Doug Coffin Stone Carver

The location, purposes and material of fine architectural and public inscriptions make for a larger canvas than a single headstone. In addition to meetings with the architects and/or owners to develop suitable letterforms, full scale shop drawings and often sample lettering in the very material are necessary to make certain the decisions are good ones. Exterior lettering in limestone, granite, marble or even concrete is usually slightly darkened for readability. If the skin of a building is unsuitable for carving, shaping letterforms out of stainless steel or bronze may be the least obtrusive way of accomplishing the goal. Most architectural work is done in situ, or on-site, often with the use of scaffolding.
	Boulder, Colorado Lettercarving on site: The University of Colorado at Boulder asked me to carve the name of their new Leeds School of Business building on site. The letters are 12" high, v-cut into limestone and slightly darkened for readability.
	Boulder, Colorado Close-up of the letters as they emerge.
	Boulder, Colorado Photo by Casey A. Cass/CU Boulder At work in the "basket."
	Boulder, Colorado Photo by Casey A. Cass/CU Boulder Beginning to darken the finished lettering.
	20" x 14" x 1" black slate double gilded 23K gold This stone pier is in deep shade...perfect for exterior gilding. Although gold doesn't last forever outside, this spot was out of direct winds and benefitted from a slight overhang.
	Long shot showing the ideal shady setting and how gold can pop out of it so beautifully.
	7" beach rock My client's last name begins with a B and so does her husband's. She wanted to honor that. She brought me several stones and I chose the one that looked like it wanted a beautiful B in it.
	Roxbury, Mass. 22" diameter, black slate It seemed to provide a nice break to gild the Latin in palladium and the rest in 23 K gold. The plaque is oiled for a deep and luscious look framing the bright, reflective powers of the metals.
	Combined Jewish Philanthropies, Boston English and Hebrew lettering cut into limestone and darkened.
	Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, D.C. In addition to adding a new line of million-dollar donors, I assisted a colleague lay out a new donor wall in the Carrara marble sheathing.
	Bates College, Maine Indiana Limestone, darkened.
	Bangor, Maine Overview of the Good Samaritan Agency memorial stone
	Brunswick, Maine Town commemoration of a new, riverside park carved out of a somewhat wild sentry of slate.
	Cambridge, Mass. The centerpice of six panels of green slate that compose a memorial wall for a church, with names added annually.
	Maine Limestone, carved fireplace
	Maine A black slate fireplace made from raw slabs. This room was large enough to accommodate a wild slate construction with a mantel of 114 inches.
	32" diameter black slate, painted and oiled
	Granite beach stone, 8"
73 Hersey Retreat \| Stockton Springs, Maine 04981 Studio Location: 19 Cedar Lane \| Belfast, Maine 04915 207-338-1466 \| douglas.coffin@lettercutter.com Home \| Biography \| Carving Memorials \| Architectural \| Contact