...upon a Falling Star

As promised, I will show more pictures of the previous week's installation of my marble sculpture "Falling Star" in front of the Municipal Complex in Sylacauga, Alabama.

This is a good instructional picture, for "how to do it right". I took the advice of City Works Superintendant Tommy Woolley, and tied a safety band of rigging around the lifting rigging. That would keep the piece from flipping out of it's 'basket' hitch, if it were to become unbalanced. (photo courtesy of Comer Library)

The City provided a crew of men to help with the installation. I am drilling a hole in the donated black granite base for the stainless steel pin of the sculpture. (photo courtesy Comer Library)

I use an extra piece of threaded rod and a square to make sure that the hole is straight, so that the sculpture pin will fit down into it.(photo courtesy Comer Library)

Mayor Sam Wright watched me mix the epoxy. He asked, "Is it showtime?". yes, when the epoxy gets mixed, things need to happen soon. (photo courtesy Tommy Francis)

Tommy Woolley guided the sculpture over to the pedestal. (photo courtesy Comer Library)

Tommy and I guide the sculpture pin into the hole. The Mayor and Ted Spears look on as it happens. (photo courtesy Comer Library)

The sculpture is set on boards that were placed between it and the base (this is to facilitate the removal of the rigging that goes under the sculpture). We are re-tying the rigging around the waist of the sculpture to raise it enough to pull the boards out and put in setting cushions and monument putty. (photo courtesy Tommy Francis)

Next, we warmed up handsful of monument putty to make a water-tight seal between the granite base and the sculpture. There are monument 'cushions' under each corner to make sure that the sculpture sits down level. Ted Spears holds the sculpture steady, while Tommy and I apply a finger sized gasket of putty. (photo courtesy Tommy Francis)

The sculpture is then lowered into its final position. (photo courtesy Comer Library)

...and nothing left to do but smile. (photo courtesy Comer Library)

"Falling Star" lands in Sylacauga, Alabama

The focus of this week's effort was the installation of my sculpture "Falling Star" in front of the Municipal Center in Sylacauga, Alabama.

Meg drove me to Louisville on Tuesday morning, so that I could pick up a flat bed truck from Penske. She snapped this picture of some huge bridge beams that were stopped across the bridge in Indiana.

I took one last hard look at the piece, gave it a final rinse and headed south (about 500 miles).

This Saturn rocket greets visitors as you cross into Alabama on I-65 south.

A black granite base had been donated by a local business. It was a complete and very pleasant surprise. There were 2 professional photographers (and a TV crew) taking pictures of the installation. So, I will post some of their images next week, after they mail me the photos.

I had an empty flat bed truck, after the installation. There was no way that I was going back to Kentucky without a load of their high-quality white marble. This is the quarry at the Alabama Marble Company about 6 miles out of Sylacauga.

These are 5 of the 6 blocks that I brought back. We're both very eager to get into them.

Blocking Out Meg's "Reading Girl"

The main effort for this week was to remove excess stone from Meg's block for her Charles City, Iowa commission. The water that cools our diamond chainsaw will wash off any marks for the cuts, so I have to inscribe the lines with a grinder.

I made a cut 18" deep clear across the front face of the stone.

Then, I made the vertical cut for removing a notch out of the front of the block.

I drove wedges into the vertical cut to split the little bit of stone in the middle that the saw couldn't reach.

I used a pry bar to flip out the waste piece, when it was split free from the main block.

Going....

Going....

Gone! A 4,000 lb. waste piece hits the ground.

Next, I set up for cutting off the big corners. I have inscribed the outside 'box' of the form. You can see the diagonal china marker lines to mark the corners.

I cut off the smaller corner first.

This is the block at the end of the week. Over half of the original 28,000 lbs. has been removed.

Meg went to Terra Haute this week to review a potential sculpture site. While she was there she snapped this picture of their historic, Victorian-style Courthouse.

Meg snapped this shot of a Woodcock (aka 'Timberdoodle') that was sitting on the road leading back to the studio. They're very odd little birds. It did this strange up and down bobbing as it left the driveway. I think it was a warning, possibly for some chicks hiding near by?

...and the infestation of baby raccoons continues....(it's watching its mother very closely).

installing sculptures at Yew Dell Gardens

The main effort for this week was getting ready for the 2nd annual Yew Dell Gardens Outdoor Sculpture Show. The show opened on Friday and it was very successful! There were 65 sculptures by 22 artists and 3 high schools. The opening was attended by over 500 people, with a major portion of the sculptures having sold. We will give more details in a future posting.

Frankie Vessels of Vessels Trucking with a driver, Charlie Williams, showed up at the studio at 8:00 a.m. on Wednesday. Derrick of JBB, inc. showed up with the 23 ton crane truck. We filled the semi with large sculptures, and had to haul a bench on the crane truck. A small sculpture (800 lb.) went in the back of our pick-up.
After making the 2 hour drive to Yew Dell Gardens in Crestwood, Kentucky, we installed Oberon on the entrance mound before loading more sculptures onto the crane.
"Embrace" was the second sculpture that was installed. I'm directing the piece down onto its pin.
It was quite a trick to get the straps out from under the 3,000 lb. sculpture. But, that's nothing compared to what it will take to get them back under, when we remove the works.
Raymond Graf's Lincoln looks on. There's a Matt Weir sculpture in the background. We'll show other works in a separate posting.
Every time that we moved the crane, we had to re-set the outriggers and the heavy wooden 'street pads'. Frankie and Charlie were great help, as was Derrick, the crane operator. It's wonderful to work with experienced people - they all help keep me out of trouble.
The next piece to go in was "Reveal".
Meg's "Wolf and Pups" found a great site, with the dark evergreen backdrop.
But then, the rain showed up. We took shelter under a tree, hoping that it would soon clear up. Eventually, we had to keep going. I think it was Derrick (next to his crane truck) who said "just as well soak it up".
We installed the "Vine Bench" under the sheltering tree. It sold at the opening. The new Marketing intern for Yew Dell Gardens watches our progress.
Going back for seconds. We went back to the parking lot to unload the rest of the sculptures from the semi, onto the crane truck. The access gate was too tight to get the big truck into the gardens, so we had to double handle everything.
Keep in mind that it's still raining - at least the photographer (Meg) had an umbrella. This sculpture "Exodus" sold at the opening, too, so it was all worth it.
Then, we installed Meg's "Sea Lion" out on the lawn.
"Miss Jessel" is flown into her site. She sold at the opening.
Anything worth doing, is worth re-doing. We had to re-set the crane and rigging to move the "Sea Lion" into a better position.
Karla Drover waves goodbye from my "Hand Seat". Karla, of Yew Dell Gardens, was the driving force responsible for pulling this show together.

Meg's Reading Girl rock arrives

We finished the molds for the Home of the Innocents figures this week. I'm sparing you the pictures because it's just more of the same, like the last 2 posts.

On Tuesday, Meg's 2 stones from Reed quarry showed up. Vessels trucking hauled in the 14 ton and 7 ton blocks. Meg is inspecting the stone that will become the Reading Girl for Charles City, Iowa. We are both very happy with the quality of the stone.
We scheduled time between the arrival of the stone and the crane to give us the opportunity to split off the extra 3-1/2 feet of stone off what will be the top. (The stone is lying on its side.)
I drill a series of holes along the line where I want to split the stone, and then hammer in the feathers and wedges until it splits.
A 50 ton crane from Bramer Crane Company of Louisville, arrived in the afternoon. The first task was to move Oberon off the cart. He's going to Yew Dell Gardens next Wednesday, and we need the cart for Meg's commission.
Next, we rigged up the reading girl rock to move it off the truck. It weighed in at 28,000 lbs., but weighed 21,500 lbs. after I split off the extra piece on the end.
We set it on the ground and re-tied the rigging so that we could flip it into its upright position.
Then, we set the rock onto the cart-and-rail system. We will commence work on this project once we are finished with installing our sculptures at Yew Dell Gardens next week.
That was fun! Let's keep moving heavy things while the crane's here. Meg needed her Sea Lion moved up onto higher wooden timbers.
Meg bought this stone to round out the load. I thought that I'd be able to talk her out of it (I thought wrong). It will become a reclining reading girl. She already has some preliminary drawings for it."Well, what about this 6,500 lb piece of scrap from off the end?"

"Nope, go get your own rocks."

We woke up at first light that morning to the familiar trill, trill of baby raccoons - the first ones of the year. When we opened the door to get a snap shot, they dashed inside to explore.