A talk about my carving process

The Middleton, Aislaby and Wrelton WI invited me to give a talk at their meeting last night.  We all met at the wonderful Middleton Village Hall – which is situated next to the Village Pond.

It was so lovely to meet everyone and get to know the group.  I loved hearing the stories of family members who were stone masons, or sculptors – so many had stone stories to tell me!

I had a little explore before the meeting.  There’s a wood framed notice by the pond, describing how it appeared on old maps of the area.  It was likely enlarged from a natural hollow at the junction of two by-ways to enable stock to drink, or carters to re-wet and expand their timber cartwheels which dry and shrink away from the metal rim in hot weather.  Mention was made of puddling clay and other snippets which were too covered in moss for me to read, but there were lovely images and a description of the flora and fauna that the pond attracts.

My talk, accompanied with slides, covered the sculpting process, from stone block to finished sculpture.  I set out all the stages, starting with selecting stone at the quarry, how I go about working out the form, to the actual labour of carving, tooling used, what I actually get up to in the workshop, methods for finishing, and finally delivering a piece to the customer.

It was a lovely evening, a big thanks to my appreciative audience and for all the questions afterwards.