Stone is a wonderful medium for recording information that is meant to last for ages... but what if a mistake is made?
The following is a look at how stone cutters sometimes dealt with mistakes.
Often times dates were calculated incorrectly on a stone. This might be a simple math error... but how to fix a mistake carved into stone?
How about the old carve-out-a-chunk trick? Worked like a charm for the skilled carver.
Until that perfect fitting piece falls out.
If a word was spelled wrong....
just keep going and hope no one notices?
Forget a letter or two?
Use that classic ^ symbol and squeeze them in.
Oh Man!
There's two O's in Dinsmoor?
Another problem may have been...
"I really don't like how that particular element in a carving turned out."
The answer: Erase it!
There are countless mistakes and their remedies caught in stone. I never cease to be amused at what I find. It also reminds me how thankful I am for spell check!
Even the mistakes are of interest, and tell a story. I esp. love the little additions to a slate stone, squeezed in. If you ever have laid out lettering, there are tricks to it, and you can totally overlook spelling while concentrating on spacing. lol Measure twice, or in this case proof read twice, or three times, cut once.
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