Stone carving – fresh carved

This is a square of sandstone from Beaudesert in Queensland, at 300mm by 300mm. The text is from the poet Louis MacNeice. I may yet gild (gold leaf) the carved design at the head. The lettering illustrates my free-style, with the final flow of letters decided on the moment as the chisel cuts into the stone.

Those with a long memory may remember this article published in November which showed the design as a pencil sketch. This is how the process works – first the sketch, either at scale or full-size; the sketch worked up into a final drawing which is then transferred to the stone surface (I use carbon paper).

One works from the bottom up so as not to rub out the impression. This is an earlier picture of work in progress.