Another of my babies left today – bittersweet. I finished the king’s head bracket, and the client picked it up today and was very happy with it. It was quite a push to get it finished, but I am happy with the results – his expression was as close to the original as I could get it. It is going on a beautiful historic house in Birmingham, AL. Hopefully when the homeowners see the results of “the king” they will want more carving repairs on their house. This house is just dripping in magnificent carving.
Where can I find that client who will just hire me for the next 10 years to decorate their house??? Do they even do that anymore??? Think about mansions like the Biltmore (Ashville, NC) that is so beautifully decorated with both stone and wood carvings. I suppose back 100 years ago when that was built, they had about 50 stone and wood carvers working at very low wages. I actually like the way I am working now – there is a lot of variety. I think if I had to carve egg and dart molding for 2 years, I would take up a new career – like bee-keeping.