Andrew Boyce

Artist & Craftsman

Ampleforth Madonna- Project in progress...

This page will contain images of my latest commission. It is a reproduction of a Madonna and child woodcarving in Ampleforth Abbey.  The Abbey is a benedictine monastry in York in the UK

Please come back and see the progress as it is carved. Resin copies will be available for sale in the Abbey shop.

This is the very beginning of the process following wood selection. I have chosen to use a piece of European Lime wood for ease of carving. The following several images show the cutting and gluing together of the block for carving.

Above is the glued block ready for marking out. (It measures 6" x 6" x 14" tall at this stage but will be smaller when finished) Greater accuracy in the following few stages will shorten the time taken later and improve the quality of the end result. In this case I will be using  black and white printouts of  two viewpoints of the original carving.It is very important to make sure that the images of the subject are taken from the same viewing height (ideally about the centerpoint) This is to avoid problems with perspective.

The images from the front and the right side are traced and marked out on the block. Care is taken to ensure that the block is 'true' and square before proceding.

With both sides clearly marked out the bandsaw is employed to start cutting around the front profile

Smaller, difficult areas can be removed in a series of secondary cuts after the main two side cuts.. The two waste sides are now stuck back onto the main body with masking tape. Care is taken to make sure that the image traced onto the side is not obscured by the tape.

Once taped firmly together the block is then turned on its side and cut to the profile drawn on the right side.

The initial cutting stage is now complete and the tape can be removed. This reveals the basic shape of the carving and although quite strange looking, has taken a lot of the guesswork out of getting the proportions right. 

Waste removal can now continue....

The following stage of the carving starts to reveal some of the more recognisable features and the larger of the waste pieces have been removed from either side of the childs head.