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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My Letter Carving Workshop is Now Open for Business!

Life-living letter carver, carve me a letter crisp on my headstone and fill it with wonder I'd like to carve it, but you would do better, for you stand above this earth and I am laid under. - Tom Wiggins My new letter carving workshop is now open for business. Taking bespoke commissions such as memorials (including headstones and cremation tablets), opening plaques and heraldry. If you're looking for fine hand-carved lettering designed and carved by a fully trained stonemason and letter carver, please get in touch. I'd be very happy to talk you through the process from design stage right through to installation. Telephone: 07791969667 E-mail: tomwiggins86@gmail.com Website: www.tomwiggins.co.uk A bit about me: Born and raised in Gloucester, I now live and work as a letter carver in the beautiful market town of Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire. My journey in stone began in 2013 with a three-year Diploma in Stonemasonry at The City of Bath College. Th...

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

Tom Wiggins: What are your first impressions of Michael Fassbender/Brandon's running style? Paul Whittaker: He's running nice, smooth and relaxed. He seems like he has a good amount of fitness and he is running well within himself in terms of pace. TW: What improvements could he make to his running style? PW: The main improvement I'd make is his foot plant. He lands heel first and this causes a 'breaking' effect when travelling forwards. If he landed on his mid-foot/forefoot, this would be a much better for impact stress and propulsion going forward into the next running stride. TW: Regarding his speed, how many minutes per mile is he running? PW : I would say he is running approx 7-7.30 minutes per mile. TW: What do you make of his stride lengths? Is he overstriding/understriding? PW: The actor is definitely overstriding in this clip. It would help if his feet landed underneath and below his centre of gravit...

Norman MacCaig: Poetry Hero

I cannot say exactly when I first discovered Norman MacCaig. It may have been at the beginning of this year, but could well have been at the end of last. I found him through a tweet. Six months or more is a long time on Twitter, and when tweets get to a certain age, they're as stubbornly elusive as a missing person who wants to stay missed. But I know the tweet was left by poet Jo Bell , the director of National Poetry Day, and whose wonderful blog can be found here . The link she left took me to an enthralling 25-minute interview with MacCaig. I liked the man instantly. I replied to Jo by saying what how charming MacCaig was. He had a warm sparkle in his eye that only Scots seem to have access to. He epitomised charismatic. Unfortunately, embedding has been disabled on the video, but it can be found here . Fast forward to yesterday. I was sat in Stanman's Kitche...

Tom Wiggins, Letter Carver & Writer

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