A hand carved house sign in beautiful Welsh slate or sandstone provides a unique and elegant flourish to the entrance of any home or business, as well as having the practical advantage of helping to identify your property!
I design and make house signs in a variety of materials and styles. Please see the photos below for ideas and examples of my work.
If you would like an estimate for a house sign or business sign, please do get in touch, providing me with the name and approximate dimensions of the sign you would like, and I will work out a price. I can provide a sketch if required for you to see how your sign would look prior to you committing to a commission.
Wall-mounted house signs
I hand-carve house signs in Welsh or Cumbrian slate, sandstone and limestone. Welsh slate is usually blue-grey in colour, while Cumbrian slate comes in blue-grey and in a soft green.
Slate is very hard and dense so it can be cut quite thinly, making it ideal for house and business signs. My hand carved slate house signs are usually 20mm in thickness, but they can be cut thicker if required.
Sandstone and limestone can also be used very effectively for house or business signs. These stones have to be cut a little thicker, to perhaps 25-30mm thick. Sandstones come in grey, buff, red and grey-green colours, while limestones are primarily white in colour. Purbeck Marble is a beautiful limestone that can be honed to a low shine, highlighting the beautiful shell and fossil content of the stone. All of these stones can be used to make beautiful and unique hand-carved house and business signs.
It is possible to source natural-shaped pieces of slate and sandstone with natural riven surfaces if a more rustic, organic look is desired.
I provide all my wall-mounted house and business signs with steel dowels and holes drilled into the back of the sign so that the sign is ready to be easily mounted on any brick or masonry wall.
Hand carved slate house sign with gilded lettering ready to be mounted on the wall
Large handcarved house sign. This is a natural-faced riven Monmouthshire sandstone slab with lettering painted in cream after carving
Built-in house signs and date stones
If you are building a new home, or adding an extension, then a house sign or date stone can be built into the masonry as the wall goes up. Sandstone and limestone are ideal stones for this purpose as they can be cut to the same thickness as your cladding material and neatly mortared in to the wall.If you are building a new home, or adding an extension, then a house sign or date stone can be built into the masonry as the wall goes up. Sandstone and limestone are ideal stones for this purpose as they can be cut to the same thickness as your cladding material and neatly mortared in to the wall.
Sandstone house name with raised lettering
carved into a building block. The block will then be
built into the wall of a house as it is built.
carved into a building block. The block will then be
built into the wall of a house as it is built.
Hand carved boulders
It is possible for me to carve boulders, standing stones or even milestones with the name of your house or business. If they are too heavy to be brought to my stone carving workshop in Abergavenny then it can sometimes be possible for me to carve the boulder or standing stone in-situ.Hand carved boulders
It is possible for me to carve boulders, standing stones or even milestones with the name of your house or business. If they are too heavy to be brought to my stone carving workshop in Abergavenny then it can sometimes be possible for me to carve the boulder or standing stone in-situ.
It is possible for me to carve boulders, standing stones or even milestones with the name of your house or business. If they are too heavy to be brought to my stone carving workshop in Abergavenny then it can sometimes be possible for me to carve the boulder or standing stone in-situ.
House sign with gilded lettering based on
the design of a traditional milestone
Painting and gilding hand cut letters
It is usually a good idea to paint or gild the lettering on the hand carved sign after carving in order to maximise visibility. I use 22 carat gold leaf for gilding. Gold leaf is extremely durable and withstands the weather very well, remaining bright and beautiful for many years.
If painting is required, I can offer a variety of colours from bright white for contrast, to a subtle grey which emulates the colour of the unpainted slate but remains highly visible even when wet with rain. I have also used red, blue, green and orange to good effect on a variety of hand carved house signs.Inset (built-in) house signsPainting and gilding hand cut letters.
