Ships worldwide. This piece is held at our workshop and ships internationally.
One of a kind
Every carving is cut from its own block of rough. The photographs on this page show the exact piece you will receive — not a sample from the same batch.
Natural stone, untreated
100% natural stone, never dyed or reconstituted. Veins, inclusions and small shifts in colour are how the material formed; they are marks of origin rather than faults.
Carved by hand
Cut, shaped and polished by hand. Proportions differ a little from piece to piece because each one follows the block it came out of.
Checked and packed
Hand-inspected before dispatch and shipped in shockproof packaging.
Combined Strength
Tiger iron is traditionally read as the properties of its three components acting together: the eye's discernment, the jasper's stamina, the hematite's grounding.
Held rather than displayed when a task needs all three.
Very Old Rock
Banded ironstone is among the oldest rock accessible to carvers, which gives the stone its association with endurance on a scale beyond a person.
Set it where the long view is needed.
Effort and Recovery
Of all the stones here it is the one most consistently associated with physical exertion and with recovering from it.
Kept in the bag rather than on the shelf, by most accounts.
Holding Under Load
The hematite bands give it the usual iron reading: bearing weight without buckling.
Hold it before the thing you expect to be heavy.
Why We Carve Skulls
The skull is the oldest symbol of transformation: what remains, what endures, what is left when everything temporary has gone. Carved in stone it reads less as death and more as clarity.
Turn it to face you when you want to be honest; turn it outward when you want to be left alone.