A different sort of 'crown'

Our Lady statue restoration complete

The crown and sceptre.

This statue of the virgin with child Jesus had been damaged quite badly in the past by someone who was quite unwell.

I am not sure when, or who refurbished it. The statue was given a crown and sceptre at that time. The crown had been fixed in place with some screws and wood off-cuts. Without the crown, her head was quite flat.

I am uncertain if the top of her head was removed because it was so damaged, or if it was to accommodate the crown. In part because the edges of the head had been whittled down to make the metal crown fit.

Statue in David's workshop, (my workshop is the conservatory as shown!)

Re-presenting the statue

To the left is an image of the statue holding a rosary, as our client preferred to present her as Our Lady of the Rosary. The sceptre was removed because it was undersized, and also broken.

She seemed a little swamped by the ill-fitting crown, and so we were asked to remove it; which meant carving her a new crown - her head, that is!

Carving the new 'crown'

carving the new crown!

David and I work as a team, each to our strengths.

David shaped a nice dome of wood for me to work on, and affixed it to the statue. I was then able to shape it into a cranium, carving the hair so as to follow

the existing sculptural lines of the original.

The finished statue as 'Our Lady of the Rosary'

The images below show the finished piece, before and after. The final request for the make over, was to add gold decoration to her gown.

Before and after ~ with the statue's newly carved head!