Our Courses

Course Dates – Fees –  Booking

Learning about all aspects of stone and the landscape from which it came.

Carving Stone In Its Place Of Origin

Our courses have a good reputation and following as ‘the place’  to learn and carve freshly quarried Portland Stone, in the open air workshop at the heart of Tout Quarry Sculpture Park and Nature Reserve.  Tout means ‘Lookout’ and the Quarry is hewn into the high clifftop overlooking the great Chesil Beach.  It is a naturally regenerated and historical environment ‘built by the skills, intuition and hard team work of the quarrymen’,  an inspirational landscape to work in, with the balance of elements, of sea, sky and stone. Portland Stone is the finest of carving stones, soft enough to carve with very fine detail and yet extremely durable – and being almost pure calcium carbonate is good for health and very safe to work with.  Stone carving courses also take place in the newly refurbished Stone Workspace at the Drill Hall.

Our courses are affordable and provide the very best of professional tuition, and designed for beginners and all levels of skill.  Images below show work from one week stone carving and sculpture courses.

 What do our courses include:

• Introduction to the sculpture, geology, family working histories and ecology  of Tout Quarry with its rare grasses, butterflies and orchids
• Demonstration of stone carving techniques – use of hand carving tools for sculpture, masonry, architectural carving, letter cutting
• Selection of freshly quarried stone for individual ideas,  Lifting, moving and handling stone. Starting points for carving, individual tuition
• Developing carving skills from roughing out techniques to fine detail as the week progresses.
• Detailed carving and surface finishing techniques for Portland stone.
• Informal discussion on work achieved – pointers for the future.
• Tuition Monday to Friday 9.30 am to 5 pm (although times may vary if people want to work late)
• Work photographed and loaded into vehicles on Friday.
• Evenings (optional)
  • Eating out – Local Fish,Oysters,Crab, also Vegetarian

Note: Indoor courses at the Stone Workspace also run throughout the year – well equipped with hydraulic carving bankers, lifting equipment, stone saw, with instruction in hand tools and use of electric / pneumatic tools. There is an additional cost for the use of lifting and powered equipment.