We have highly skilled masons at our workshops who will carve any object that is required in stone to the highest standards. We provide carvings both for the restoration projects that we carry out and also for individual clients who may want something for the house or garden.  

All our carving is still carried out by hand.

When Boden and Ward were invited to produce new nereids for the fountain at Witley Court , the process for carving these new pieces was more complex than some realise.

NEREID CARVING

Firstly a quarter sized marquette was modelled from clay with only a photograph as a guide. When this was approved by both the architect and client, a resin cast was made of the marquette. This was then put into a wooden frame with points marked at various intervals. The exact measurements were then used to calculate the size and dimensions of the final carving. A corresponding wooden frame was placed around the full size stone block and the points were transferred from the marquette. This made sure that the proportions of the final carving remained the same as that of the model.

This carving was on such a large scale that it was produced using three separate pieces of stone. It took our stone mason 16 weeks to carve. When the three pieces of stone were completed they were taken to Witley Court and our stone mason fixed them together and added the scales to the dolphin along with other finishing touches.

PERSEUS AND ANDROMEDA FOUNTAIN REPAIRS

The orginal left leg was lost after being struck by lightning. Before carving the new one, first a polystyrene shape was fixed on to judge the scale that was needed.

Then a clay leg and wing was made and approved by the architect and client.

Finally the stone version was carved and then fixed.

With this type of carving it is more difficult to achieve good results as you are matching up to the original work, rather than producing something new. The leg was particularly difficult to do as it not only had to have the wing coming out at the right angle but had to go down and around the horse. The finished work looks impressive.