John Carmichael

As far as I know, I am the only stone sundial maker in the United States. I also make colorful porcelain on steel sundials, painted wall sundials, and stained glass sundials. We ship them all over the world to home owners, schools, parks and businesses. Additionally, I create designs for people who wish to make their own sundials, and I often work with architects and contractors who build them. Some are so big passengers can read them in passing aircraft!

Mostly, I make several different types, shapes and sizes of large stone sundials for placement on garden pedestals. I spend many hours meticulously cutting, shaping, carving and polishing them entirely by hand from individually selected slabs of thick, beautiful flagstone from Arizona and Utah. I carve and engrave the stone with diamond tools and chisels to make all sorts of different artwork and useful scientific markings. I paint the engraved portions of the stone and seal and polish the stone to a beautiful, mirror-like and weather-resistant finish. I won't go into the countless steps it takes to make one of my dials, although I can tell you that it takes a minimum of four weeks to make each one.