Lost in the Fog

This week involved 2 big road trips.

There was an all-day fog on Monday when I went to the Owensboro Museum of Fine Art. It was also foggy on Friday's trip. (photo Meg White)

Friday, I went to Victor Oolitic Limestone Company near Bloomington, Indiana. This is how they cut quarry blocks into slabs. It's called a Belt Saw, and it moves down a geared track to get into position for a new cut.

This is a vacuum lift for moving individual slabs.

The 2 blocks on the left are for St. Theresa Cemetery, which is the main reason for the trip. I rounded out the load with the 2 eight inch slabs, that weigh about 4,000 lb. apiece. I only use my old truck (shown) for handling stuff around the studio. I rented a flat bed truck from Penske for hauling the load.

It's rained constantly for the rest of the week. Meg snapped this photo of water backing up from the flooded Ohio River, in the swamp below our house.

Meg snapped these photos during the freezing fog on Monday. ( ...send dead flowers every morning...)

(...send dead flowers by the mail...)

(....send dead flowers to my wedding...)

A New Decade

The temperature hasn't been above the freezing mark, ever since the decade began.

Thursday, we got about 2 inches of snow. (photo Meg White)

I was glad that I had indoor work to do. Meg needed an armature for her Terre Haute commission. Steve McMillen helped us out with the welding and fabrication.

We used steel pipe to make the armature, which was cut to length with a chop saw.

The armature had lots of complex angles. We constantly checked our progress against the scale clay maquette. Besides taking all the photos on this post, Meg transposed all the measurements from the scale model to the full scale armature and directed our progress. See her blog for more details.

The sculpture consists of a family group of 4 figures rendered 2/3 life-size. The first armature to be made was for the woman.

After making the armature for the man, we began to fasten everything to a steel base plate. We added metal props under the 'seats' of the Man and Woman, for strength and stability.

Once we had the armatures for the Man and Woman in proper relationship, we fabricated and added the Boy.

Then, we added the Girl.

After adjusting all 4 figures to their final position, we cut and welded braces to strengthen the assemblage. Meg will add at least 200 lbs. of clay to create the sculpture. The armature must support that and the weight of the mold.

Steve finished up the welding, and the armature is now ready for Meg to add foam.

...and now, for something completely different.... bird tracks in snow. (photo Meg White)

more rocks, yes please!

On December 17th, Jerome Morgan of Vessels Trucking brought me about 44,000 lbs. of Indiana Limestone that I'd bought from Victor Oolitic Limestone Company of Bloomington, Indiana.

Introducing 'Rock One'...

...and 'Rock Two'.

Several dustings of snow, freezing temperatures and Christmas 'stuff' kept me from getting the stones unloaded. But, I finally got around to drilling them into 5 separate pieces of about 8,000 lbs. apiece.

To split a large stone block into smaller pieces, you drill a series of holes about 8 inches apart. Then you put in these metal 'feathers and wedges'.

Then, you hammer the wedges to increase the pressure on the feathers. These stones were about 3 feet thick. Nothing was happening, so Meg goaded me by saying that I hammered like a little girl. "I am NOT a little girl!"

CRAAA...

...RAAACK!

Derrick of J.B.B. inc. of Hardinsburg, Kentucky showed up this morning to unload the stones. It was below freezing, with a brisk wind, but a great way to end the year, with all the potential that these blocks hold for the next year.

So many rocks, so little time.

A Race to the Finish

I've been working full speed to finish the benches for Roanoke, Virginia.

This is the progress on side A.

This is the view from the other side. The top square shape has been formed and polished. Most of the sculpture is looking as it should. I will use the remaining time to thin and refine both benches.

These are the 2 completed stone bases with their stainless steel pins.

Going up! Meg zoomed in on this guy hanging steel about 100 feet up in the air. He's working on the new arena in downtown Louisville, and he'd just walked out on the beam that he's sitting on, to unhook it from the crane.

Meanwhile...back at the farm. "If you'll be my dixie chicken, I'll be your Tennessee lamb..."

Roanoke Strength Bench

After completing the tasks for the final installation of Meg's Home of the Innocents bronzes, it was time to shift gears and return to the Roanoke Highland Bench project.

This is an 8,000 lb. block of Indiana Limestone, that will become the 2nd bench entitled "Strength". (that's a tape measure and the scale drawing on top of the block).

The design was tranferred onto the block, then, incised with the small diamond-bladed grinder (shown). There is extra length to this block that needs to be removed. I drilled a series of holes along the line where I want to split the stone.

Then, I placed 'feathers and wedges' into the holes.

Gently beating on the wedges puts pressure on the feathers, which causes the stone to split. (an old trick, but a good trick).

I used the diamond chainsaw to cut out a section above the seat of the bench.

The preform now weighs less than half of its original 8,000 lbs. I used the crane truck to move it into the studio.

This is the 'side A' view of the progress by the end of this week.

This is the progress on side B.

Everyday, I lay down a thick layer of stone dust, and every night the bugs make tracks all over the studio floor. Some seem to know right where they're going - others cut a few 'doughnuts' along the way.

Victor Oolitic stone quarry

The main task for this week involved finishing the Home of the Innocents project. But, there was a gap in the action on Tuesday, and we used the opportunity to make a trip to Victor Oolitic near Bloomington.

This picture shows the radical difference between the blue-tinted St. Louis layer of limestone that lies over the top of the buff Salem Limestone layer that yeilds the tight-grained Indiana Limestone. The St. louis layer is full of cracks and seams, and is only good for gravel.

It's difficult to get a perspective on the scale of their operation. From this hill top, you can see about a 100 acres filled with quarry blocks and cut stone.

There is a huge selection of quarry blocks - row after row. I wanted to find 40,000 lbs of stone to make up a semi load. I was overwhelmed with choices, as it's all good stone.

While I searched the stacks for stone to buy, Meg photographed this strange stone. Petrified Sliced Bread?

This 24,000 lb. piece is 1 of 2 blocks that I found.

The next day, we received the granite bases for the Home of the Innocents project.

There was this ring around the sun, while we unloaded the stones.

It was late Saturday afternoon, before we finished attaching the 6 plaques and the 2 bronze sculptures.

I was in the mood to party! - and conveniently...Steve McMillen was hosting a Halloween bash across the road. About 20 Jack-o-lanterns led the way to the bonfire.

Thor made an appearance. Hopefully, I can get better pictures of the other guest, like Pope John, Captain Jack Sparrow, and so many strange and wonderful creatures.

Things got weird...(let's do it again!)