Home Alone!

Meg had to fly down to Baton Rouge for the dedication of her bronze fountain group. I'm sure that she'll post pictures of that trip on her blog soon. That left me home alone for the whole week (not that I'm complaining). I don't envy her as I'd rather be in the studio, than giving a speech and attending receptions.

Work resumed all week on the Temple benches. I had to carve the tops for the benches, after finishing the bases last week. I've been hoarding this slab of Indiana Limestone for a special project. It is unusually tight- grained with a subtle curving vein pattern (which doesn't show in the photo above).

I retrieved the slab from the stone yard with the crane truck. Then, I made shallow holes where I wanted to split the slab.

Up to my old tricks again, I split the slab into the 3 bench tops and a scrap piece that will be used in a future project.

Tabula Rasa. A blank preform section from the split slab will be carved into the bench top for the Water bench.

I start with the bottom first, so that I'll only have to flip it once. I've drilled 2 holes for stainless steel pins that will hold the bench together.

After finishing the bottom, I flipped the piece over and began the carving on the top.

At this point, I've carved and partially sanded the undulating surface of the bench top. I've also carved out the inner surface where I will add chisel movements that will simulate water currents.

I finished the top and set it to the side. Then, I retrieved the base and drilled it for the pins.

This is the nearly completed Water bench. It is sitting on top of the preform for the Fire bench, which I will begin Monday morning.

I started the Air bench, in the same fashion - bottom first.

This design has holes that are carved through the corners. I wanted to make sure that I was able to get them all carved out, before spending a lot of time on the rest of the piece.

Once all four corners were safely carved, I flipped the stone. (restless rock).

And skipping way ahead...here is the nearly completed Air bench. I will supply detail shots of the inner carvings on next week's posting, when I should be finished completely with this project. The Air bench has a bushed texture that simulates clouds. There is also a forked chisel texture that was used extensively in the Water bench.

The weather was great this week for carving outside. However, it has now turned cold, which will make working outside less pleasant. Oh well...it is November.