Tag archive: stone masonry

A boulder with house numbers


House numbers in a boulder

boulder with house number- rough stone

I recently received a request if it was possible to make a boulder with house numbers. Of course I can! So I went to a garden materials center and bought a heavy boulder of about a meter wide. It could just fit in the back of my little van, because it weighs over 400 kilos. Having a collision would become a problem at that weight. Had it been any heavier, I would have transported it by truck.

I would carve the house numbers 1-3-5 in it, for a group home for young people with a minor intellectual disability. Therefore, I chose a lively font. The boulder consists of red granite, probably a kind of Multicolour Red. But a boulder is not the same quality as found in the natural stone trade. You always only see if you within no …Read the whole article… →

Stonemasonry work and ornaments for St. John's Cathedral

 

sandstone base block for finialJust like a few years ago, I'm working on some parts for St John's Cathedral in Den Bosch. At the time I carved, among other pieces, a canopy in my shop this year. This time I made a base block for a finial in the beginning. This is the lower part of …Read the whole article… →

Finally another update!

Storm before the silence

After my last post on this blog, it has remained silent for far too long here. But not because I haven't done anything! On the contrary, it's been way too busy to report it all.

Gallery -click on a photo to see it larger-

So I've been working on the carving of another coat-of-arms in Bentheimer sandstone. The design was almost the same as the previous one, but this one would would be suspended from a wall. Therefore, it was carried out lighter, without an edge to the relief and with a thinner base of 3 cms thick.

Flying Buttress Figurines

Then I went back to work on …Read the whole article… →

Second visit to the scaffoldings of St. Eusebius's Church

Scaffold Visit at St. Eusebius's Church according flying buttress figurinesI almost forgot, but just a few weeks ago I've been back to the Eusebius Church for a second visit to the scaffolds, to check out the second group of flying buttress figurines on site. The first half …Read the whole article… →

The whole zoo in his boat (flying buttress figurine)

Coarse-grained zoo

A whole zoo in a boat. The old tuffstone flying buttress figurine

This week I had an Ark on my hands again. This is the last flying buttress figurine that was designed by Theo van Reijn and probably carved by Eduard van Kuilenburg, in 1953 or ’54. But it's weathered down very much. When it was in my yard, I had to take a good look. I knew it was supposed to be an ark, but I couldn't determine which animals were in it. I thought …Read the whole article… →

A Bear with a honeypot (flying buttress figurine)

The bear that didn't look like a bear

flying buttress statuette of bear with honeypot - old original tuff

flying buttress statuette bear with honey -new copy in muschelkalk limestone

And then the bear came with its long snout and blew out… no, he ate all the honey. This 'bear’ was the next flying buttress figurine for St. Eusebius's Church in Arnhem which was to be copied into new stone. You just need to look very carefully …Read the whole article… →

A Long-legged Squirrel (flying buttress figurine)

beeldhouwerij van Velzen around Christmas 2017

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 tuff flying buttress figurine of a Squirrel

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 some 4 on my machine, so now I can start carving all the remaining figurines. …Read the whole article… →

A Razorbill without a head (flying buttress figurine)

Presawing in the snow

Van Velzen sculptor overlooks snowy fields this winterThe next flying buttress figurine for St. Eusebius's Church in Arnhem is ready. I've been busy presawing all the blocks that I had lying around for flying buttress 4 and some 5 (read here more), before maybe a real frost period got in the way. Because my saw sits outside, I cannot use it during frost, because then …Read the whole article… →

An Owl that snapped (flying buttress figurine)

Copying the flying buttress figurine of the Owl

Material defects

This Owl, another flying buttress figurine carved for St. Eusebius' church in Arnhem, resisted the copying quite a bit. Not that it's such a difficult figurine, it is simple enough. But I was almost done and would only just carve the remaining profiles at the bottom, when I discovered that the dark line at the bottom became a crack, and that with each stroke it became a bit clearer. …Read the whole article… →