Well, off the bat: animal lover, night owl and maniacal hobby collector. But you are probably here to hear about me as a carver/artist; I'll start at how I fell into masonry...

 

T'was the night before Christmas... It wasn't. 

Turns out my Mum was having renovations done on her house and suggested I come and meet her mason. She promised an impressive yard filled with tools and sculpture; naturally, I couldn't refuse! Having thrown my hat into every ring of craft I could, the chance to see a working craftsman's space is always a delight!

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I'd recently moved back to the area to be closer to family and had emergency renovations of my own to complete before my girlfriend joined me in a couple of weeks. This didn't leave me anytime to look for a job. Naturally, as soon as we arrived at the yard, the first thing to leave my dear sweet mother's mouth were the words

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"If you need an apprentice, this guy's unemployed!"

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Alas, he needed an apprentice. We had a brief chat about my hobbies and potential skills up to that point (building musical instruments and movie replicas etc.) and went on the basis of: Turn up on Monday and if you are any good, I'll keep you on.

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We had a few days running through the basics of masonry then it was straight into working stonemasonry 5 days a week.

Essentially we did everything: taking the big raw stone, cutting it into slab, then blanks; using grinders and tooling chisels to finish window sills, jams and lintels; splitting stone and facing it off for walling. Basically everything in construction masonry.​

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The REAL fun came when Mike trusted me to do a headstone. The first was just words and the second had some free carving, a rose as if laid on the top of the stone. This was the inciting incident to my true passion with stone carving!

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The decorative carving was rare though and we worked hard and dusty days together for a year.

After a family tragedy, I had to take a break from construction masonry as it was too much for me at the time.

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I returned to my comfortable place, that being a café environment (who doesn't love good coffee, cake and a chat!)

About the time I was getting tired of the café, my neighbor asked if I still carved stone. His sweet little cat had passed and was wondering if I could craft her a little memorial... I could. I have my chisels, I have my skills. OK!

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I gave my notice at the café, carved the memorial and threw my savings into starting an artisan stone carving business! Let's see how long this lasts. Worst case scenario; I go back to delicious coffee and cake!

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A year later I applied for Make It At Market on BBC 1 and made it on! LETSSSS GOOOO!

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And here we are! Established June 1st 2023 and learning every day!

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