Hand to Hand

I moved the preformed Hand into the studio at the beginning of the week, as I knew that more freezing weather was on the way. In fact, we received another inch of snow on Saturday (I've had enough of winter!).
The task for the week involved checking measurements between the plaster model hand and...

the large stone hand. Back and forth - from one hand to the other. In the foreground is the only tool that I used this week. It's an air hammer with a small chisel for ripping off heavy areas, and a wide chisel for smoothing out and refining the form. The pace has slowed down as I get closer to the finished shape.

There is a reference line all around the model. The line lays directly under the outside points.

I drew a similar set of reference lines on the concrete floor of the studio under the stone piece. They correspond to the other lines on a scale of 4:1, which is pretty easy to work with. We've made enlargements on stranger scales like 7:1. For that we had to use an enlargement scale wheel (ordered from www.woodcarverssupply.com). Otherwise, it would be hard to calculate things like 7 times 2-5/8 inches.

Time on my Hand

Not having power at the studio for over a week, drove me to make some real progress - to make up for lost time, I guess. So, I set aside the work in progress on Nexus, and began roughing out the next project which is a large hand that is intended as a functional seat.

This is the 1/4 scale plaster model for the new sculpture. The "plus" marks are on the outside points. I'll find those points on the block first, by measuring from reference lines.

The next step is to remove the extra length from the block.

I drilled holes into the block, inserted 'feathers and wedges' and...

....split off the extra piece.

The next step was to grind off the rough surface and determine the outside points. You can see the plus marks that are the outside points for the end, top and back.

There's a big corner that needs to come off behind the fingers (to the right).

Measure twice - cut once. It's better to take off a little at a time, than to take off too much.

I moved around to the front, because there is a lot of stone that needs to come out of the palm.

I've determined where the pinkie will be, and have moved more stone out of the palm.

I'm beginning to find the other fingers.

After about a week and a half of frenzied work, I've changed a 6,000 lb. rectangular block into a 3,000 lb. preform for the Hand Seat.

ICE STORM 2009 !!!!!

We got slammed last week with the worst ice storm in living memory, for our region. Over 1.3 million people lost their electric power, and many will be without for weeks. The temperatures have been subfreezing for most of that time. We got our power back after 6 days, but our hearts go out to those still without and the linemen repairing all the downed lines and poles. It's going down to near zero tonight. It's the linemen who have it the toughest, having to work out in these conditions. Meg took over 700 pictures during this event; all the pictures on this posting were taken by her.

Tuesday, January 27 began the event with about an inch and a half of sleet. Then freezing rain fell all through the night adding an inch of clear ice on everything. It was two inches thick in places like Muhlenburg and Grayson Counties. Then we got about two inches of snow on top for Wednesday morning.

Ice coated last years flowers...

...and this years buds.

I'd never seen ice hang in rows of icicles, like it did this time. It's all that extra weight that brought down the power lines and lots of trees.

The first order of business was survival. I was completely unprepared. We got lucky when my neighbor, Steve McMillen, let us have some of his firewood. I'm taking the wheelbarrow over to get a load.

Later that day, Steve brought over about 2 days worth of wood in the loader of his tractor. Then he cleared off some of our driveway. That was super nice and unexpected; we really owe him, big time. That big limb, in the foreground, is where we normally park our car. Meg wanted to go out Tuesday, over the sleet, to do errands. I was at odds with her about going out on the slick roads, but it saved our car. It was too slick to get back up the driveway (lucky, lucky).

On Tuesday, while we were out doing errands, Meg took this picture of our sleet covered road back to our studio.

This is the exact same view, the next day, after the ice and snow fell.Portions of the road back to the studio were unrecognizable. It looked like a deer path winding through the woods, rather than a road that we bring semi's and cranes down.

The woods looked like a war zone. It's been hard on the trees for the last 2 years. First a straight line wind that swiped the region, then a hard freeze late in a spring that burnt the new leaves, the remains of Hurricane Ike last September, and now this.

I thought that I'd seen every form of ice and snow, but the freezing fog on Thursday night was a new one on me. It left everything up at the studio looking fuzzy with a coating of large ice crystals.
But enough about ice! Let's end this posting on a warmer note. We kept warm, cooked and heated water for cleaning, the old fashion way. I was glad to leave the 1800's behind and rejoin the 21st century with the return of power on Monday night. Be sure to check out Meg's blog as she posts some great images.

Cold, Cold, Cold!

It's only been above the freezing point for two days in the last two weeks.

I took advantage of one of those warm days to install the finished sculpture "Reveal" in the sculpture garden.

"Reveal" is Indiana Limestone with Brazilian White Marble inlays. It measures 6'-9" high by 3' by 3' and weighs approximately 2,500 lb. It represents the discovery of hidden beauty - the revealing of inner mysteries. It was inspired by geodes, specifically amethyst 'cathedrals'.

Meg took these photos of enormous ice crystals that formed recently in the grass of our sculpture garden.

Ice Nine

Rocky Horror

Big Cave Hollow

It's been VERY cold most of the week, with temperatures dropping below zero on a couple nights.However, it was warm enough on Monday to get the crane truck started and set the finished Alabama Marble sculpture outside. This is the B side of the marble sculpture "Falling Star". It measures 7 feet 9 inches high by 3 feet by 3 feet, and weighs approximately 1,600 lbs. Today, Meg and I hiked up to Big Cave Hollow in the Yellowbank Wildlife Management Area. We wanted to see if there were any icicles after the big freeze. You can see why it's called Big Cave Hollow. Meg is in the bottom of the photo, for scale. Some of the exposed Sandstone walls of the cliffs were eroded into wild, honeycombed shapes.

Getting into it. It's still possible to find green living things, even in the depth of winter. Meg explores the micro world with her camera. Close to the Edge.

Big Cave Hollow has a variety of overhanging rock ledges. It's one of our favorite places in Yellowbank.

Ice, on the Rocks

BRRRRR!!!!The light snow on Wednesday put an end to working outside for the rest of the week. These 3 stone sculptures are Meg's.

I'd made pretty good progress on Nexus, if you compare the pictures from last Saturday.

This is the front view.

I finished the week inside, working on Oberon. Here's what he looked like by the end of the week.

A New Year & A New Sculpture Project

The weather finally came back up above the freezing mark, and I took advantage of it by starting a new project in a block of stone that was outdoors.

This block of Indiana Limestone measures 5-1/2 feet long (which will become the height) by 3 feet by 1-1/2 feet thick. I've transferred the design onto the block from a scale drawing of the design. I used the diamond blade on the 4 inch grinder to inscribe the lines.

This is the design as inscribed onto the other side. This sculpture is titled "Nexus", which is the connection, or bond, between members of a group. The block is lying on its side and needs to be stood upright. But, I removed waste stone from the outline of the design, to make it lighter and easier to handle. This is the view from the other side.
I've continued to define the main shapes, while it is lying on its side. I stood the roughed out sculpture upright using our crane truck.

This is the view of the front side at the end of the week. If the weather is reasonable, I'll continue work on this project. If it rains or goes subfreezing again, I'll retreat into the studio and continue carving on the big head.

2008 was a fairly decent year for us - I hope that this new year will be as good. This project is an exciting way to start off the year.