• Two griffins with large baroque shield in sandstone

    Latest projects, coat of arms
    5 comments
    female griffin in sandstone by Koen van Velzen

    Waited a long time, and kept silent….

    As you may perhaps remember, Jelle and I had started making two large griffins? Well, we have come a lot further at this time. The first griffin is finished, the second one is almost there, the first shield is finished, the second will be coming soon…. we were just delayed a lot by our work on the Utrecht Dom Tower, which always took precedence over everything else.

    Now that has been completed, we suddenly have a lot more room to handle other ongoing matters.

    How would one even begin such a job?? I will try to explain it with a step-by-step plan and some links.

    Making models

    Griffin with shield castle entrance plastilinemodel
    plastiline scale model of the griffin with the shield

    After the commission had been issued, I started looking for old photo material from before the Second World War, as everything had been destroyed during that war. But on one website there were some nice pictures from which, with a lot of editing, I could extract some information . Later, when we were almost done, I was sent some really sharp photos from the housekeeper's photo album, but that's how it goes. Once I had enhanced the grainy pictures, I modeled a small clay model. From that point, I first thought of carving it out foam right away, but I couldn't get it to my liking. That would be different now, after all the intermediate phases, I am now very familiar with the shapes of these animals, but not at that time. Because foam didn't work out, I started sculpting a larger maquette in plastiline clay, which never dries out. After approval, there was still debate on having it cast in concrete, but fortunately it was to be carved in stone.

    Clay model

    our clay model for the griffin

    Jelle and I sculpted the full-size model for the griffin together and I sculpted a separate clay model for the shield.

    Plaster models

    Jelle making 1 out of 5 mould parts in plaster, on top of the clay model

    From those, we made plaster casts and then ordered the stone. In this case it I chose Obernkirchen sandstone, because of the color, its high weather resistance and because it is so strong, as we're dealing with several thin parts, such as the tail, the wings, the one forelimb and the shield.

    Contour sawing machine

    Jelle cutting out the contours of a griffin
    Jelle cutting the contours of his griffin in stone

    Then we contour sawed the plaster griffins, the wings and shield out of new stone blocks with my contour sawing machine. I carved the tail by eye.

    Jelle and Koen are carving the griffin

    sandstone griffin with baroque shield

    Then the fun work began: Jelle carved the first griffin and I was about to start on the next one, but unfortunately I had to order a new block of stone because of a hidden crack. After everything was contour sawn, I started carving and refining the second griffin. Then I made the wings for mine and attached them to the body with two thick M20 stainless steel threaded rods.. I filled the thin joint seam with a liquid mortar and then sealed it with a suitable restoration mortar. These won't just come off anytime soon. The same thing I did with its tail. Jelle is making progress with his version.

    Male and female

    a female griffin, here still without wings and tail

    We thought it would be nice this time around to, contrary to tradition and to indicate that this is 21st century work, carve two different griffins. The originals probably came from Ernst March's workshop in Berlin, and were made of ceramic. As a result, they were probably completely identical, except for the crest on the shield, and the inverted position of the legs. In consultation with the customer, one became a male griffin and mine became a female, with a double row of mammary glands. Times are changing, don't they?

    Koen carving the first shield

    carving coat of arms on sandstone griffin with baroque shield

    Then there was the shield. It was roughly contour sawn and all the details of the end result were not yet visible. After I had determined the large shapes, I was able to add the edges and details. On top you can still see part of the claw with which the griffin will hold the shield. The back was then hollowed out into a fairly thin plate and the lower curls of the shield were completely finished. Thanks to new photos, I was able to recreate the old details even more faithfully.. Obernkirchen sandstone is quite a difficult stone. It actually works against you every step of the way during carving. It is tough and you can easily chip out unwanted holes with your chisel, but the result is beautiful. It is not without reason that it has been a very popular material for centuries. You just have to protect yourself with a pressured breathing mask (the photo above was more for show, I normally wear a helmet with a fresh air supply).

    • coat of arms for sandstone griffin with large baroque shield
    • coat of arms for sandstone griffin with baroque shield

    Stairs profiles

    Finally, I made drawings of the stair profiles on which these two griffins will be placed, so that the restoration plasterer can lay the bricks and plaster the sides of the stairs in the matching shapes.

    What next?

    We still have to put the finishing touches on it 1 of the griffins, the wings and tail still need to be glued. Then the second shield still needs to be carved (it has already been cut out with the contour saw). This shield has a different family crest on it, for instance this one has no less than 6 griffins incorporated into it and three helmets, plus the motto 'Cave Gryphem’ (beware of the griffin). The count was probably very happy with his guard dogs.

    Gallery: the progress of the work

    Finally, we will fit everything together before we proceed with the actual installation. More on that later.

    • blocks of sandstone for griffin
    • sandstone griffin with baroque shield
    • Jelle cutting out the contours of a griffin. Two griffins with large baroque shield in sandstone
    • contour sawing sandstone griffin with baroque shield
    • copying Jelles sandstone griffin with baroque shield
    • Two griffins with large baroque shield in sandstone: beginning of male griffin
    • first stages of sandstone griffin with large baroque shield
    • Jelle carves a sandstone griffin with a large baroque shield
    • starting to copy shield of sandstone griffin with baroque shield
    • first stages shield sandstone griffin with baroque shield
    • coat of arms for sandstone griffin with large baroque shield
    • carving coat of arms on sandstone griffin with baroque shield
    • coat of arms for sandstone griffin with baroque shield
    • shield of two griffins with large baroque shield in sandstone
    • Two griffins with large baroque shield in sandstone: female griffin

  • Working on the Dom Tower for five years!

    background, Utrecht Dom Tower, Latest projects, Restoration
    3 comments
    The upper part of the Dom Tower in Utrecht, The so -called 'lantern', just after the restoration. It is easy to tell that all kinds of old and new blocks in different types of stone have been used.

    Sculpture Workshop 't Oud Erf

    Well it's almost ready, the Dom Tower. And we have been working hard at it. As subcontractors of Slotboom Steenhouwers in Winterswijk we were asked to carry out a large part of the ornament work. The stonemasons took care of the complete measuring package, ordering the stone, consultation, 3D drawings, and cutting and carving the stonemasonry parts , and we were asked to sculpt the ornaments where there were still some square blocks left for us to carve.

    exterior of Sculpture van Velzen in the cold, the apprentices at work in the winter of 2024
    Martijn, Martha, Jelle and Tim working in the cold of winter, in January 2024

    We, that's first and foremost Jelle Steendam and myself, who started on this journey. Later also Nico Hogervorst and Tim Kaarsemaker joined in, and later on, Martha Onderwater and Martijn Linssen also assisted us temporarily.

    Koen van Velzen copying a finial from the Dom Tower in Udelfanger sandstone

    Caarying all the stuff up the narrow stairs

    In 2019, when there was no complete scaffolding around the Dom Tower yet, Jelle and I both climbed the stairs with kilos of tools in order to carve a number of test ornaments in Monte Merlo trachyte, and in Peperino Grigio and in Ledesteen. To our delight, fortunately the decision was made to not have the ornaments carved in Peperino (way too dead looking) or in Ledesteen (“Stonemason's sorrow”, that's what I call it. Rock hard and glassy).

    Why the need to restore it?

    Well, you can have long meetings about that, but it just was necessary. I'll show you above. You don't even want to think about pieces falling from a height of over a hundred meters onto the people walking blow….

    Three times on video

    After a period of silence, our work started with carving huge finials in Portland stone. RTV Utrecht came to visit to record the first inspection round.

    You can watch the video here at timestamp 04:49 in the video.

    Later, nephew Tim was interviewed by a reporter from RTV Utrecht, where I was also asked some questions, also by RTV Utrecht. A short part of it was captured in a video as well.

     

    Later we were approached by the TV show InsideOut (Binnenste Buiten) of the KRO/NCRV, that ended up making an extensive report of our studio. Koen with the finials and crockets, Tim with a big block for the Dom Tower, Jelle with a family crest and Nico with two statues that he was restoring. We were very happy with the end result, that was a good portrayal of our work. A photo report has also been made, that you can find here at this link.

    The Little Cloud Man


    Finally, there was one more journalist from the newspaper Trouw. She came by because she was making a report about the restoration work on the Dom Tower (click on the images on the left to read a small part of it). Based on 1 block she highlighted the role of the architect, the contractor, the stonemasons and the sculptor in this project. My work naturally attracted attention again, because I'd inserted a little 'cloud man'’ in the pinnacle.

    Where an ornament should have been, I used that space to hide tiny figurine. It's just a little thing, but of course it caused a bit of a stir. The idea behind it is that the tower can now defend itself. Anyone who criticizes this restoration of the Dom Tower can expect a snowball from above. I just didn't expect that this corner of this large block would exactly face the Town Hall… Please don't suspect me of ill intent.

    We've made a lot of work for the Dom Tower in those five years, such as tiny finials and enormous crockets, gargoyles, ornaments on all kinds of pinnacle blocks, sometimes of nearly 800 kilos, and occasionally something other than ornaments. Very occasionally we were able to hide a little surprise among all the endlessly identical ornaments. That Little Cloud Man, a scene with wolves, little faces that lift a tip of the veil…

    A Wolf Capital

    Above is one of my very last blocks for the Dom Tower. It is a capital in Monte Merlo trachyte, a quite hard and brittle stone, and the tiny flowers are only a few centimeters tall.

    But if you look closely, you can find a wolf on the right, and to his left a man with binoculars, a fat photographer and a woman with a shotgun, who threatens to shoot it. On the other side of the block we find someone with a protest sign (“Go Away Wolf”). But behind him, a wolf in a top hat is hiding, grinning.

    You can see what you want in it, but I had- when I carved it- never thought it would become so connected to actual news, because the week after it was installed a wolf snatched a small dog from a hiker who had it on a leash, and a toddler got a warning nip from a nursing mother wolf. In the province of Utrecht, less than 15 kilometers from the Dom Tower. You can, if you look carefully with binoculars, find the blocks on the Zadelstraat side, at 20 meters up.

    Architect Erik Jan Brans immortalized by sculptor Jelle Steendam on a capital on the Dom Tower

    Jelle has incorporated the departing architect of the Dom Tower on his capital block, Erik Jan Brans. Architect Brans passed the baton in July 2023 to his successor Karlijn de Wild. With this, Jelle pays a small tribute to a modest, friendly person, on one of the last works in which he was intensively involved. There are also a few blocks with animal figures incorporated at approximately 6 meters up, on the Dom square side.

    Gallery: Capitals and blind tracery Dom Tower

    Apprentice project

    Tim, Nico, Jelle, Martijn and Martha on the scaffolds of the Dom Tower

    The work on the Dom Tower has gradually developed into a apprentice project. I started in 2019 started with colleagues Stide Vos, Serge van Druten and, in my workshop, Jelle Steendam. Later, Nico Hogervorst and Tim Kaarsemaker came to work for me, and later on Martha Onderwater and Martijn Linssen joined us for a shorter period, while Stide and Serge withdrew from work.

    So now I was the only one of the 'old guard of the 90s', and hopes were pinned on the younger generation, as can be seen in the documentaries.

    Martha Onderwater carving her first finial
    Tim Kaarsemaker with his first finial

    Jelle has stopped being an 'apprentice sculptor' for years’ now, he is a fully accomplished sculptor, and I am pleased that the profession is getting a good continuation with this batch. My dream is that there will be enough work for each of them with inspiring commissions. Not just restoration work, but especially new sculptures and reliefs of their own design, in stone and bronze, and probably also in other materials such as cast iron and ceramics. I just keep doing my thing, but I especially enjoy it when these newcomers to the profession push their boundaries and develop new skills in previously unexplored areas. The future belongs to the computer, or so it seems, but I hope with this blog, newspaper articles and video reports to convey that the human hand remains essential to maintain liveliness in carving.

    Photo gallery: Collected works Dom Tower

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