Hand carved headstones

The process starts at Martin Cook’s studio with an meeting with the family. Together they discuss the life of those they are remembering, this gives Martin a feel of the style for the design. Once the client has approved the initial drawing of the hand carved headstone, and permission has been given by the Church or cemetery authority, work will begin on the making of the hand carved headstone.

Martin will make a full size drawing of the original design, working at his drawing board, producing the drawing in the old way, with a pencil. Martin does not use computers to design his work. Each letter and detail is drawn by hand.

The drawing is then transposed on to the stone. Martin’s son, also a carver of beautiful lettering, will hand shape the headstone. The hand carving will then begin. Each perfect letter and each piece of relief detail being hand carved with a hammer and chisel in the traditional way.

Sometimes the moving of large stone can be time consuming and tricky as is the hand carving and shaping.