This commission came from Minerva Conservation who called me in to undertake the re-cutting of the inscription to this historic tomb. The stone itself is still very sound, though with the passage of time some of the thin strokes of the letters have disappeared and the overall appearance of the inscription had become quite 'fuzzy' as can be seen in the above photo.
My job simply involves carving over each letter. Using a dummy and chisel I re-carve each letter by hand, being sure to deepen each letter and re-establish the thin strokes where required, but...being very careful to maintain the integrity and spirit of the original inscription. It could be too easy to over-carve and change the appearance of the letters. To my trained eye, some of the original letter-forms are somewhat archaic and a bit...well, awkward, so one has to reign in ones desire to reshape some of the letters and keep to what is there!
Whilst the stone was at a good height, working flat is a tiring back-aching job! In all, the whole inscription took three long days to re-cut. However the weather stayed reasonably fine, and I stayed in a delightful B & B in Kew, which is the most lovely part of London, quite like a little village.
Work in progress, showing re-cut letters, my tool roll of chisels and a valuable cushion for my poor knees!
The finished inscription.
St Ann's, Kew.
The white gazebo covers the tomb.
Robyn, that's some fine looking carving.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to be in London in September, trying to look up some of the classically styled rebuilding after the great fire. Have you ever worked on any of the buildings put up in the late 1660s and early 1670s?
Here's a little of my letter carving, in wood:
http://historichomeworks.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2030
John
sharp steely edges, fine wooden curves