NEW DATES TO BE CONFIRMED

Discover the timeless craft of stone letter carving in this intensive hands on workshop led by master lettering sculptor Robbie Schneider.

This immersive course offers a rare opportunity to learn the traditional art of inscriptional letter carving from one of the UK’s leading lettering artists. Suitable for beginners, apprentices and those with previous carving experience, the workshop combines practical stone carving skills with the principles of letter design, spacing and composition.

Working with stone and professional carving tools, participants will learn how text, form and material come together to create beautifully crafted lettering with permanence, presence and character. The course focuses equally on technical carving skills and the artistic foundations of lettering design, helping participants develop confidence in both craftsmanship and creative process.

Throughout the workshop you will explore:

• Traditional stone letter carving techniques
Learn how to carve fine lettering in stone using professional tools and traditional methods.

• Letter design, spacing and layout
Develop an understanding of how lettering is drawn, balanced and composed for carved work.

• Tool handling and carving technique
Gain practical experience using carving tools safely and accurately while developing control and precision.

• Understanding text, material and form
Explore the relationship between language, sculpture and material within contemporary lettering art.

All stone and carving tools are provided during the workshop, allowing participants to focus fully on learning and experimentation in a supportive studio environment.

This workshop is ideal for artists, designers, makers and craftspeople interested in traditional lettering arts, stone carving, sculpture and heritage craft practices.

For more information please click here.

NB: This course had not been endorsed or vetted by The Lettering Arts Trust

NEW DATES TO BE CONFIRMED

This summer, letter carvers Tom Perkins, Simon Langsdale will be running a six day letter carving in stone course at Parndon Mill, Harlow. Running from 17-22 August, Tom will teach drawn lettering for  the first three days, whilst Simon will take over for the carving of your designs for the last three days.

Cost is £535 per person, which includes stone, use of carving tools and teas, coffees and biscuits. A non-refundable deposit of £267.50 is required to reserve your place with the remaining amount due on by 1st July.

Please email for more information or to book your place.

Timings: Each course will run from 10am to 4-5pm each day

Location: Parndon Mill, Harlow, Essex,  CM20 2HP

Mobile: 07701027042

Email: simonlangs@hotmail.co.uk

Website: www.simonlangsdalelettercarver.co.uk

NB This course is not vetted or endorsed by the Lettering Arts Trust

NEW DATES TO BE CONFIRMED

Introduction to Letter Carving in Stone with Lisi Ashbridge - 3 day workshop at the King’s Foundation

This three day course is an introduction to letter carving in stone/slate and suitable for beginners. We will discuss different lettering styles and you will hand draw your own design, learn about what works for which purposes and how to transfer your design onto the material. Then you will be taught the ancient technique of carving letters with a chisel and mallet by hand, resulting in letterforms that are sharp, crisp and can last for centuries.

Lisi will give group demonstrations, and support each participant through individual tuition addressing your needs. Each participant can decide whether to aim towards a short, finished piece of work or just letter carving practice.  A slide talk will aid understanding of letterforms (both ancient and contemporary) and stimulate discussions. There will be books and inspirational material for you to look at.

Each student will have their own workstation and there is space for drawing practice and design work.

During the three days you will start off by becoming familiar with the feeling of how to hold the tools and practice some general strokes. You might want to have a go on different materials.

There will be a talk and slide presentation on design and layout.

Lisi will help you to develop your own design which you will then transfer onto the stone/slate.

You will then be ready to carve your design and be proud of it!

About the tutor: Lisi Ashbridge

Lisi has set up her letter carving workshop in Wiltshire 10 years ago. Based on her background in visual recognition, art & design, and inspired by themes as diverse as poetry, history, philosophy, science and the landscape, Lisi creates a wide range of original and beautifully crafted sculptural carvings for home, garden and memorials. The pieces demonstrate her ability to respond to her sense of the spirit of place and in some instances, also reveal her wonderfully quirky sense of humour.

She is a QEST scholar, an elected member of the British Master Cavers Association as well as the Lettering Arts Trust (memorials by artists). For more details visit the King’s Foundation website here.

NB This course is not vetted or endorsed by the Lettering Arts Trust

NEW DATES TO BE CONFIRMED

Level: Beginners / Some experience

Tutor: Tom Young 

Dates: 6 – 10 July 2026

Time: 10:00 – 17:00

Cost: £614

Contact summerschool@cityandguildsartschool.ac.uk 

BOOK VIA EVENTBRITE

SHORT COURSE OVERVIEW

Come prepared for an intensive letter carving experience. Learning to draw Roman letters is an important part of the process, so you spend the mornings drawing sans serif and serifed letter forms. The afternoons will be spent building your carving skills. You will also learn how to transfer your work to the stone and how to sharpen your chisels.

‘It was an extremely enjoyable course and I learnt a lot. The teacher was very knowledgeable and patient with me. Tom would make a point to go round to each and every one of the students to check on our progress.’ Sharon

COURSE DESCRIPTION

The ancient art of carving letters and symbols into stone is as old as writing itself and today this enduring art form continues to have many uses in both historic and contemporary contexts. At City & Guilds of London Art School, we do all our lettering by hand and the skills we teach can be applied to a variety of materials. This course offers an intensive week of tuition to introduce you to or improve your drawn and carved lettering in stone.

Understanding the construction of letters is an essential part of learning how to carve them successfully in stone. We spend the mornings drawing sans serif and serif letters based on Roman forms and then transfer these letters to stone in the afternoon for carving. Moving between the drawing and carving helps build your skills in tandem, clarifying how each process complements the other. Our experienced tutor will explain and demonstrate all the processes involved in carving letters and keep a close eye on your progress at every stage.

By the end of the week, you should have a finished panel of letters carved in stone and take away the skills you need to continue drawing and carving your own work.

This very special opportunity to spend a week learning the essentials of this historic art form at our unique institution only comes along once a year. Grasp it while you can!

What’s included: all teaching, and your tools, goggles and materials for the letter carving.

What isn’t included: bring a 300 or 600 mm steel or plastic ruler, an automatic pencil 0.5 mm and/or 0.3 mm, with leads. Please wear old clothes you don’t mind spoiling, or bring a pair of decorator’s overalls, and wear steel toecap boots.

NB: This course had not been endorsed or vetted by The Lettering Arts Trust

NEW DATES TO BE CONFIRMED

Tutor: Ghislain Puget

Dates: This course will be taught twice during Summer School 2026, each time for a one-week period:

• Week 2: 6 – 10 July

• Week 3: 13 – 17 July

Time: 10:00 – 17:00

Cost: £614

• Contact summerschool@cityandguildsartschool.ac.uk to receive the discount code.

Bookings:

• Week 2: 6 – 10 July: BOOK VIA EVENTBRITE

• Week 3: 13 – 17 July: BOOK VIA EVENTBRITE

Take copies of medieval ornamental and figure reliefs from our unique collection of historic plaster casts from the V&A as inspiration to learn the traditional skills and techniques of historic low relief stone carving. We will introduce you to the fundamentals:  which tools you need and how to use them, techniques for cutting stone and applying texture, and historical background on decorative styles.

COURSE DESCRIPTION

There is something very special about learning a traditional skill like stone carving in an environment which is so dedicated to the continuation and advancement of the craft. City & Guilds of London Art School has an unbroken tradition of teaching sculpture, stone carving and woodcarving since 1879, and today, our stone carving graduates continue to work on the world’s great cathedrals, buildings and monuments.

This one-week course gives you a unique opportunity to try out these skills for yourself, in excellent facilities and guided by our inspirational teacher. Low relief stone carving provides the perfect platform for the beginner, and working with hammers and chisels you’ll come out with a small carved stone panel that you can be proud of.

Using the medieval ornamental and figure reliefs as source material, you will be guided through the process of transferring your chosen image from the manuscript onto stone, once this is completed we will teach you the techniques of cutting stone and adding colour and texture by breaking or scraping the surface. In the process, you will learn what tools you need and how to use and maintain them, as well as some historical background on decorative styles.

Join us and become a part of the great tradition of British stone carving!

What’s included: all teaching, and your tools and materials for the stone carving.

What isn’t included: your meals, and bring a steel tape measure if you have one, a notebook, pencil and rubber. Please wear old clothes you don’t mind spoiling, or bring a pair of decorator’s overalls, and wear steel cap boots.

NB: This course is not endorsed or vetted by the Lettering Arts Trust

NEW DATES TO BE CONFIRMED.

As promised, we are back with a fourth letter carving in wood course. Our June 2026 course will take place in Ian Hamilton Finlay’s library at Little Sparta, the internationally acclaimed garden, Hamilton Finlay’s home, and his greatest work of art. Little Sparta is filled with numerous sculptures and poetic art works, created in collaboration with some of the most renowned letter carvers in both wood and stone, and at times with other poets and artists.

The course, led by Robbie Schneider, will explore letter carving in wood and will focus on technique and safe use of tools. No previous experience is necessary. All equipment will be provided. Students will practise carving incised lettering and will look in detail at choosing the right chisel for each cut and how wood grain direction affects carving. The course will also cover tool care and sharpening. We will look at the use of different timbers as well as trying out some alternative approaches to letter carving.

Robbie Schneider specialised in letter design, lettering sculpture and inscriptional letter carving after studying sculpture at Camberwell and Byam Shaw Art Schools in London. Working in Stone, wood, metals and other media, Robbie’s interest in the integration of text, material and form has gained him a reputation for both technically accomplished and innovative work, winning him many public and private commissions. Robbie exhibits regularly and is chairman of the Scottish Lettercutters Association, former chairman of Letter Exchange and an elected member of the Royal Society of Sculptors. Robbie teaches regularly and has run courses in Britain, Europe and Australia. His work can be found throughout Britain from Kent in the south to Shetland in the far north.

www.robbieschneider.co.uk
Instagram – @rslettering

Course details

The 2 day course will run on 20th and 21st June 2026, from 9.30am to 5.30pm. The fee for the 2 day course is £180. If you would like to  attend Robbie’s course at Little Sparta, please email contact@littlesparta.org.uk to register your interest.   

Little Sparta Website: https://www.littlesparta.org.uk/june-2026-letter-carving-course/

Please note: the specifics of the courses are not vetted or endorsed by the Lettering Arts Trust.

NEW DATES TO BE CONFIRMED

Course tuition is by Charly Greensted,  Graham Alborough and Fergus Davidson  with Helen Mary Skelton as occasional tutor

2026 courses are run as six sequential 5-week terms. A five-week course costs £180.

Two courses may be booked back-to-back to make a 10-week term, at a cost of £360.

Classes run from 10.00am to 1.00pm.

Every course will have 12 places available.

​Click here for the Skelton Workshops website.  

If you missed the start of a course, you may still be able to join, email to discuss options.

Term dates

​​TERM 1 - March 3 - April 4

​TERM 2 - April 7 - May 9

​TERM 3 -  May 26 -  June 27

​TERM 4  -  July 1 - August 1

​TERM 5 - September 8 - October 10

​TERM 6 - October 13 - November 14

Materials For Sculpture:

Please bring any drawings, maquettes, idea or sketches, sketch book and pencils (hard and soft). Hat, goggles and cotton gloves are useful too. Please wear stout shoes and warm clothes in the colder months.

​Materials For Lettercutting:

Sketch books, pencils (hard and soft), ruler and rubber. Also bring your ideas! Please wear stout shoes.

​Stone

Stone is sold by the kilo and ranges in price from £3-5.50 per kilo. Softer stone such as Bath and Serpentine are used for sculpture and suitable limestones or slate for lettercutting.

A wide range of hand tools are available for students' use.

Lunch

There are several pubs within a three mile radius all serving meals or bring a packed lunch.

Accommodation is available in nearby guest houses.

Please note: the specifics of the courses are not vetted or endorsed by the Lettering Arts Trust.