About me!

My Story

Well, off the bat: animal lover, night owl and maniacal hobby collector. But you are probably here to hear about me as a carver/artist; I'll start at how I fell into masonry...

T'was the night before Christmas... It wasn't.

Turns out my Mum was having renovations done on her house and suggested I come and meet her mason. She promised an impressive yard filled with tools and sculpture, I couldn't refuse! Having thrown my hat into every ring of craft I could, the chance to see a working craftsman's space is always a delight!

I'd recently moved back to the area to be closer to family and had emergency renovations of my own to complete before my girlfriend joined me in a couple of weeks. This didn't leave me anytime to look for a job. Naturally, as soon as we arrived at the yard, the first thing to leave my dear sweet mother's mouth were the words

"If you need an apprentice, this guy's unemployed!"

Alas, he needed an apprentice. We had a brief chat about my hobbies and potential skills up to that point (building musical instruments and movie replicas etc.) and went on the basis of: Turn up on Monday and if you are any good, I'll keep you on.

We had a few days running through the basics of masonry then it was straight into working stonemasonry 5 days a week.

Essentially we did everything: taking the big raw stone, cutting it into slab, then blanks; using grinders and tooling chisels to finish window sills, jams and lintels; splitting stone and facing it off for walling. Basically everything in construction masonry.

The REAL fun came when Mike trusted me to do a headstone. The first was just words and the second had some free carving, a rose as if laid on the top of the stone. This was the inciting incident to my true passion with stone carving!

The decorative carving was rare though and we worked hard and dusty days together for a year.

After a family tragedy, I had to take a break from construction masonry as it was too much for me at the time.

I returned to my comfortable place, that being a café environment. Who doesn't love good coffee, cake and a chat! About the time I was getting tired of the café, my neighbor asked if I still carved stone. His sweet little cat had passed and was wondering if I could craft her a little memorial... I could. I have my chisels, I have my skills. OK!

I gave my notice at the café, carved the memorial and threw my savings into starting an artisan stone carving business! Let's see how long this lasts. Worst case scenario; I go back to delicious coffee and cake!

Here we are! Established June first 2023