Our Process

Materials

We work with a wide range of woods, generally English and European hardwoods and softwoods such as oak, lime and pine. Each wood is chosen for the specific job, either to match an original piece or for its particular qualities – such as durability, ease of carving, sharpness for detail, attractive grain or tone. We carve with the same kinds of chisels that have been used for hundreds of years. When carving an original piece to our own design, we first make drawings to show to the client and then a clay model so that we have a three-dimensional object to copy.

Carving

If the carving is small enough, we work from one piece of wood, but for larger pieces we start by laminating (glueing together) several sections of wood. We draw a profile of the piece on the laminated wood and then bandsaw the outline before starting work on the detailed carving.

Finishing

We specialise in the traditional method of water gilding on a gesso preparation, and also provide other decorative finishes including oil gilding and polychroming. (We have also started some successful work with artists, closely collaborating on realising their designs for shows around the world Please view our Portfolio for examples.)