Hi Frank et al, The Houghton Hall sundials were made by Vitramet Europe Ltd. (http://www.vitrameteuropeltd.com/). I notice that one of the dials actually features in the photomontage that heads their homepage. Although Vitramet have some facilities in the UK, the Houghton Hall dials were actually enamelled in Mexico(!) because of their size (1320mm diameter or around 53.5"). I only had to deal with the UK office, I'm pleased to say. I don't know how much bigger they could go. One nice feature is that the gold lines feature real gold particles which are ground up in the paste enamel and then fired in - they do have a cheaper option though! One of the dials (the N face) had to be in two pieces to allow it to be assembled around the original 1727 gnomon which is fixed into the stonework behind the dial. Thus if you wanted to make a dial which was bigger than Vitramet's oven, it would be possible to assemble it from separate panels mounted edge-to-edge. Regards, John D ----------------------------------
Frank King <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Dear Patrick, Your short message is a mine of information... > > I am fairly sure they (the dials on St Margaret > > of Antioch's Ch) ARE enamel! You are quite right to refer to this place as "the Church of S. Margaret of Antioch" and, likewise, I should have referred to "the Collegiate Church of S. Peter in Westminster" rather than the vernacular Westminster Abbey! I must try harder! As far as I know, the latter has no dials (though I put one in the street close to its Chapter House) whereas the former has four. Even more interestingly you say: > Yes, they are enamel.... > They are huge too - 8ft 6ins in diameter. This measurement raises further questions. John Carmichael explained that the biggest oven that his suppliers use will accommodate a maximum size dial of 46" square. The Margaret of Antioch dials are over twice that size. I wonder whether Brookbrae could still do a job that big. If so, they may have a customer! Frank --------------------------------------------------- https://lists.uni-koeln.de/mailman/listinfo/sundial
--------------------------------------------------- https://lists.uni-koeln.de/mailman/listinfo/sundial
