For my birthday earlier in the Autumn my lovely sister treated me to a mystery 2 days out.
Having picked me up at an agreed time with the instruction to wear sturdy shoes, 'layers' and to bring my compression gloves we headed off in a westerly direction. It turned out to be not a very far westerly direction as 25 minutes later we reached our destination. The
in Swindon. I cannot tell you how many times I have driven past this museum and not noticed it was there. Richard Jefferies was a Victorian writer with a passion for the English countryside.
However we were not there to look at Richard Jefferies books. There in the woodland clearing, a fire gently burned in the middle and around it sat 6 Bankers (wooden tables) each topped off with a square of Maltese limestone. With my excitement levels rising we were greeted by Maya and Wolfie, our tutors for the day.
And what a day it was......it was a choice between a Green Man and the Triskelion Hares, the Hares of course won out. So began a day of drawing, hammering, learning, endless cups of tea and the most delicious home made soup for lunch made by Jamie from the museum.
This was a two day workshop and by the end of day one I really doubted that I would have anything resembling the beautiful hares Myra had carved.
The design drawn onto the stone and I am beginning to chase out the design.
Holding the mallet and chisel took some getting used to as they need to be held loosely
rather than be gripped firmly, something we all struggled with at first!
Action shot! It looks as if I am holding the mallet wrong, but in carving
stone like this the head is held in the palm of the hand.
End result of day 1
By the end of day one I was feeling quite chuffed with myself....the end result was that I had three hares, all lacking detail of course and the depth of the cutaway was not yet deep enough. All in all a good result.
On to Day two and once again the fire was lit and more home made soup was on offer. very welcome as although the sun was out it wasn't that warm.
More hammering and refining today to give our hares more shape .
I
have to admit that come 3pm I had to give up. I could no longer hold
the mallet. Happy with my achievements I had a cuppa whilst admiring
everyone else's efforts. There was still a lot of refining to do but I was happy to take it away and work on it at home.
During the afternoon we were visited by a wandering poet who started walking among us and penned this poem.
STONE LOVE
Dappled Forest Light
Dappled Tapping
The Stone Carvers Are In
Heads & Shoulders Forward
The Gentle Hammers Tap
The Toy Train Taps its Sleepers
As It Waving Trundles By
Six Limestone Blocks Square
Become Green Men and Hare
Our group of stone carvers with Maya & Wolfie in front.
In fact, I didn't finish my hares at home. My sister and I took ourselves off to St Ives in Cornwall for a week away and we both took our stones with us. It is still not finished completly but there is no rush.
My Hares at the end of day 4 working on it. I am happy with the
shape so now I need to put the eyes in and texture the background area
around the hares and finish facing the block. I would also like to add some words
to the outside side edges of the block.
