I am a woodcarver, or wood carver, specialising in all aspects of woodcarving (wood carving) and also a gilder. I am a wood carver who works mainly in the restoration of antique carved giltwood furniture or any antique carved artifacts that are carved in wood, these may be antique carved tables, antique carved mirror frames, antique carved consoles, antique carved chairs, antique carved picture frames, or any antique carved objects, or antique carved objet d'art. I will restore any carved piece that is carved in wood and gilded or painted or polished, but my speciality is in carved and gilded pieces or carved giltwood furniture or carved giltwood objects of any sort. Not only do I restore carved giltwood antique furniture or carved ornament of all kinds ( carved picture frames, carved mirror frames) I also make reproduction or replica antique furniture, specifically carved furniture, carved giltwood furniture or carved polished furniture. I can accurately reproduce the design styles seen through the history of the trade of the wood carver in interior design from the baroque interiors and carved architectural detail through to early georgian neo-classical carved interiors, architectural detail and furniture, including the rococo, a very busy period for any woodcarver or wood carver, through to the late georgian neo-classicism of robert adam, a very delicate and feminine style where the art of the wood carver would be pushed to its limits with highly repetitive complex design motifs and exquisitly proportioned detailing. I can work on architectural restoration projects carving architectural embellishments and restoring damaged or missing carved architectural embellishments, such as carved architraves, carved mouldings carved motifs, carved overdoors, panel carvings or any type of carved object or wood carving in a carved architectural setting. I restore carved gilded, carved giltwood, furniture using traditional methods to the highest standard- gilding process used is usually water gilding, a painstaking process by which the carved wooden object must be prepared with several layers of gesso, the carved detail must be preserved under this coating by careful application, and if necessary, a gesso re-cutting process where the carved detail is re-established in the gesso using carving tools or chisels. In some cases this is an opportunity to enhance the detail with further embellishment of the surface- particularly in the case of giltwood mirror frames of the roccoco period. Gesso cutting is a skilled process, often underrated and left to unskilled practitioners- this can be disasterous for the outcome- beautiful pieces can be ruined by clumsy gessoing and poor re-cutting- a loss of crisp detail is a common problem in mediocre work. Gesso is a mixture of whiting and rabbit skin glue (recipes vary though) and forms a resilient smooth surface on which to add the gilding preparation. For water gilding this will be a thin coat of yellow ochre followed by a few thin coats of bole- a coloured clay bonded with dilute rabbitskin glue. The colours used depend on the job in hand- I am usually matching in the colour to existing period work, or using the colour commonly seen on work of a given period- the bole colours on English period gilding changed somewhat at the end of the 18th century, and Regency period work is very different from late Georgian work. Even the purity of the gold leaf used changed- a very slightly more greenish, slightly lower carat gold is often seen on Regency work, lacking the warm rich yellow of the gilding in earlier periods.
Not only do I restore all kinds of carved furniture and objects I also buy and sell when possible pieces of carved, carved and gilded furniture or interesting woodcarving or wood carving.