(-subtitled-)Here I'm carving one of four weathered sandstone grotesque heads in new sandstone. The originals came from a building in Amsterdam and will be preserved. The copies will be placed in the new building. Read more on my blog (in English): beeldhouwerijblog.nl/vier-gro... and beeldhouwerijblog.nl/vier-gro...
As the original was carved with a rather coarse finish, the copy is done in the exact same manner.
I started with the stonemasonry work of profiling and the finishing chisel strokes on the flat areas. The rest of the stone, which will be place inside the brickwork, is roughened with different chisel marks. Then I made a profile template, cut it out and transferred the profile onto the stone. I then cut and carved away the excess around the profile.
After this, I measured how deep the hair was below the surface of the face. I lowered this portion accordingly. Once the mass of the face was thus left over, I started carving the face itself. By placing the two stones tightly next to each other, I could take over many measurements with just one calliper setting. By turning the stones 90 degrees, the other measurements can be taken in a similar way. Much of the copy is carved by eye. This method is a bit more inaccurate than taking points with a pointing machine, but much faster. It relies very much on the experience of the carver. After that came detailing and finishing. This type of sandstone can be worked very finely, but as the original was carved quite quickly at the time, the copy should have the same finish, with chisel strokes of a toothed chisel as well.
My website: beeldhouwerijvanvelzen.nl
My blog: beeldhouwerijblog.nl
Click on the flag to read it in English
Het kopiëren van een van de vier verweerde zandstenen groteske koppen van een pand in Amsterdam. Het origineel wordt bewaard, de kopieën komen in de gevel. Lees meer op mijn blog: beeldhouwerijblog.nl/vier-gro... en beeldhouwerijblog.nl/vier-gro...
blog: beeldhouwerijblog.nl -also available in English!
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