in Walmer in Kent.

It measures 19 x 5 x 31.5 inches and took me 6 weeks to carve. As soon as it goes in and I can take the final photos I will add them to this post.

Posted in Carrie's News | No Comments »

Henry VI coin carving.

19 January, 2025 – 10:00 am

This interesting commission is based on a coin that was discovered by a metal detectorist.

Quite tricky to interpret, but I’m always up for a challenge.

I used a 12 inch square piece of Forest of Dean sandstone.

Once I had sketched it on the stone, I started to waste away the stone to create the depth.

Thankfully my customer was very happy and are the proud owners of this unique piece of stone carving.

Posted in Carrie's News | No Comments »

A New Greenman.

15 January, 2025 – 10:00 am

As you know I have alot of interesting carvings available to buy off the shelf, but I need to keep on top of my commissions.

I had started carving a new Greenman at one of my demonstration days for the Maison Dieu in Dover, but hadn’t got very far.

After my last commission, of the Viking, I was inspired to carve my Greenman as a Viking.

This is where I left him from the Summer, there was plenty of stone to change the design and his leaves could be converted to horns.

Here are the progress photos;

I love my new Greenman Viking, designed by me and hand carved out of Tetbury limestone.

This carving along with other more traditional Greenman carvings are available to buy from my shop.

Posted in Carrie's News | No Comments »