Miniature stoneworks. Giants amongst pebbles.

'The inner circle' by land artist Jaime Filipe

Miniature stoneworks may look like the real deal close up, but they are in fact far more complicated to build and also cannot withstand the same abuse as large scale stonework. In general stonework can take a lot of abuse , only really taking damage by human error when being hit by a vehicle or if poorly built. Miniature stoneworks are a lot more fragile, a dangling sleeve,a strong gust of wind or even  placing a stone with too much conviction can bring the whole thing crumbling down. This is why I think I will stick to the big stuff and leave the miniature stuff to the real pros,
Below are a few examples of some great miniature stoneworks and a bit about a few of the artists as well.

American environmental artist Sally J. Smith builds these wonderful fairy houses below, and shares with me a little about her stone fairy houses.

 Emerald Mossy Fairy House by artist Sally J. Smith

The Emerald Mossy Fairy House was a relatively large construction built on a woodlands trail. It took a week to build... 2 of those days were spent gathering the stones and bringing them in to the site. The large mossy boulder-cliff already looked like a house in Sally's eyes..."it just needed a little encouraging to bring it out!" A Weeping Willow twig branch was twisted and woven to make the large window. A shelf fungus was found nearby and used as an awning to protect the entrance-way. A small dormer room was added later. The stone walling portion is approx 30 inches high.

Building sequence of Emerald Mossy Fairy House

Side view of Emerald Mossy Fairy House

Riverstone tower by  Sally J. Smith 

This was one of  Sally's first stone sculptures. Finding all different colours of stone  along the river, Sally  tried to graduate the shading as she built the tower up from a very special pothole which was now exposed along the bank due to the low water of mid-summer. "The tower took many pleasant days to build. I found a few very special stones that looked like fanciful gargoyles so I saved them to line the access bridge". Moss was brought in as were some ferns and wildflowers. The house had a special visitor one day...can you spot it? The tower was enjoyed by a lot of people who saw it. "After it had been up for about 2 weeks, we had a flash flood. I rushed to the river and took one final image because I knew the river was going to flood over night. I came back the next morning and it was all down and deep underwater. A week later I came back to a pothole full of small stones. I cleared out the shards and distributed them along the banks....grateful for the experience"

Detail of riverstone tower

Rock Garden Stone Cottage by  Sally J. Smith

"A sweet little Stone cottage to grace a rock garden. When I made it I had installed one window design, but eventually I figured out how to bend a Weeping Willow branch into a Celtic-styled window so I installed that one instead. A grey slate heart made by the wave actions of the nearby lake forms the back of the wee stone bench in the Faerie-sized garden out back. The "Standing Stone" is an homage to Scotland and the lovely stones I was able to meet on my many trips there. The last photo is mainly for fun and to also give a sense of scale...sometimes it is hard to know what the scale is on these houses...that is part of the fun! This house lasted for several years. Eventually the weight of an especially snowy winter killed off the moss and a cat landing on the roof went thru the moss and the house was not repairable...so the stones are waiting in a basket for another day"

Door detail of  Rock Garden Stone Cottage

Rock Garden Stone Cottage with a cat thrown in for scale

The Shire House by Sally J. Smith

 The Shire House was built along a mountain stream. There was a trail nearby used by hikers and campers. The house took several days to complete. While it was under construction Sally left a small sign asking folks to please respect the artwork. One day Sally came to work and found a message written in pebbles under the mossy bank. ~"That was fun!" Several days later Sally returned to see how the house was doing....sadly, a wild animal had ripped it apart. "There were some VERY large canine tracks in the sandy beach...another message this time, not so nice. I suspect it was either a large wolf-coyote hybrid or just a hikers large dog. I took all the stones and put them back in the river and cleaned up the moss. It was sad to see it go but the river gives and takes all the time."

The Shire House with a message left by a fan.

The Shire House under construction

These fairy houses are only a small part of some of the gorgeous work Sally does so be sure to check out her website www.greenspiritarts.com to see some of her other work. She also takes commissions if you want a fairy house of your own or just order on of her lovely calenders that have prints of the ones she already has created.

UK based landscaper/ artist David Wood of Wood Landscapes has recently started making these wonderfully accurate miniature stonework. The detail in these is just astounding.

Miniature stone bridge by David Wood 

See more pictures of these as well as his latest works on his facebook page WoodLandscapes and while you are at it check out his other facebook page too Inspired.

The Miniature Barn by David Wood 

The Miniature Barn by David Wood

Slightly more abstract German land artist and stone balancer extraordinaire Volker Paul creates these unavailable miniature stoneworks. It is hard to even comprehend the hours and patience it must take to create these, as well as deal with all the failed attempts. 

Beautifully delicate land art by Volker Paul

Land art by Volker Paul

Land art by Volker Paul

Land art by Volker Paul

Land art by Volker Paul

If you are into stone balancing (see my post on stone balancing here) I highly recommend checking out some of his other work as he is one of the most impressive balancing artist I have ever come across. (I called him a balancing artist rather than a stone balancer as some of the things he balances are truly mind bending!) Photos of his work can be found on his facebook page here

Land art by Volker Paul

North Carolina based stonemason Michael Stephens custom builds these great little stone buildings for clients. Micheal began building miniature stone houses more than twenty years ago after visiting a miniature replica tourist attraction in Canada. Constructed dry-stack style with reinforced concrete, they are weather hardy and very durable. They can be used in a model railroad, terrarium, aquarium, fairy garden, miniature zen garden and in homes as a conversation piece or gardens for accent.
If you wish to see more of his work or wish to order your very own one you can contact him through his website http://stoneworkbystephens.com/miniatures

Miniature stoneworks by Michael Stephens

Miniature stoneworks by Michael Stephens

Miniature stoneworks by Michael Stephens

Miniature stoneworks by Michael Stephens

For the traditionalists out there I have come across many miniature drystone walls also. Many of these built by dry stone wallers trying to pass the time during long winter nights.

Dry Stone Wall built by Ashley Meadows. Photo curtsy of Rocking Walls.com

The stone wall above was spotted my Mark Jurus of Rocking Walls.  On his way back down from Vermont he stopped in to see his good friends from the DSC doing a workshop in PA. Mark spotted this great miniature Dry Stone Wall built by Ashley Meadows from KY. The size of this is about 5 inches high by 12 inches long.

Miniature stonewall landscape by David Wood

Miniature dry stone walls by artist/musician Tony Wright 

When not in his printing press or rocking it out with his Bradford based band Terrorvision Tony Wright makes these great little miniature dry stone walls, complete with traditional features.

Miniature dry stone walls by artist/musician Tony Wright 

Miniature dry stone walls by artist/musician Tony Wright 

Miniature dry stone wall by land artist  Ian Rennie. See more of his lovely land art in his flickr set here

I have even come across a miniature dry stone walling course. The Yorkshire Dry Stone Walling Academy in the UK offer a mini dry stone walling training course that is aimed a junior groups, such as Cubs and Scouts. The half day training courses show the attendees how to build a dry stone wall and using the specially prepared kits that allow each attendee to construct their own replica dry stone wall to take away using the same materials and principles of walling construction to produce a 1:24 replica of a dry stone wall. Find out more about these courses here. 

I thought that I could not end the post without representing some of Ireland's unique dry stone walls, so I had a go at building a few miniature walls of my own.
My first miniature wall is single stone wall common in Donegal and Down where large rocks are stacked and wedged together leaving large gaps between the stones.

The second wall I attempted was one of Ireland's iconic dry stone walls, a feidín wall, usually found in the Burren in Co. Clare and on the Aran Islands. A 'feidín wall' has the smaller stones on the bottom with the big stones on top. This type of wall is made up of a double sided wall on the bottom with a large single stone wall on top. The double sided wall at the bottom is often made up of a series of large upright stones called mother stones, that run the full depth of the wall. The space between them is built up with smaller stones known as daughter stones. The upper part of the wall is then built using large stones only a single stone wide. The result is a extremely strong wall with a dense base to shelter animals and protect the soil from the strong prevailing winds, while the cracks and holes in the top of the wall let wind filter through. The light that shines through the cracks makes the wall look unstable, deterring animals from jumping on it.

This wall is also quite difficult to build in miniature, the hardest part being trying to 'heart' the wall. (back pinning the stones in the centre of the wall) Thirsty work too. And anyone who has been to Feile na gCloch  will be able to tell you, you can't build a feidín wall with out a pint of Stout (or maybe that's just me)

Thanks to all the artists above for kindly giving me permission to share their photos with you. 

Can tradespeople be artists? Lets ask Johnny Clasper.

Stone mosaic by Johnny Clasper

Can tradespeople be artists?
An interesting question which is being explored by a new Irish series on TG4 at the moment called 'Dullamullóg'

Launched last Sunday 13th January, the show follows six tradespeople who take on the challenge of creating a piece of critically acclaimed art.

Each tradesperson is paired up with a professional artist who helps them with their work. The final piece is then put in amongst professional art works which are all scrutinised by art critic Ciaran Bennett who then has to decide which piece is made by the tradesperson.

Art Critic Ciaran Bennet

The show features renowned Irish artists Cliodna Cussen, Peadar Lamb and Turner nominated Liam de Frinse. The first episode follows Eamonn O'Neill, a Tree Surgeon from Shankill, Co. Dublin paired with professional sculptor Séighean Ó'Draoi.

Episode two pairs plasterer and bricky Gearóid Ó Ceannabhái, from Dublin, with the great Irish stone sculptor Cliodna Cussen.

Bricky Gearoid on the show.

An interesting show, worth checking out. Screens at 8.30pm on TG4. Repeated the following Tuesday at 11.30pm. The series will run for six weeks. Can also be played back on the TG4 website watch it here.
I will look forward to seeing the next episode. 


This show reminded me of a great tradesperson cum stone artist that I have been meaning to highlight for a while now.
This person being Johnny Clasper.

Artist Johnny Clasper sitting on front of one of his flowing stonework art pieces.

Before becoming obsessed with stone, Johnny started off as a bricky. In fact from an early age his weekends were spent working with his father (a builder) as a labourer on building sites. Johnny quickly got promoted from broom and wheelbarrow to trowel and hammer. Johnny said that something happened when he was handed that rusty old trowel and heavy split handled lump hammer in his hands, a magic feeling inside. "With these tools I can build (a feeling I still get today when I pick up certain tools). A short while after I saved up and bought myself some decent tools. I was one proud 16 year old lad!"

Detail from another stone mosaic by Jonny Clasper

A fast learner and keen to learn anything he could, Johnny put himself into college to study brickwork "At last something I really wanted to learn and really enjoyed doing".
Johnny became top of the class and earned the student of the year award 1997. "College taught me all about the modern ways of building while my time at work I learned many traditional techniques of laying stone, at the time I was always drawn to stone.. so many ways to lay it as opposed to bricks."

Stunning stone wall by Johnny Clasper. I do love this wall.

The next 5 years or so Johnny worked on many stone houses, extensions and barn conversions before going self employed. Years passed doing the same things, that is until he started to read up and practice drystone walling. 

"This changed everything, without the mortar separating the stone, i became more in-tune and aware of the stone, studying the grain, natural shape and textures, different results and finishes were possible, everything was now falling into place or was it?

it was always my dream and goal to build something that hadn't been done before, but everything seemed to have already been done by someone..

I had thoughts of somehow bringing stone to life but how?

a wall will always be a wall or will it?"

Drystone sculpture 'the seed' by Johnny Clasper

In 2010 Johnny decided to rent a small studio where he hoped to create something that wasn't bound by the rules of building or drystone walling “both seem to contradict each other”

He started by making a seed sculpture with leftover roof slate, the pinnacle moment and the start of his creative journey.

“But the seed sculpture wasn't quite what I had in mind” explains Johnny. “I wanted movement in the stone somehow”.

Johnny's stone scorpion sculpture

"I had an image of an attacking scorpion in my mind made with jagged stacked slate and polished black limestone, materials I had kept from previous jobs.

against all advice from my sculptor friends, family and my own instinct telling me not to do it, I decided to create the scorpion (or the illusion I saw in my mind)

the scorpion was an instant success and the door to my creative part of my mind blew wide open!"

Dry stone stream by Johnny Clasper

From here Johnny started experimenting with flow. “If stone can be brought to life maybe it could become fluidic and flow like water would?”.

"Any chance I got I would arrange pebbles or shards of slate into flowing patterns or drains, mimicking the flow of water spiralling away."

Johnny's swirly pebble path in the gold winning garden at the 2012 Harrogate Spring Flower Show  

Last year Johnny was involved in the construction of a gold awarded show garden at the 2012 Harrogate Spring Flower Show. Part of Johnny’s design brief was to lay a stone slab and pebble path. Most people, if not pretty much everybody else would have been content with pebbles neatly spread between the flagstones. But Johnny being Johnny felt compelled to spend what should have been a five minute job into a nine hour labour of love, transforming what (in my opinion) was otherwise a nice ordinary show garden into an extraordinary gold winning one.    

Johnny's wishing well

Johnny has lots more great work on his website www.johnnyclasper.co.uk  but he is also a great man for the facebook so be sure to give his facebook page a like and keep up to date with all his work. 

More flowing pebbles by Johnny Clasper

Can tradespeople be artists? Hell yeah!

The colossal land art of Andrew Rogers

Ancient Language 2004 Atacama desert, Chile. 80m long x 3m high

Building of Ancient Language 2004

Andrew Rogers is a sculptor whose works may be found in many plazas and buildings around the world. He is a leading contemporary artist.

Rogers is the creator of the world’s largest contemporary land art undertaking. Titled “Rhythms of Life,” the project commenced in 1998 and at present comprises 48 massive stone structures (Geoglyphs) across 13 countries in seven continents and has involved over 6,700 people. These Geoglyphs range in size up to 40,000 sq m/430,560 sq ft – and are commanding worldwide attention. They are situated in the Arava Desert - Israel, the Atacama Desert - Chile, the Bolivian Altiplano, Kurunegala - Sri Lanka, Victoria -Australia, the Gobi Desert - China, Akureyri - Iceland, Rajasthan - India, Cappadocia - Turkey, Jomson and Pokhara in Nepal, Spissky and the High Tatras in Slovakia, the Mohave desert in the USA, near the Chyulu Hills in Kenya and an ephemeral installation in Antarctica near the Dakshin Gangotri Glacier. Individually and together the Geoglyphs form a unique set of drawings upon the Earth stretching around the globe, connecting people with history and heritage.

The title of the project, the “Rhythms of Life” is derived from Rogers’ early bronze sculptures.

One thing that I find as impressive as the vast sculptures themselves, is the organisation and sheer manual labour involved in constructing them.

Building of Presence Cerro Rico mountains, Bolivia 2005

Video of the work in Bolivia showing some of the unique cultural experiences that are very much a part of every build.

 To enable him to realise his visions Rogers enlisted the help of two young Israeli architects, Tidah Beca and Golan Levi, who supervised the construction of most of his earthworks around the world. “Space and Time,” the largest complex, is the culmination of this ambitious global undertaking. Rogers spent two years negotiating with local Turkish authorities to accept his initial proposal for a pair of earthworks.

His business acumen served him well here in manoeuvring through delicate negotiations and in organizing hundreds of workers, overseers, translators, and transportation and food providers. Without the support of laborers, craftsmen, education leaders, and political and religious advisors, an elaborate undertaking such as this— financed by private donors, including the artist, public funds from the national and local government, and grants from several Turkish corporations—could never be realized.

Sacred. Poprad, Slovakia. 2008 100m x 100m Made from Travertine marble.

The Ancients. Atacama desert, Chile 2004 90m x 90m 

Located at an altitude of 2469 m (8100 ft) above sea level, on the Llano de la Paciencia (Plain of Patience), 13 km from the town of San Pedro de Atacama, "The Ancients" geoglyph is derived from a 6000 year old pictureglyph known as "El Señor de los Báculos"  

The stone walls forming this geoglyph, constructed from volcanic rock and clay, are 1200 m (3936 ft) in length.

Building work on  The Ancients  sculpture Chile 

The viewing deck The Ancients  sculpture Chile    

The Messenger. Gobi desert, China 2006 150m x 150m

The only exception to the kind of communal collaboration characteristic of his work occurred in China, where Rogers created three geoglyphs in the Gobi Desert. He found the bureaucracy there exceptionally daunting and ended up accepting the government’s offer to use a 1,000-man army unit to construct the earthworks rather than employ the remote region's inhabitants. Rogers now admits that he regrets the decision, since it runs counter to the project’s spirit and trajectory. Nonetheless it is an amazing sight to see in action. 

Some of the 1000-man army unit to construct the earthworks in China 

Some of the 1000-man army unit to construct the earthworks in China 

Check out this video of the construction works in China

A few more of my favourite pieces

Rhythms of Life, Arava desert, Israel 2001 29m x 24m

Rhythms of Life, Arava desert, Israel 2001 29m x 24m

To Life, Arava desert, Israel 1999 38m x 33m

To Life, Arava desert, Israel 1999 38m x 33m

Labyrinth. Jomsom, Nepal 2008 60m x 60m

Bunjil, you yangs national park, victoria, Australia 2006 100m wingspan x 80m depth

Slice. Arava desert, Israel 2003 80m x 38m

Although this is fast becoming another epically long post I would also like to mention (just for the sheer size of the pieces of stone used) is the site in Cappadocia, Turkey, where in September 2011 Rogers completed the “Time and Space” geoglyph park. The thirteen structures comprise more than 10,500 tons of stone and, in total, the walls measure approximately 4 miles (7 km) in length. The structures that lie furthest apart are separated by a distance of 1.25 miles (2 km).

A Day On Earth. Cappadocia, Turkey 2009 31.5m x 51m x 19.5m (103.35ft x 167.32ft x 64ft)

The  64ft high  solid basalt columns that make up part of the A Day On Earth, Sculpture Cappadocia, Turkey 2009   

Part of the 'A Day On Earth' sculpture includes the world’s largest basalt arch. Inscribed with a single word, MEMORY, the arch is 64ft high, constructed with solid basalt columns, each weighing in excess of 84 tons, and is the largest such basalt structure in the world. The arch is located at the end of a colonnade of 30ft high basalt columns, each inscribed with 22 virtues. “A Day on Earth” is about the fragility of life and society, and values inscribed on each column are imbued with meaning and a deep yearning of every person- liberty, justice, integrity, truth, respect, peace, freedom, quiet, hope, optimism, history, heritage, tolerance, beauty, joy, rights, love, responsibilities, faith, compassion, goodness, kindness.

Not too far away are the 6m (19.7ft) high basalt columns of 'Yesterday Today Tomorrow' 2009 

Another part of the 'Time and Space' park completed in 2011 is Presence. 24 basalt columns up to 9m (30ft) high 38 × 22 × 9m(125′ × 72′ × 30′)

The work I have shown here is just a taste of the amazing work that Andrew has completed to date.  To see  his complete works, check out his website http://www.andrewrogers.org also check out the book of his works 'Rhythms of Life'. All the photos used for this post are from Andrews website with is kind permission.