All of our miniatures are hand made "in house" by ourselves, they are not simply casts taken from the originals. We have been very privileged to work with the cathedral organisations whose carvings we have miniaturised, indeed in most cases we have made the miniatures at their request. We are extremely grateful for their faith in our work and assistance given in taking detailed photographs of the carvings. 

The majority of our pieces are roof bosses and corbels found in cathedrals throughout Britain.

A roof boss is the carved, usually protruding, underside of the key-stone that forms the meeting point of several converging vaulting ribs, which, in turn, are the load bearing arches supporting the vaulting itself. See the diagram on the right, showing the boss' position in relation to the vaulting.

Because of their protected position high up in the vaulted ceilings roof bosses, in particular, have survived the ravages of weather, iconoclastm and "restorers" that claimed so many medieval carvings more accessible at ground level. Thus it is that today some of the finest surviving medieval stone carvings are on roof bosses. The roof boss itself, though extensively decorated, fulfils an important structural role in architecture - it is not merely a carved stone trinket. The boss stone is generally considerably bigger than just the part visible to the eye, with a lot of its bulk performing the structural role of anchoring the various ribs together.

A corbel is a load bearing stone which protrudes from the face of a wall. The load is carried upon the part of the stone which is cantilevered out, whilst the greater mass of the corbel is built into the wall to stabilise it and provide strength. Corbels can often be found supporting such elements of a building as beams, or a parapet which projects proud of the wall below. Like the roof bosses, corbels frequently are sited high up and safely out of harm's way.

In addition to our roof bosses and corbels we also reproduce other carvings including a set of three different "voussoirs" (arch stones) which can be built up as an arch. Some of our more diverse work encompasses "ball-flowers" (a decorative stonemasonry motif found extensively in Herefordshire) and the carved Neolithic dolmen of the famous "Ile de Gavrinis" in Brittany.

Each of our pieces is made from a master pattern which we carve by hand, working from extensive photographic details and measurements. Often a plasticene "mannequin" will be made as a mock-up to test out proportions, scale and setting-out. A lot of hand finishing goes into each piece.

Making a new miniature isn't a quick job, and a great deal of coffee and tea (and chocolate biscuits) are required!

Diagram showing position of bosses (marked in pink) within the structure of the vaulting.

The process of making a new miniature begins with taking reams of photographs and, where possible, measurements. This is the Virgin Mary bell (No.69). The marks on this picture are from a workshop coffee spill!

Then, armed with sheaves of pictures (the Green Man of Gloucester Cathedral No.88 shown), the miniature can be set out........

.......and the Devil devouring Judas Iscariot, from Southwark Cathedral (No. 79).............

............resulting (we hope!!) in a miniature that is a perfect copy of the original masterpiece (No. 74 shown).

Every miniature has a green baize backing to protect any polished surface upon which it might be placed.

Where appropriate, each piece has a nylon loop by which it can be hung for display (these might look delicate, but are in fact extremely strong having a breaking strain many times in excess of the miniature's weight).

Every piece has accompanying information about the original carving, both in the form of a label on the back of the miniature and an information card in the box (only No. 41 and the bells have no labels). They are supplied in red presentation boxes (except the Neolithic dolmen and Truro pieces which have brown boxes).

This photograph shows the hanging loop attached to the top of most of the miniatures, the green baize backing and the information label giving details of the particular piece. (No.78 shown)

As well as the label on the reverse of the miniature, nearly all our pieces come with an information card.

Each piece comes packaged in a red presentation box and wrapped in blue tissue. The Neolithic Dolmen and Truro miniatures have brown boxes. (No. 26 shown).

A gold finished version of our miniature Big Ben, No.77G

We sincerely hope you enjoy our miniatures as much as we have enjoyed making them.

A typical display of our miniatures in a cathedral shop.

Would you like me to pack this one for you?

Martin and Oliver Webb Fine Stone Miniatures. Museum quality handmade miniatures of stone carvings for the collector and connoisseur.