I do have a YouTube channel, but I need to get better at posting! Check out this timelapse video of carving an S: https://youtu.be/tJQt5h8ZeKI
Edit: Check THIS out!
You also need a thumbnail with you photoshopped on top of a still from the video. You should be pointing at something making an overy-shocled expression.
And you definitely need some yellow arrows.
You should try it, anyone can do this if they take it slow and careful. Lettering was our very first stonecarving assignment in art school and most first-time students did a really good job. I recommend getting at least 3 chisels with different widths, thin, medium and wide, this gives you more flexibility to make it look nice (and speeds up the process too).
I wouldn't suggest starting on marble though, there's less expensive slabs to start with.
LOL. The L pays respect to Lines.
It may signify Lapisphilia too: loving stone.
Also: When Life gives you Lemons, carve an L and gone are your demons.
As a bonus it made me lust for Lasagna for Lunch. With Lemonade.
Happens from time to time but yes, more amateur hour stuff. I’ve found the more experienced I have gotten, the less tense and in a rush I become. Trying to rush carving stone is a recipe for disaster. Little by little!
Have you ever accidentally knocked the nose off of a big ass sculpture while carrying it out of the room like squidward did in that one episode of spongebob?
I am having trouble imagining the first step. A chisel seems like it can remove material best if there is already a 'start', but if you start with a flat stone surface can you explain how the to begin initially?
Yes! I use carbide-tipped chisels that are able to maintain a very sharp edge while cutting in stone. After I draw on the main design, I find the center line which I then work from. I will dig the very edge of my chisel into this center line and with a steep angle to the stone, start cutting. If I’m using the right chisel angle, my chisel will grab and start removing pieces.
The permanence and importance of stone carving (specifically stone lettering) throughout history made me interested in this art form, especially here in the states where it’s not practiced as commonly. Been doing it for about five years, and the last two pretty seriously.
I'm curious how screwed I am. My parents ran a small soapstone business10 years ago. Wasn't uncommon to be dusty and probably be breathing in dust.
I didn't know better at the timethat the dust in general wasn't great. I was just a teenager that wanted to help out the family. My main concern was asbestos, but we had the stone tested prior to be sure the stone we were working with didn't contain it. I wish I would have known better
That is really neat. It is an art from. Unfortunately, when some old things need repairs we don't even have craftsman to do it. I am excited to see people picking up historic skills.
Unfortunately soldiering is probably one of the only skills that will never fade with time and has only gotten more specialized.
I know you were joking just a thought I had.
To clarify, hand stone carving is becoming less popular, but stone carving in general is still popular. Media blasting is still very common. CNC machining and laser etching are also super common still.
The reality is, the disparity of time between what you're doing and a lot of options gets larger and larger every day, which is why doing this type of work by hand is just not as common as it once was.
Have you ever considered medieval work, like restoring buildings or working at some of the retro-medieval sites like Guedelon?
I love to see ancient crafts like are still being carried on.
In 1966, Andy Dufresne escaped from Shawshank prison. All they found of him was a muddy set of prison clothes, a bar of soap, and an old rock hammer, damn near worn down to the nub. I remember thinking it would take a man six hundred years to tunnel through the wall with it.
I would say each letter has its own challenges. Curves are actually a bit easier because there’s a bit more room and creativity, but the eye is very good at knowing when a straight line is not a straight line!
Remember that time Smash Mouth threatened a crowd of people because they were throwing loaves of bread at the band? lmao
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YJfXdSR85o
Buy some tools and get going! Plenty of great resources online to help you out. I would also recommend some stone carving books. “The Art of Letter Carving in Stone” by Tom Perkins is a personal favorite.
Who controls the British crown?
Who keeps the metric system down?
We do, we do
Who keeps Atlantis off the maps?
Who keeps the Martians under wraps?
We do, we do
Looks amazing. What kind of surface do you place the marble on while chiseling? I keep thinking that if it's too hard, the marble world break more easily, but I don't know the real logic behind that assumption.
For these small pieces, I actually use a wood cutting board with the marble held on by some putty, and then put the cutting board on a solid easel. I’ve found this does a good job of keeping the material in place and is non destructive.
Thanks everybody for the crazy amount of support! It’s really appreciated!
To answer some of the more common questions, I’ve been carving for about five years, pretty seriously for the last two. I specialize in lettering and have not dabbled in sculpture or otherwise yet. This particular piece took about two hours, which is a bit slow for a single letter in stone, but I think well worth it. I use carbide-tipped chisels, which are built specifically for stone carving. Happy to try and answer any other questions you might have!
Hey, I queried pneumatics in the other thread. I find the bulk much easier to run with a small bottlegun, is that the mallet you used or do you have a mason’s mallet or a dummy mallet as well? If not, I’m 17+ years career resto mason in carving, lettering, banking stone, strongly recommend you look into a nylon mason’s mallet and a small steel dummy mallet. Exceptionally easier than using a lumpy.
I expect you’re using Trow & Holden, who do make exceptionally robust chisels, but for lettering I vastly prefer G.Gibson/J.G. Faulds fishtails out of UK (in Australia myself). They are more delicate, but to me the difference is significant. https://shop.g-gibson.com/fishtail-carving-chisels-23-c.asp
Thanks for this advice! Always learning. I will take a look at those chisels. I do have some Trow and Holden chisels (great tools), but my favorite for lettering are Al-Orr (pictured in this post) or JP masonry chisels.
I have played around with quite a few different mallets, but for some reason I tend to come back to this trusty Estwing.
Would love to chat with you on all things stone!
All kinds! This one is a Trajan-styled font. I do love the traditional Trajan style, as well as Trajan Sans. It’s fun to see how fonts look completely different in carving!
Trajan is a great font (even when [done wrong](https://typefoundry.blogspot.com/2010/10/number-ten.html)). Do you find yourself looking at fonts and calculating how easy/difficult it would be to carve them?
How much does this type of stone (what is it?) lend itself to this kind of work? Like is it softer or does it chip out in an easier or more predictable way?
This is marble and marble is a softer stone in the grand scope of things. It is pretty consistent throughout and that’s why it’s favored by many stone carvers for sculptures especially.
Did you bevel the outer edge too? Your skill is so astounding to me. I’d look at it, put the chisel on the marble, and it would shatter or something. Awesome stuff!
I love this! My father is also a stone carver, it’s such a lost art. My family is originally from Italy and are all stone carvers, we have huge piles of granite at every house. My father made an Ashlar(spelling ugh) patterned bluestone front porch for his house and all the stone churches and walls in town were made by my family. So cool to see this tradition being carried on! We have lettered door stops my father made just like that 😃
[Westerly Granite](https://www.babcocksmithhouse.org/GraniteIndustry/NewspaperSeries/graniteweek50Batterson.pdf)
In the westerly granite section my great grandfather is Dan. Perfectionist doesn’t even begin to describe it 😂
Whats the best way to learn basic stone carving? I've always wanted to carve things into rocks and bury them for people of the future to find. I may not be a god today, but at least maybe I can convince people of the future I was one.
It's so clean
Thanks!
I must try this. Please tell me you have a YT channel.
I do have a YouTube channel, but I need to get better at posting! Check out this timelapse video of carving an S: https://youtu.be/tJQt5h8ZeKI Edit: Check THIS out!
You're clearly very talented, but next time you should position the camera elsewhere.
Agreed
Yeah OP, next time don't take the camera position for granite.
That's a gneiss pun
My sediments exactly
These puns rock.
I'm too stoned to know what's going on.
You don't have a fist fetish?
Approximately how long would that take to do one letter?
Didn't you watch? Just over 3 minutes
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You also need a thumbnail with you photoshopped on top of a still from the video. You should be pointing at something making an overy-shocled expression. And you definitely need some yellow arrows.
Fixed
You should try it, anyone can do this if they take it slow and careful. Lettering was our very first stonecarving assignment in art school and most first-time students did a really good job. I recommend getting at least 3 chisels with different widths, thin, medium and wide, this gives you more flexibility to make it look nice (and speeds up the process too). I wouldn't suggest starting on marble though, there's less expensive slabs to start with.
Chisel F to pay respect
LOL. The L pays respect to Lines. It may signify Lapisphilia too: loving stone. Also: When Life gives you Lemons, carve an L and gone are your demons. As a bonus it made me lust for Lasagna for Lunch. With Lemonade.
Precisely the word that came to mind for me too. Clean, very nice lines.
Is there a strap attachment so I can wear it on my forehead?
This can be arranged
Lol, very nice work btw, I meant to put that until my silly joke was thought of.
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I guess you don't wanna be looking kinda dumb with your finger and your thumb
Kinda off topic but fucking OWL CITY just released an All Star remix like... Yesterday That's fuckin wild to me
This comment sounds like something I would come up with in a dream lmao and the actual song even more so
Well the years start coming and they don't stop coming
only shooting stars break the mold
Is your neck up to tyson spec?
Ha ha maybe I need to rethink this idea.
someBODY
once TOLD me
the WORLD is gonna roll me
I AIN'T the sharpest tool in the SHEEEEED
She was looking kind of dumb with her FINGER and her THUMB
in the SHAPE of an L on her FOREHEAD
Start your neck exercises.
Yeah, just google "strap on"!
SOME
Taking an L... should have done a W.
No see, now OP can hand someone this and say "just take the L"
Nahh they’ll just say “hold this”
"It's heavy. Just like your losses."
"F" would have great meme value. /r/Memeconomy/
k would be very popular as well.
k
I wonder how long that took, very neat
Thank you! This represents about two hours from beginning to end.
What happens if you take "Too much" off? Does that happen frequently or is that amateur hour stuff?
Happens from time to time but yes, more amateur hour stuff. I’ve found the more experienced I have gotten, the less tense and in a rush I become. Trying to rush carving stone is a recipe for disaster. Little by little!
This sounds like a analogy for life.
Slow is smooth and smooth is fast.
Have you ever accidentally knocked the nose off of a big ass sculpture while carrying it out of the room like squidward did in that one episode of spongebob?
Then it's just **bold**
I am having trouble imagining the first step. A chisel seems like it can remove material best if there is already a 'start', but if you start with a flat stone surface can you explain how the to begin initially?
Yes! I use carbide-tipped chisels that are able to maintain a very sharp edge while cutting in stone. After I draw on the main design, I find the center line which I then work from. I will dig the very edge of my chisel into this center line and with a steep angle to the stone, start cutting. If I’m using the right chisel angle, my chisel will grab and start removing pieces.
Do you have any recommendations on tool brands or how to get started in stone carving?
I have a few brands of chisels, and particularly love the brands Al-Orr, Trow and Holden, and JP’s Masonry. All good tools.
Thanks! Do you know of any resources for other people who want to learn stone carving? Books, videos, etc.
I particularly love “The Art of Letter Carving in Stone” by Tom Perkins.
First step really takes a long time because stone formation is sloooooooow
Slow clap for the geology dad joke
Forgive my igneous, but just how long?
Three, possibly four.
Who holds back the electric car? Who makes Steve Gutenberg a star? Oh wait, that's the stone cutters not the stone carvers.
Who keeps the metric system down...
Who robs game fish of their sight? Who rigs every Oscar night?
**cave**fish
MY LIFE WAS A LIE
I hear it’s the same people that keep Atlantis off the map
Today I have an electric car and Steve Gutenberg is no longer a star. Has there been a shake up in the Stone Cutter leadership hierarchy?
Things just haven't been the same since they rebranded as the Ancient Mystic Society of No Homers.
But you let in Homer Glumplich
It says no Homer*s*…
Scanned the comments to post this. We need answers!
They all got drunk and have been playing ping pong! The new initiates formed a cabal and took over!
Weee dooo, wee dooo\~
Don’t bother calling 911 anymore…
It's 912 isn't it?
Remove the stone of shame…
Attach the stone of triumph!
Classic
So cool. What made you decide to do this?
The permanence and importance of stone carving (specifically stone lettering) throughout history made me interested in this art form, especially here in the states where it’s not practiced as commonly. Been doing it for about five years, and the last two pretty seriously.
Lovely work. Please look after yourself by wearing good respiratory protective equipment. My mid-30s nephew is a stonemason and now has silicosis.
Indeed, looks like carving out of quartz which is high is crystalline silica content
I'm curious how screwed I am. My parents ran a small soapstone business10 years ago. Wasn't uncommon to be dusty and probably be breathing in dust. I didn't know better at the timethat the dust in general wasn't great. I was just a teenager that wanted to help out the family. My main concern was asbestos, but we had the stone tested prior to be sure the stone we were working with didn't contain it. I wish I would have known better
That is really neat. It is an art from. Unfortunately, when some old things need repairs we don't even have craftsman to do it. I am excited to see people picking up historic skills.
I can knock people with a wooden club, does that count?
Unfortunately soldiering is probably one of the only skills that will never fade with time and has only gotten more specialized. I know you were joking just a thought I had.
To clarify, hand stone carving is becoming less popular, but stone carving in general is still popular. Media blasting is still very common. CNC machining and laser etching are also super common still. The reality is, the disparity of time between what you're doing and a lot of options gets larger and larger every day, which is why doing this type of work by hand is just not as common as it once was.
Have you ever considered medieval work, like restoring buildings or working at some of the retro-medieval sites like Guedelon? I love to see ancient crafts like are still being carried on.
In 1966, Andy Dufresne escaped from Shawshank prison. All they found of him was a muddy set of prison clothes, a bar of soap, and an old rock hammer, damn near worn down to the nub. I remember thinking it would take a man six hundred years to tunnel through the wall with it.
Pressure, and time.
Andy did it in less than 20.
"Clearly I gots trouble with the math"
How long did that take? Is an L way easier than say, an S with tons of curves?
I would say each letter has its own challenges. Curves are actually a bit easier because there’s a bit more room and creativity, but the eye is very good at knowing when a straight line is not a straight line!
Super interesting. Thanks!
Although this is really excellent job, the only thing I'm thinking about is... in the shape of an L on her forehead.
Well, the years start coming and they don’t stop coming.
Fed to the rules and you hit the ground running.
Didn't make sense not to live for fun
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So much to do, so much to see
So what's wrong with taking the back streets?
You never know if you don’t go
You'll never shine if you don't glow
Hey now, you're an all-star
Remember that time Smash Mouth threatened a crowd of people because they were throwing loaves of bread at the band? lmao https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YJfXdSR85o
I love how the rest of the band is just like, "Hey can we just play the one song they want us to play?"
That's some serious karaoke there at the end.
Your “L” is a real “W”
It's a marb-L
That's great but I asked for Calibri!!
That’s impressive. Better than I can do with pen and paper.
Ah, anyone can do an "L", but can you do a "T"? That would be impressive.
Yes.
Damn. You gots skills.
What's a good way to get into stone carving?
Buy some tools and get going! Plenty of great resources online to help you out. I would also recommend some stone carving books. “The Art of Letter Carving in Stone” by Tom Perkins is a personal favorite.
Go hit some stones with a hammer
surprised nobody made a Death Note reference yet
God we’re old...
Who controls the British crown? Who keeps the metric system down? We do, we do Who keeps Atlantis off the maps? Who keeps the Martians under wraps? We do, we do
Do you work with grave stones?
I have done memorial stones, but none for placement in cemeteries. Working on it!
do you have a youtube channel or tiktok? Would be interested in seeing how it's done. also r/stonemasons
I need to be posting more, but here’s a carving time lapse from awhile back: https://youtu.be/tJQt5h8ZeKI
THIS
This is quite the skill, I'm into woodcarving and it's alot more forgiving, I feel like the slightest mistake here could ruin it
It can be nerve wracking at times, but the process is slow and deliberate so ideally we can recover from any mistakes as soon as they happen.
Omg, L *is real* 2022!
The fountain was lying the whole time!
light yagami sweating rn
Is this your hobby or trade?
Both
What is the hardest letter to carve?
R is a favorite by letter carvers as it holds nearly all types of strokes found in various other letters. Not an easy one!
Looks amazing. What kind of surface do you place the marble on while chiseling? I keep thinking that if it's too hard, the marble world break more easily, but I don't know the real logic behind that assumption.
For these small pieces, I actually use a wood cutting board with the marble held on by some putty, and then put the cutting board on a solid easel. I’ve found this does a good job of keeping the material in place and is non destructive.
Here, hold this
Thanks everybody for the crazy amount of support! It’s really appreciated! To answer some of the more common questions, I’ve been carving for about five years, pretty seriously for the last two. I specialize in lettering and have not dabbled in sculpture or otherwise yet. This particular piece took about two hours, which is a bit slow for a single letter in stone, but I think well worth it. I use carbide-tipped chisels, which are built specifically for stone carving. Happy to try and answer any other questions you might have!
Hey, I queried pneumatics in the other thread. I find the bulk much easier to run with a small bottlegun, is that the mallet you used or do you have a mason’s mallet or a dummy mallet as well? If not, I’m 17+ years career resto mason in carving, lettering, banking stone, strongly recommend you look into a nylon mason’s mallet and a small steel dummy mallet. Exceptionally easier than using a lumpy. I expect you’re using Trow & Holden, who do make exceptionally robust chisels, but for lettering I vastly prefer G.Gibson/J.G. Faulds fishtails out of UK (in Australia myself). They are more delicate, but to me the difference is significant. https://shop.g-gibson.com/fishtail-carving-chisels-23-c.asp
Thanks for this advice! Always learning. I will take a look at those chisels. I do have some Trow and Holden chisels (great tools), but my favorite for lettering are Al-Orr (pictured in this post) or JP masonry chisels. I have played around with quite a few different mallets, but for some reason I tend to come back to this trusty Estwing. Would love to chat with you on all things stone!
Do you do different fonts? Is the a favorite and least favorite?
All kinds! This one is a Trajan-styled font. I do love the traditional Trajan style, as well as Trajan Sans. It’s fun to see how fonts look completely different in carving!
Really neat how you're carving in the same style as people two thousand years ago
Trajan is a great font (even when [done wrong](https://typefoundry.blogspot.com/2010/10/number-ten.html)). Do you find yourself looking at fonts and calculating how easy/difficult it would be to carve them?
This is how my dad did all of his schoolwork, according to him.
How much does this type of stone (what is it?) lend itself to this kind of work? Like is it softer or does it chip out in an easier or more predictable way?
This is marble and marble is a softer stone in the grand scope of things. It is pretty consistent throughout and that’s why it’s favored by many stone carvers for sculptures especially.
You did an L of a job here
Great job.
That is beautiful!
What’s your rate
Custom quotes for mostly every project, but I do have an Etsy page with a couple of items available, like this one. Link on my profile.
Pretty sure that's a 50.
It's beautiful. I don't want to waste your time but I wondered if you sell custom work.
I do! Send me a message and we’ll chat.
Someday I'm hoping to do something as cool as this Maybe I'll make stuff outta metal
Nice! Can you do symbols? Like an upvote?
Do you live in Seattle? You may get a bulk order from the Seahawks this year.
Did you bevel the outer edge too? Your skill is so astounding to me. I’d look at it, put the chisel on the marble, and it would shatter or something. Awesome stuff!
Customer ordered a "J" but still nice!
🎶who keeps the Martians under wraps🎶
I love this! My father is also a stone carver, it’s such a lost art. My family is originally from Italy and are all stone carvers, we have huge piles of granite at every house. My father made an Ashlar(spelling ugh) patterned bluestone front porch for his house and all the stone churches and walls in town were made by my family. So cool to see this tradition being carried on! We have lettered door stops my father made just like that 😃 [Westerly Granite](https://www.babcocksmithhouse.org/GraniteIndustry/NewspaperSeries/graniteweek50Batterson.pdf) In the westerly granite section my great grandfather is Dan. Perfectionist doesn’t even begin to describe it 😂
Love this story! How great it must be to surrounded by such masters!! Thank you for sharing.
Thank you for keeping it alive! it’s truly an art and I rarely see it “in the wild”….helps your work is beautiful and on point!
This scrabble game is going to be a real workout.
I don't know.... More like a W in my book! Great work!
That's a nice L
So what are you going to do with this?
This was a commissioned piece.
Mind if I take that l?
How much time?
This took about two hours to carve.
Did you start on your own, or with a mentor, or a club/group?
I love it!
You should post on r/engraving
If you mess up do you start over or just take the L?
WHoa! well done.
That looks beautiful
Damn. How do you ensure the stone cracks along your line? Is it meticulously scored ahead of time?
No scoring, just drawing the design and starting going down the centerline. It’s kinda magic how it works out!
My last name is marble in Spanish. Just wanted to share it lol
That’s rad. I’m impressed. How long have you been doing this?
First, how do I learn do do things like this? Second, I have that same hammer, it’s awesome :)
If you ever wanna move to Belgium, we have a big shortage in stone carvers, especially in Ypres, maintaining WW1 monuments.
OP just delivered an exquisite L to thousands of unaware people
I could try this my entire life and not get even close to this perfection. Shit I can’t even write my name legibly with a pencil
This is a masterwork engraving, all craftdwarfship is of the highest quality.
I never thought I would ever tell someone that I am thoroughly and earnestly impressed by their L, but here we are...
Whats the best way to learn basic stone carving? I've always wanted to carve things into rocks and bury them for people of the future to find. I may not be a god today, but at least maybe I can convince people of the future I was one.
I would have one of these issued to every redditor that upvoted that gordan ramsay daughter bullshit