The Process of the Gravestone

Finding Blake's James Murray-White says "It has been a wonderful journey so far to be closely involved with the production of this new gravestone honouring William Blake, and it is only part way through! From visiting the stoneyard in January with Lida and Hallam to choose the huge piece of Portland stone that the slab would be cut from, to recently seeing it cut, cleaned, bevelled - and now upright in the studio with the letters drawn and the cutting underway - is an intricate, intimate knowledge of a process. I’m filming it, and I hope I can also convey the pleasure I’m having in visiting once a week or so, talking and listening through each stage, and recording it, and making short clips to illustrate it."

Triptych of images taken by James Murray-White while filming Lida cut more of Blake’s new gravestone at her Cambridge workshop: May 2018

I thought here I’d set out the process in its entirety, as explained by Lida:

1. The gravestone is cut and cleaned at the stone yard, and then delivered to the Kindersley Workshop
2. The stone is bevelled. This process takes a week, entirely done by hand
3. The stone is put upright over the special area of the workshop designed for such large projects, with a hole in the floor to give full access.
4. Freehand drawing of the letters upon the gravestone.
5. Spellcheck: members of the Blake Society committee visit to check and approve spelling and design.
6. Cutting begins.
7. Washing the gravestone after letters drawn: final painting, staining, building completed.
8. Preparation of the ground at Bunhill Fields: paving blocks, stone setting, landscaping etc.
9. The ceremony! August 12th, 2018. The Blake Society are planning a beautiful ceremony with readings and a choir. Further details will appear here and on the Blake Society website nearer the time.

And Finding Blake will be there to make a special short film of the event. In the meantime, snapshots of the creation of the gravestone and of Finding Blake activities continue to be added to the project timeline in Our Story Continues.

We will midway through the process sit down and do a more formal interview about how she came to be commissioned, and her reflections on Blake, on letter-cutting, and the specifics of this stone, with much philosophy in-between, and I look forward to filming, editing, and sharing that.

An additional process to the creation of the stone was carried out by Lida and Hallam on behalf of the Blake Society: cutting chips of the surrounding discarded stone, to be given as mementoes to all who donate an amount to cover the cost of commissioning the stone and having it set. You can find out more about that on the Blake Society website.