The statue of Pope Leo the Great, carved out of two parts of Udelfanger sandstone, is completed. I made this copy for the restoration of St John's Cathedral in Den Bosch, The Netherlands. You can read the two previous articles on this subject on my blog under the following links: here↑ the article on the presawing work and here↑ the second article, on the fitting together of the two parts, and why this is made out of two pieces of stone. …Read the whole article…
Tag archive: finishing
A Long-legged Squirrel (flying buttress figurine)
My sculptor's workshop around Christmas
The first thing I often take on in these figurines is the profiled stonemasonry parts at the bottom
old Squirrel, tuff stone
The last flying buttress figurine from flying buttress no. 5 of St. Eusebius's Church in Arnhem was this Squirrel. In these past few weeks I have presawn all the remaining blocks of stone for flying buttresses nos. 5 and 4 machine, so now I can start carving all the remaining figurines. …Read the whole article…
Four grotesques in Amsterdam-1
Reconstructing and copying
For a building in Amsterdam, I am currently carving four grotesques: ferocious sandstone heads. All four are severely damaged, which was the reason for choosing to replace them. …Read the whole article…
Crane in marble, completed (for sale)
A crane in marble, from a slate of marble of 2 cms thick.
Read here↑ an earlier message.
Beeldhouwerijblog.nl is the blog of Koen van Velzen, sculptor in stone and bronze. Look up my website as well: beeldhouwerijvanvelzen.nl
Another set of Padukas in black granite
Two years after the first padukas, about which you can read here→ more, I continued carving the second set of padukas in black granite. …Read the whole article…
Coat of arms in stone completed
-to the first post about this project-
These past few weeks I carved a family coat of arms in stone for a customer.
It was a top quality piece of stone, as I found out soon enough: I never encountered such a rock hard piece of Belgian blue stone (arduin) in my previous works. This piece therefore more than deserved its name of ‘petit granit‘ by right then. It tested my skills to the limit, I have to say, and also my chisels; frequently the tungsten carbide chisel chipped at its cutting edge. …Read the whole article…
Falcon: gilding finished
→ to the first post about this project
A real eye-catcher
The Falcon for the Valckeniershuis (Falconer's House) in Franeker is ready to be installed: Rómulo has finshed the gilding. He gold plated it completely in 23,75 carat double gold leaf. It's become a real eye-catcher, or as Rob the Great Garden Gnome would say: “As ay finnesing toots it wos cumpleetlee gilded, end now it iz ay reel ayketchur.” …Read the whole article…
The five-taloned Falcon
→ to the first post about this project
copying the Falcon in new sandstone. The old Falcon was first repaired with plastiline clay
'Idleness is the beginning of all vices’ and 'There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want', which is why, after a period of six days a week carving ornaments I went right on to the next project. …Read the whole article…
Canopy finished
ornaments on a canopy for the St. John's Cathedral in's-Hertogenbosch in Udelfanger sandstone
The baldachin for St. John's Cathedral in Den Bosch is ready. The stonemasonry was made by Mike Slotboom of Slotboom Steenhouwers in Winterswijk; I carved the ornaments on this piece. The trickiest of these were the hanging parts on the front, the so-called suspended flowers. …Read the whole article…
A baldachin for St. John's Cathedral
the stonemason has done a great job. Where the ornaments should go are now still cubes
-to the first post about this restoration-
While I'm waiting for the stone for the Falcon from Franeker to arrive, the other work, in the meantime, just goes on. Right now I'm working on a sandstone baldachin for St. John's Cathedral in 's-Hertogenbosch. A baldachin is a type of canopy under which the statue of a saint is supposed to stand. …Read the whole article…