Carving on Mother's Day

Mother's Day turned out to be a glorious day for carving.  The weather was sunny and breezy, warm enough to be comfortable but not too hot.  I couldn't think of a better way to spend the afternoon, than to work on refining and sanding these stacked stone forms.  I also drilled the holes out a bit larger to accommodate a thicker support rod, cut the threaded rod to the right length, and made a new top piece to sit at a steeper angle.  It doesn't show in this picture, but I also had time to work on the two-tiered base, trimming off the rough surfaces and putting a bevel along the edges to protect them from chipping.  So now everything is ready for the final stages of sanding.  Hope I can get back to this some time on Thursday or Friday afternoon. 

Now We're Gettin' Somewhere

It's exciting when the piece actually starts looking like I had envisioned in the sketch.  There's still a long way  to go, but we're definitely gettin' there!

Using the Air Hammer

This is the fun part. I love carving with the air hammer.  I've moved the work to my outdoor site further away from the main buildings, where the noise of the compressor and the air tools are less likely to disturb other people.  One at a time, each piece gets rounded and shaved away by the chisel tool.  The hardest part is finding the time to get out here and carve when the weather is cooperating.

The Rough Stack

So now I've got the holes drilled in the pieces at various angles, so that when they are stacked together over a piece of threaded rod, they are generally in the placement I had in mind.  Still lookin' pretty rough though . . .

Dusty Work

Stone carving is such dusty work, and heavy too.  I could have been a painter or a musician, but no, I chose to get into the messy, hands-on stuff.  Here I am doing some of the rough cuts for the pieces of my sculpture, using an angle grinder with a diamond cutting blade.

Getting Started

Here I am out on the back patio of the studio, looking at my sketch and figuring out some measurements. I had this idea that I wanted to create a stack of stones - the smooth, rounded kind that you find at the beach. I wanted them to look graceful and elegant, in a position where they wouldn't be able to balance in reality. I'm trying to capture that moment just before they inevitably slide out from each other and end up scattered on the ground.

My First Blog Entry

Greetings, friends!

For quite a while I've been wanting to design my own web site.  And I still intend to do that.  But for now, this seems like an easy way to get started.  My goal is to create an online portfolio that can be viewed by friends, family and others who are interested in my work.  I also want to share my thoughts about the work, and plans and ideas that I'm excited about.  For now I plan to keep the focus on my sculpture, but later I may decide to add posts about other creative work that I'm doing as well.  Right now I'm working on a stone carving, so keep checking back to see photos and updates about how it's going.