Walt Rickli: Stone Sculptor

Described as one of Walt’s favorite places to be, his carving studio is set within a quarry, amongst the jagged cliffs of the Niagara Escarpment. Outside the shop are over two acres of catalogued stone from all over North America. Much of the raw stone has been located by prospectors engaged by Walt to source unusual and semi precious stone such as Jade, Rhodonite, Fuchsite and Amethyst.

Inside the 2000 square foot facility are two massive 5 ton cranes used in moving raw materials and completed sculptures throughout the shop. A 5 foot diameter diamond saw with a 15 ton capacity turntable is used in roughing in sculptures and fine cutting of stone. This area and is used for core drilling, diamond polishing and pre-testing all water features prior to their shipment. A series of dust extraction arms that are used to remove all dust from the carving areas are located where all the fine carving takes place. In the fabrication area equipment is available for all shop and sculpture fabrication needs. The central area is used for mock ups of projects as well as raw material setup and staging.

Cooled by hundreds of feet of limestone beneath the building and heated by a radiant heating system Walt’s professional facility combines state of the art technology with the precision and unparalleled methods of Old World sculpting techniques.