An impromptu stroll around a stone carver’s workshop

We have recently made a few changes around the place and I’d like to share a glimpse of what a stone carvers workshop looks like. This workshop has developed over about 20 years. When I moved in there was pig muck and straw on the floor and holes in the roof, it was one large open barn full of smells, muck, creatures and lets call it ventilation. The roof had no ridge, and the walls struggled to meet that roof in quite a few places – it’s a pig barn thing. Over the years, I have patched it up, knocked things about, lean-tos and sheds have come and gone, worktops have been built, it’s been quite an undertaking.

Phase one was to make it watertight, put in windows, power, water, sink, wood-burner, lifting gear and easels – all the essentials. There have subsequently been lots of other bursts of activity between jobs, as and when I have had energy and finances to invest. For example, tiling the floor in the carving studio, insulating part of the roof, putting in a ‘kitchen’ (it’s laughably basic), buying a table saw and moving my design ‘office’ in.

This is the latest phase – making the outside space nicer and dry lining a section of the barn to create a separate room to display work. Every step forward feels good. Yes it would be nice to have a proper kitchen and bathroom, but that’s just not possible with the set up we have. However it works as a space and I know I’m lucky. I tend to always count my blessings rather than bemoan the things that aren’t ideal.

The following images show the latest project, which is essentially a gallery or showroom, also functioning as a mess room for Dan, Sam and I so we have a space away from our easels and grinders and dust where we can have our breaks. It’s a work in progress and you know what it’s like when you make one bit better the rest looks shabby, but now I am pretty much at the ‘shall I get the polyfiller out’ and ‘what colour shall I paint the window’ stages, rather than wondering how and where to put the walls, and should I put in a false ceiling (yes). It’s nearly there now and I don’t have the time to make it perfect, I need to get on and make some work and earn some money now.

Prior to making this showroom, I decided I had had enough of seeing the skip surrounded by nettles through the window of the carving room, and decided to have a fairly major sort out, which meant relocating the skip, and then clearing the area to create a nice outside space to show some stones and have some nice planters (thanks to Sam Kemp). We had to move several tonnes of stone in the hottest of hots but it was good exercise. Here are some images of the new outside space, and some more general shots of where we work stone:

I hope that when my clients visit now they will get a more rounded picture of my practice as a sculptor and maker, a maker of different types of things influenced and inspired by all sorts of artists and cultures. I have made a spontaneous video to show you round………join me for a stroll. Don’t forget to visit my shop if you feel like treating yourself to something or drop me an email if you have a bespoke commission you would like to discuss. See you again soon.