Vale Memorials

This month I want to tell you about an unusual commission, recently completed that has caused me more than a few sleepless nights, but has also rekindled my love of carving Welsh slate. Although this particular memorial is out of the ordinary it should serve to illustrate what a mason is trying to achieve when asked to carve an additional inscription.

This first inscription on this memorial was carved by a lettering artist with a world wide reputation, named Ieuan Rees, who unfortunately was unable to complete the work. So my task was to carve the additional inscription as faithfully as possible to the original. This is often a difficult thing to do for a number of reasons.

Firstly, the way two people draw and carve a letter naturally is as different as handwriting.  I can often tell who carved a piece from the inscription, so the drawing must be as close as possible to the original design. Secondly, lettering artists tend to carve shallower than memorial masons and this does affect the look of the finished letter.

So part of the job is to suppress your own style so as to match the inscription to the original. This applies across the board whether your memorial was hand carved, machine carved or sand blasted; the mason’s job is to stay as close to the original as possible, if he does not. then the whole memorial will not look right when re-fixed in the cemetery.

This inscription was firstly drawn out on paper and after many alterations ‘pounced’ down on to the slate using carbon paper, a very time consuming job. Once this is done, it’s down to a hammer, a chisel and patience!

In this month’s article I would like to talk a little on the subject of gilding memorial lettering. Many memorials have lettering finished in gold leaf and it is important, for the care of this lettering, that we understand how the memorial is gilded, in order that we can make sure we do not do anything that may harm the gold.

Firstly, the gold used to gild lettering should be twenty three and half carat gold leaf. This is important as lesser grades of gold will deteriorate far more quickly when exposed to the elements and it is not merely wind and rain that will take its toll, atmospheric pollution will also, over time, affect the luster of gold and a poor grade of gold will fade faster.

The durability of the gold will be affected if the “size” used to adhere the gold to the letter is not fit for purpose and so your mason, having a great many years gilding experience, will have a particular brand or mix of brands to give the best, most durable outcome.

It is sometimes necessary to gild a memorial in the cemetery and this can be done with a little planning and preparation, however, the ideal is to gild in the workshop where the conditions can be more easily regulated.

All gold and size are guaranteed for no longer than a year, however I tell my customers to keep a close eye on their inscriptions and if they see a blemish to let me know and I will attend to it, to prevent any costly deterioration.

Finally, a word about the general care of gold lettering.  If you have a polished granite memorial, then it would be best to avoid damaging the gold leaf, by using a window cleaners’ squeegee to clean the surface of the memorial and so avoid coming into contact with the lettering itself. If necessary, it is possible to use a dusting cloth very lightly in order to wipe off excess water.