The Craxford Snelling Workshop

Please send any work inquiries or questions to info@craxfordsnellingworkshop@gmail.com

Easter Break

Didn’t do much this break, spent the first week organising everything from my studio in my room, putting up shelves etc. Second week I started work proper and carried on with third year proposal work, I modelled a maket for ‘the Floating one’.

I think a better way to maximise stone and make it easier to display would be to flip the design over, but I haven’t modelled this yet, maybe tomorrow night.

Lettering

I spent much more time thinking and designing different ideas for the lettering, starting with my headstone.

Designs based on research from graveyards and church yards from my village and also headstones I’ve seen in books and travelling further afield. (Eastern Europe mostly, not that I’ve been).

My initial idea was to have a headstone carved similarly to what is found where I’m from, however looking at them I’m not sure that is something I would want resting over me. The second design there features a dove as the main motif, with the face of the stone marked to look like drizzle. This is the design I will go for. While I have decided on the letterforms, the design of the bird is not resolved yet. I’m not sure whether to carve it or cast it even. But due to the fact the letters will be lead, I will likely have to cast anything at home if I wanted the metals to match, which I obviously would.

Initial drawings of letterforms for headstone. Letters marked with a * are resolved and I’m happy with. (I wrote in the work book why they are so bold and blocky, this is due to the lead filling the V cut, turning the carved letter into something much more similar to a typeface.)

After writing initial drafts for the Lettering Arts Trust journeymanship scheme and the proposal for the YCL/CCP carving. I started the design of the later.

I started looking at the YCL100 logo, and then moved onto Chinese Communist propaganda for inspiration. I drew some small sketches of what I had in mind before landing on the final design.

Drawing of the stone on the bottom right is an accurate drawing of a potential limestone boulder. On the top left you see the first drawing of the design I settled with.

After looking at what I wanted carving I moved onto letter forms. While this is fairly hard without the final stone ready (as I need specific dimensions or to just draw letters directly onto stone) I did settle on a style I’m happy with that should work well in the raised lettering form.

Inspired by letters from last years lettering exchange book, as well as what was taught by John earlier in the year. I plan on having the raised section of the letters almost 90 degrees and switch between raised and sunk, depending on what the natural surface of the stone does.

The last part of today (before I picked the car up again) I worked on a more resolved design for the carving, looking at German expressionist abstractions, as well as more traditional Romanesque works.

Initial skeleton drawing of design, before detail or abstraction. (Featuring cards that help me think.)

On a none work related note I managed to go down to the isle of Purbeck to visit the Haysom quarries and a carving workshop charity that is run at one of the old sites. Was a good trip and was an amazing quarry. Got my stone for ‘the Floating One’, then managed to see Garry Breeze and his old apprentice (I want to say Robert but I’m not sure, feel bad) working on some huge blocks that are destined for a zoo. Then went to Durdle Door.