Tuesday Carve Up
Here's a little known fact: We carve bespoke stone pieces for individuals and businesses. We will be working on this more with the edition of our brand new workshop in the Summer. Here are a handful of examples. The stone itself comes from a quarry just outside a little town in Wiltshire. That's right, it's BATH STONE.
Bath stone is an oolitic limestone which dates back to the Jurassic period (195 to 135 million years ago) when the region that is known as Bath was covered by a shallow sea. (Moonraker Masonry) You will notice that the colour varies between pieces. This is because they come from different layers in the ground. The lighter, finer one is from the 'base layer'. It possesses a much finer quality due to more compaction and mixture with lime as it settles under new layers of sediment and is ideal for fine detail. The yellower, rougher stone is from the 'top layer'. You will see that it has a larger grain and is mostly used in construction of the ubiquitous yellow buildings in and around Bath in the west country (and beyond). A similar stone is Portland stone, (another fine grain base layer) with an extra white colour and fine texture.
In recent years, construction sandstone has been fused against block-work as a façade; rather than a full block being used, as the use of modern building regulations and budgets change. However, it is also great to use for sculpture as, like the finer stone, you can do most things to it that you would to wood, such as sawing, drilling, filing and varnishing/staining!
With the right treatment, a stone carving will stand the test of time and bring enjoyment for years to come.
