Blog
Autumn Carvers
2nd December 2014
We had a lovely carving course in October with mother and daughter team Anna and Biddy, two husband and wife teams, Paul & Jo and Sarah and Mike as well as Chris, who made a striking mask relief. We were also visited by Conchita, who is now a regular; having completed two smaller pieces, Conchita is now working on a large 3-d sculpture for a very special occasion (details not to be divulged). She is doing some work on the piece at home and pops back every couple of months to get some help with the next technical challenge.
Reflecting on the stone carving process
7th October 2014
One of our August weekend carvers was Amanda, who spent five days developing a three dimensional carving inspired by the shape of a lapwing’s wing. Amanda is a writer and expert in communication and she has documented her carving days in her blog. She has reflected deeply on the creative process and the powerful mind-body connection that is central to the art of stone carving. Amanda’s piece is quite complex and she has taken the stone back to London where she is continuing to work on it – she will return in November to build on her skills and work with Pete on how to bring the carving completion.
Summer carvers
2nd September 2014
Well now it’s September and time to look back on a busy summer! There are lots of new photos in the students’ gallery showing the great work that’s been done in the workshop. One of the things I love about our courses is the sheer diversity of the work, each piece really is unique and it’s one of Pete’s strengths as a tutor to help people translate their ideas into stone.
Winter carving courses
24th March 2014
We had a busy carving weekend in February with some lovely work being made. Billie spent four day with us, working on a relief of the Egyptian god Anubis for three days. Billie’s carving is really atmospheric, with a lot of depth and complete with a backdrop of the pyramids. Continuing the canine theme on day four, Billie tackled lettering and completed an inscription of her dog’s name in limestone. All in all a lot of hard work and fun!
January carving students
12th December 2013
Hugo spent two days carving with us back in the Autumn and popped back last weekend to finish off his project. He’s made a really skillful Celtic cross that will be gracing his garden in Lostwithiel. Pete roughed out the base of the cross, the rest of the work is all Hugo’s.
Summer carvers 2013
5th August 2013
We’ve had a busy week, with seven students completing relief carvings. Richard came from Lostwithiel as a surprise birthday present along with Corrina and Dave who were visiting from Cambridge. Richard’s composition of a leaping hare and crescent moon is particularly lively, a really lovely piece to take home.
Bookends
24th June 2013
Carol and Jesse have previously spent a week carving in Malta and invested in some carving tools so they could continue carving at home in Berkshire. They had made a striking pair of bookends in Malta and were keen to make another set as Christmas presents for their children.
A carving and working holiday
29th April 2013
Tom came along to one of Pete’s carving courses at the Mushroom Works in Newcastle last year. He’d recently finished a year’s foundation in Art at Newcastle College and having done a lot of 3-d work in ceramics was interested in spending some time exploring stone as a medium and developing his carving skills.
Spring carving days
8th April 2013
Three carvers came along on 16th March. I’m sure Derek won’t mind me saying that he’s one of our older carvers to date, at 81. He took to carving with great determination and achieved an excellent jaguar relief, inspired by his love of vintage cars. Derek’s planning to return in May and make a mirror image jaguar so they can face each other across his mantel piece, and he already has plans for further garden sculptures.
Busy carving weekend 2nd & 3rd March
5th March 2013
We’ve just had the penultimate weekend of our ‘special offer’ winter taster days, and it was a busy one. On Saturday Lottie & Colin came up from west Cornwall, John from Lostwithiel and Ian from Plymouth. Lottie is training to be a set designer and wanted to work on her 3-d design skills, she started on a very nice abstract piece and is planning to come back to complete it
Sunny carving weekend
18th February 2013
Andrea, Kate, Lynn and Alan all came for a day’s carving over the weekend, and we had unbroken sunshine, it’s starting to feel a bit like spring! Lynn and Kate came down from Tavistock, for the day on Sunday to celebrate Lynn’s birthday (Andrea was a birthday visitor too this weekend).
Christmas carving days
2nd January 2013
Tracy and Roger visited us from Surrey just after Christmas for a festive carving break – for Roger’s surprise Christmas present. Both Tracy and Roger got stuck in for a good day and a half of carving and made a seated figure and a shell & starfish relief. It is always rewarding to see how much new carvers can achieve in a short space of time.
Weekend carving course 20 & 21st October 2012
23rd October 2012
We had a great weekend in the workshop with Lorraine, Rena and Fran each producing some very effective carving. A bit of autumnal sunshine helped and the woods are starting to look spectacular with the autumn colours coming through.
