Hand carving lettering on stone. Part 1

Introduction, chopping and chasing, carving a letter I.
Our alphabet comes largely from the Romans, and they carved some beautiful letters on stone. One of the best known examples is the inscription on the base of Trajan's Column in Rome:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trajan%...
Another beautiful inscription is on the memorial to the children of Sextus Pompeius Justus, on the Appian Way outside Rome. My photos are here:
www.barrythomas.co.uk/photos/...

[@golemtabak1183]

During my training as a typographic designer, we spent weeks writing the Capitalis Monumantalis with a brush. Back then, I would have given anything to be able to watch a stonemason carving the glyphs. I asked various companies, but unfortunately none of them wanted to get involved. And now, many years later, you show us this, very beautifully, very precisely. Thank you very much for that!

[@HighWealder]

I do some lettercutting and while the basic technique remains the same, I find that every person swears by their own idiosyncrasies. Different ways of cutting serifs, prefering to leave chizel marks etc.

[@poorfrankraw]

Absolutely right. Later I'll cover some other techniques which I do/don't use, it's often a personal thing. If the letters are good, nobody can tell how you stood / held the chisel / etc.

[@jimthesoundman8641]

What types of stone are suitable for carving? Are there any types of stone that you wouldn't be able to carve? What about carving on synthetic materials like porcelain tile or ceramic tile, is that even possible?

[@poorfrankraw]

Funny you should ask :) Next time I'll be having a look at types of stone. I carve on slate, fine limestone (not too many fossils), sometimes marble. I'll try to find a link to a fantastic letter carver guy in I think Rhode Island, Wes Adams, who recently carved on a piece of Corian - like for kitchen counter tops. I tried carving on a house brick (too soft), and a lot of sandstones are great for building but too soft and/or co=arse for any lettering but huge scale. Hard ceramic tiles - nooo; soft ceramics, probably too soft. Granite is SO HARD, some people sandblast the design and then use special granite chisels to open the bottom of the letters into a V cut. Every locality has their own preferred local material, some more suitable than others. I am willing to try most things but I come back to slate and fine limestone. Wes Adams on Insta: instagram.com/p/C4YMROTuOF2/?img_index=1

[@jean-paulmuller4230]

Quel dommage de ne pas avoir un grossissement suffisant.