Jul 13, 2023

Stonemasonry in 30 objects
Week 17/30 A Maquette
Maquettes have been used for centuries in Fine Art sculpting to visualise the finished product or piece – from Michelangelo’s famed wax miniatures through to Barbara Hepworth’s maquettes across multiple materials – and despite the advances in computer modelling technology, they still have a relevant place in our production process today.

As a visualisation tool for our clients, wooden mock-ups often play a vital part in our client approval process, giving them pre-production understanding of the final shape, style and presence of their designs as well spotting any issues with manufacturing that might otherwise go unnoticed. They mean we can commit to the final investment in time, stone and carving with the full confidence of the client; a reminder that the people side of the business is always the most important aspect of the industry.

There are two maquettes here. The first is for a number of urns for exterior display on one of our larger contracts and was hand-carved for viewing and assessment so the client could see precise patterning and proportions at 1:1 scale. The dots you see are reference points for the 3D laser scanner that digitised the design for CAD and templating ready for its stone production journey through our workshops at Ipsden – from Design Department out to CNC machining for shaping and then on to the Banker shop for finessing, carving and final detailing in Vratza limestone.

The second is a large plaster maquette now on display at AF Jones offices and was a preparatory work for a large stone doorway on a Grade II listed building. It was worked up from a full-size pencil tracing of an original artwork and was the first link in the chain from idea to full-size 3D stone reality in the production process.

This is week 17/30 posts in this series.  The full series can be found on our LinkedIn profile – or use  #stonemasonry30