Cats Eye Carving

Carrie Horwood makes her hand carved stone sculptures from her workshop at Taurus Crafts. Trained as stonemason at Gloucester Cathedral, Carrie loves to makes large flowing forms but can work on a domestic scale with house names, small gifts and memorials. If you are planning to visit please give a call to ensure tht Carrie is onsite.

New Memorial Commission – ‘The process’

The first thing I had to do was create a maquette in clay-a model that could be altered until it was what my client had in her mind.

I commissioned my friend Missfire a Blacksmith to make me some armatures onto which I could build the cherubs.
I layered up the clay, making the forms that I wanted, until I had the shapes I needed. I then started to add some detail.
The next stage was to cast the clay models in plaster.

I separated the cherubs in order to cast them more easily. I scored a line to distinguish between the front and back-this allows me to see where the two halves will be for casting.
The first layer of plaster is a very thin coloured layer-the reason for this will become apparent later.
I was very fortunate that my Grammar school had a 3D department where I learnt all about working with clay and plaster. My degree in sculpture focused on portrait and figurative modeling in clay and plaster, so I have a good deal of experience with these processes.

Once the outside of both cherubs were completely covered in plaster-except the centre line I allowed the plaster to dry out.
Once the inside is completely clean, I brush a barrier on the inside as I now start to pour in the plaster , carefully so as not to trap any air. The liquid plaster will suddenly ’go off’ this is when the ability to ice a cake comes in handy! Using a spatula I smeared the plaster being careful not to get any on the joint.

Once all halves are done I put them together lining up the edges so the final cast will be a perfect replica of the clay model. Once the casts had dried out completely I was able to start chiselling off the outer skin of plaster. The thin layer of coloured plaster now comes into use, it gives me an indication of how close I am to the actual cast.
Now the carving begins – see photo of the carving in progress. For updates check out Carrie’s website

Visit her website at www.catseyecarving.co.uk