The Diary of an Apprentice Letter Carver

I qualified as a stonemason last July and completed an incredibly enjoyable and memorable stonemasonry apprenticeship with The Prince's Foundation for Building Community in which I made so many friends and worked on so many historic buildings. During that time, I had a two-week letter carving placement with Bernard Johnson, a very talented and friendly letter carver based in Oxfordshire. It was with him that I picked up the bug for letter carving and realised that I didn't want to do anything else. He didn't have an apprentice opportunities at that time, but pointed me in the direction of Fergus Wessel, another letter carver in Oxfordshire. I went to visit Fergus at his Stonecutters workshop and after a week's trial, he was able to offer me a four-year apprenticeship. I am both incredibly lucky to have been given the chance of being his new apprentice, not least because he himself was trained at the prestigious Kindersley Studio. A diary of my experience as an apprentice letter carver has recently been published on his blog and can be found here. It's accompanied by pictures and a very interesting video tutorial. It's a must for anyone looking to get into letter carving. More to follow in the coming weeks.

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An Expert Analysis of Michael Fassbender's Running Style From the Film 'Shame'

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Tom Wiggins, Letter Carver & Writer

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