I took part in a stone carving course hosted at Gloucester Cathedral, in the beautiful Medieval Learning Hub building. The workshop was led by award-winning stone carver Deb Harrison.

We were given a selection of templates to choose from. I chose a rose. Roses are depicted as a motif throughout the cathedral, with slight variations in design.

During the four-hour session, we each traced and carved a relief tile from a block of Portland limestone.

At the end of the course, I left my finished piece with the instructor to be included in Gloucester Cathedral’s summer exhibition, Crafts that Built the Cathedral.

This was a fantastic, well-organised course, and I would highly recommend it.

The top photograph shows a carved Portland limestone block featuring a five-petalled rose. The centre of the flower contains small spheres, possibly representing the stigma and stamens. The background is textured with a stippled finish.

The lower image is a montage of six photographs, demonstrating the progression of stone-carving steps:

1. The initial template

2. Tracing the design onto the stone

3. Carving the outlines

4. Removing the background and carving the central circles

5. Shaping the petals and refining the background

6. The finished relief