We were honored when asked to be a part of the restoration on Saskatoon's oldest Italian eatery in downtown Saskatoon, Taverna Italian Kitchen. This building was built in 1907 and opened as a department store in 1907 with a seamstress above, then opened as Taverna in 1969. Ownership changed hands eight years ago with a menu that's as authentic as it gets! Here they are watching the magic happen in our Stone Carving shop. Watch Ryan Watson, our Stone Carver & Masonry Designer giving a demo in our Stone Carving shop on our YouTube channel above. Part of this restoration includes this hand carved Indiana limestone sign that reads "agora" in the traditional Greek alphabet with thyrsus detail below. ag·o·ra; the marketplace in Athens, used for popular meetings, or any similar place of assembly in ancient Greece. A thyrsus or thyrsos (Ancient Greek: θύρσος) was a wand or staff of giant fennel (Ferula communis) covered with ivy vines and leaves, sometimes wound with taeniae and always topped with a pine cone. It's always a real pleasure to work with clients who are as passionate as we are about timeless designs and architectural stone details! Owners of Taverna above with our Stone Carver and Masonry Designer, Ryan Watson. Stay tuned for PART TWO at www.roccomasons.com
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Our Stone Carver and Masonry Designer, Ryan Watson just wrapped up this three piece Indiana limestone address marker for a home off Valley Road in Saskatoon SK. Watson's gift in the art of hand carved stone has been proven time and time again. His carvings adorn buildings from west coast Canada to Chicago Illinois. With over 16 years of experience in the trade, Watson continues his dedication to the art by providing his commercial and residential clients with inspiration. The end-product is unlike any other as shown below for his award winning work on Saskatoon's King George Hotel. He's keeping history alive in Saskatoon by playing a key creative role in designing timeless stone facades on homes and buildings such as the Timber Pointe building shown below. His extensive knowledge and artistic talent in old world craftsmanship offers his clients a unique Masonry Design each and every time. Check out our galleries for more of our work and stay tuned for the installation of the 3 piece redwood address marker, coming soon!
For the purposes of this post for our House on Hastings project, let’s go through a few quick definitions with regards to using real stone for your fireplaces versus cast concrete. Natural stone is millions of years old. It is quarried from the earth and has gone through many natural changes over time. Cast stone is a type of precast concrete designed to simulate different types of natural cut stone. Let’s now review a few points about natural stone that might be considered advantageous. It is relatively strong, stable, timeless, and durable, as witnessed by monuments and works of art that are centuries old and have aged wonderfully. Natural stone will appreciate in value when used properly, is very eco-friendly, will resist natural elements, requires minimal maintenance, and offers almost limitless design options as seen on the following three Indiana limestone surrounds for our House on Hastings project. All of our fireplace surrounds, (including these three here) were designed and hand-carved by our Stone Carver and Masonry Designer, Ryan Watson. The first fireplace above was installed in the homes must have Man Cave. The fireplace below was installed in the homes main Floor Great Room, with the final fireplace in the families Master Suite. Natural stone comes in various shapes, sizes, colors, textures, and patterns. There is a stone that is perfect for almost every application out there. It can be considered a one-of-a-kind building material, and in fact, hand-carved natural stone (as shown here) is a true work of art! Stone is similar to fingerprints, in that no one has the same fingerprint, and that is something that makes choosing natural stone one of a kind. There are many natural causes that affect the graining and coloration of stone over time. They include mineral deposits, underground springs, temperature, and seismic shifts. These occurrences are impossible to re-create and can only be done by Mother Nature herself. All of the “imperfections,” what I like to think of as character, are unique reflections of the stone’s “life.” There are a few drawbacks when considering cast stone for your fireplace surrounds, hearth and mantel included. For example, cast stone struggles to achieve the same level of detail as carved natural stone. There is only so much you can capture with the molds that produce the product, whereas the possibilities are endless when you have a sculptor carving natural stone. The hardness and density of the stone and the artistic expression of the artisan doing the work add immeasurable value that simply cannot be achieved in the cast counterpart. It can also be quite challenging for a cast stone producer to achieve a genuine visual interpretation of veining and overall stone “movement.”
So consider all these factors before your decision is cast in stone! Info above courtesy of: Materials Marketing Watch our Stone Carver, Ryan Watson in action with carving chisel in hand by checking out our YouTube videos HERE. For more on this House on Hastings project that we started last year, go HERE and HERE. You will also find an album on our company's facebook page called "House on Hastings" for more cool pictures of the homes progress. Did you know we offer sneak peeks of our work on instagram? Follow us there too at rocco_masons - Stay tuned for more! Nothing compares to using real stone, especially when it comes to a home fireplaces. Not only do we use real stone for our fireplace designs, but at Rocco Masons we also incorporate the art of hand carved details, a technique that dates back to the beginning of civilization. This winter our Stone Carver and Masonry Designer, Ryan Watson worked on Designing and Carving three Indiana limestone fireplaces; one for this homes main floor as seen in today's YouTube video, another for the master suite, and of course a third for the homes MAN CAVE.
Today's video shows the strength it took to install our 500 pound hand carved limestone mantel. As you will see things got intense for a second, but nothing our crew couldn't handle. Last year we started and finished the Masonry work on this homes exterior as shown below, and in last years blog's here: ROCKIN' IN ROSEWOOD and here: GRANDE CHIMNEY. Want to follow this homes project to completion? Then find us on facebook and instagram and SHARE our company with your friends in support of Stone Masons and Stone Carvers! #roccomasons #stonecarver #saskatoonmasonry |
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