Stone Carving and Letter Cutting
I’m pleased to say we’ve managed to get even more examples of Carrie’s work up onto the blog’s gallery section for your perusal. Please feel free to have a look at the gallery to see the new images.
Enjoy! š
Ed
Just recently I visited Dorset, not only for a bit of R&R, but also to source some more stone, obviously the home of the most famous Jurassic coastline and some gorgeous stone.
I did want to get some Purbeck limestone, also known as Purbeck Marble, because of its ability to take a very high polish, it was widely used as a decorative stone, but the polish doesnāt withstand weathering so its only ever used inside. But I couldnāt find a quarry!
I did however get just over a tonne of Portland limestone, the majority of it was reclaimed from a dismantled Victorian hospital, yes we can even recycle stone. And some shiny new pieces for letter cutting and bird baths. Iām like a kid in a sweet shop when I go to a quarry!!
Portland Limestone is very hard and dense so I can get a lot finer detail with it. I canāt wait to get carving, but I have my commissions to finish first!!
One of my latest carvings is about 18ā high, she is a beautiful art nouveau lady dancing in the wind with a light fabric blowing around her.
This is the direction I would like to take my carving in, I think I have finally found my strength.
A lot of my previous carvings have accidently had an art nouveau tilt to them.
Long flowing hair and delicate features. My carvings are about a feeling. And I hope when you see some more of my work you will understand what I mean.
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Anyway till next time Carrie
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I think the weather is keeping people away at the moment, donāt really blame them, but it would be lovely to have some more visitors!!
But with it being quiet it has meant that I can crack on with my commissions.
Iāve 2 house numbers and 2 house names to do, they will be on my gallery when they are done.
One that I have just finished is absolutely gorgeous, āOld Chapel Houseā I have carved 4ā capitals and 2ā lower case letters and its painted with a plum enamel paint, which compliments the red ochre sandstone beautifully. I buy it from the Wilderness quarry which is about 600 yards up the road from my workshop.
It is incredibly hard, I have to use tungsten carbide tipped chisels, which need to be sharpened every 10 minutes or after every letter, depending on the size of the letter.
This stone because of its hardness and density is perfect for birdbaths and waterfalls. However I have to start these with my angle grinder otherwise I would have to keep replacing my chisels!!
I am working on one at the moment which will be hour glass shaped, Iām not sure whether to sand it off smooth or leave it tooled, but thatās the beauty of what I do, I get to choose.
One of the commissions that I am working on is a head of a Bull Mastiff, itās slightly smaller than life size, but my customer is incredibly impressed with it so far. Iāll get some images of it in progress to go on my gallery.
My customer (who for arguments sake Iāll call Al) supplied me with some photos as the poor dog is dead, I spent 2 days making a model out of clay, Al came out to my workshop as the model was nearing completion, to give me some advice as to the fine details of the dogs features that only he would know.
Once this was completed I cast it in plaster-if you are interested in the process e-mail me for details.
From this plaster cast I started the carving, blocking out the shape at first using a hand saw. Obviously this is a complicated process using callipers, squares, rulers and a lot of patience. Once I start the free carving it gets a lot more exciting as I am relying on what I see more than my measuring equipment.
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Hello and welcome to my new website.
I have many exciting ideas for what I would like to do with this site.
For instance, I love finding interesting and useful books so there will be book reviews, obviously tools are very important in my craft so I will have an area where I will be able to tell you what is useful and where to find it.
For all the masons out there I would like to set up a register of stonemasons marks and where they can be seen. Mine of course being a Catās eye!
I have just successfully organised a charity stonemasons festival so there will be a blog dedicated to this, photos of the weekend can be found at www.rdpphotography.co.uk and www.philippebrevet.com
Keep checking the site for interesting info on a fascinating craft and new photos of my work on my gallery.
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Iāll get back to you soon,
Ā CarrieĀ