Introduction to Stone - workshop

Suitable for emerging and established artists who wish to expand their practice through a new medium. This course is also available to the wider community.

Workshop includes:

Types of stone and its properties.
Sourcing your material and tools.
Health and safety.
Demonstration of the following tools: Hammer, mallet, pitcher, point, claw and chisel.
Using hand tools only, participants are shown how to work stone effectively using
traditional techniques, and then go on to carve a simple form, such as a vessel.

Figure carving in stone

Suitable for artists with experience of figurative work and basic skills in stone.

Workshop includes:

Discussion of direct and indirect carving.
Historical and contemporary examples of each.
Poses appropriate to stone.
Locating the figure in the block.
Identifying waste.
Working from drawings.
Working from a model – scaling up.
Participants block out a figurative piece of their design in stone.

Use of Stone Power Tools

Workshop includes:

Discussion of pneumatic tools.
Compressors: Diesel v electric. Single or three phase. Capacity. Health and safety.
Demonstration of different types of pneumatic hammers, drills and arbors.
Cutting and grinding operations.
Wet and dry polishing.
Use of electric tools.
Cutting and grinding operations.
Impact and core drilling.
Discussion of lifting and handling equipment.
Sourcing equipment.
Participants are given demonstration and hands on experience of all the above processes.

Specialist Stone and Wood Tool-making

Suitable for artists and craftspeople with an interest in stone and wood work and/or metalworkCourse description.

Using techniques of forging and tempering, participants learn how to make tools from scratch and maintain commercially sourced tools.

Lettercutting and the use of Calligraphy in stone

Suitable for those with a high level of experience in stone work or design and calligraphy.

Workshop includes:

Investigating the evolution of incised text in stone and its historical and contemporary uses.
In depth look at the modern alphabet and its individual letters.
Designing and laying out an inscription.
Positive and negative spaces.
Demonstration of lettercutting technique.
Participants design an inscription and cut some sample letters.
Bi-lingual design in Irish and English.

The use of stone in public sculpture

Suitable for sculptors who undertake large scale commissions

Workshop includes:

Examples of the use of stone in public sculptures past and present.
Sourcing materials.
Discussion of appropriate design for contemporary conditions.
Facilities for handling, fabricating and erecting large scale stonework.
Engineering issues.
Joining and assembling stone.
Care, maintenance and repair.