Stone carving

alexlyons

Anyone here into stone carving or know of any websites where there are such people?

Looking to start doing a very small amount of it with a dremel and small pieces of stone, granite is very hard but preferred, not sure what else to use to look good.

Biggest issue is getting the stone to turn into something 3d that looks well. 2d is fine, 3d is the issue

kickarykee

I did a few stone carvings when I was a kid.
I never really learned how to do it but I used Sandstone to start with since it was really easy to work on.
I carved Donatello of the Turtles from a square block - he looked a bit ... well, square, but basically it turned out really nice. I remember I was might proud of myself, haha. ^^

eorna

Hi,
I'm working on a large piece at the moment. I wouldn't start with granite - try a sandstone it's lovely to work with or limestone. Have you made a maquette of the piece you are carving? fIRST a drawing , then maquette, then depending on the form you made need to made a template. You need to be good at 3d if you want to carve in the round. If not - forget it. Do your maquette in clay or plastercine first, if you can do that well you can carve it. It's just a matter of learning the skill. Get stuck in. And stick with it. Time..............:)

anymore

Goggle ' Stone carving classes Ireland' and you will find some, there is a craft centre in Kilkenny doing classes in Oct - cant think of thier name right now ?

anymore

By coincidence I dug out an old leaflet for stone carving classes and rang the number !
Stone mad of Holy Cross, Thurles tipperary do classes and will be holding the next ones in July at a date to be announced. Tel No is 086 - 2532474,

asylumnut

Hi

I do a bit of stone carving. If your not too confident in getting the right result from stone I'd start with carving soap stone. It's esentially compact talc powder that you use knives to carve. Soap stone seems hard to come by but you can order it online from an arts and craft shop in Cork city, Cork Art Supplies. The stone and a set of tools shouldn't set you back more than €30.
From there I'd move onto limestone. It's softer than granite so you dont need harder tipped chisels. The tungsten carbide granite chisels are exspensive here. I have got them from Gough Tools off Capel Street in Dublin. The hardened tips of the chisels are brittle and you will need a green grinding stone to sharpen them. I'd start with limestone as you dont need specialist tools. The first "sculpture" I made was out of an off cut of limestone from a mason and started with a chisel from B&Q. I have attached a pic.
"Some" monument stone masons are happy to give off cuts of limestone. If you have something in mind McKeon Stone cut stone to order and it cheaper than you might think.
I'm not sure where you are based but I did a course with sculpter Helen O'Connell in a room off Trinity College. There was about five of us in a room belting away at stone she provided. The instruction was good and she more or less let you at it. She has a website you can contact her through. As far as I remember it was €60 for 6 weeks. She also does weekend courses.
I hope this helps. It's a nice hobbie.
Oh make sure to get a good dust mask and goggles!

alexlyons

Thanks for those last few posts, will look into all of that

That picture isnt working for me unfortunately

FixYa

Hi Guys,
Is this forum still alive? I was going to try some stone carving. I am based in Limerick .
Where do you get stones to start with