Power!

These two photos show progress that is very rapid compared to what I'm used to with just the hammer and chisel. The single photo shows the stone after one hour of work with a diamond-blade grinder and pneumatic hammer and tooth chisel. The double one shows two views of what I did today in two hours with just the pneumatic hammer and again, the tooth chisel. It's true that the finishing stages will be just as slow as before, but I'll sure be able to get to that point more quickly.

What IS this stuff??

The above photos show work on a piece of stone I picked up in Montana, outside Chico Hot Springs. I had high hopes for this stuff because there is a literally endless supply - free for the taking. Well, my diamond blade would cut the stuff just fine, and the diamond cup wheel did a good job of shaping it, but after that, the rest of my tools were completely ineffectual due to the hardness of the stone. I did a little research and found a geological summary of the area with a map and here's the description of what I was working on. "Dacite and dacite porphyry (Eocene) -- Pink to light-gray, fine-grained dacite, and feldspar-hornblende dacite porphyry". The bottom line is, this is an igneous rock similar to basalt and I'd need carbide-tipped tools to work it. Since finishing would be equally difficult, I think it's time to forget about it and move onto the piece of limestone in the picture, which has been patiently waiting for some attention for a couple of months!

Addition to the Metopia series

For the latest metal piece, I thought I'd try some galvanized steel flashing I had in my shop. It's quite thin and I had to strengthen one of the edges with some heavier material which is actually more expensive than aluminum sheet, which surprised me. The finished work is 40" x 10.5" x 1.75" and again, weighs just a pound or two - haven't really checked. This last is one of the appealing aspects of this sheet metal work: they look quite substantial, but will hang on any small nail without trouble, and they
are easy to transport and ship - unlike the stones.

The above photo sequence shows the process of getting a 200lb piece of limestone up onto the carving bench. This was March 31st and the weather was great, but I didn't take advantage of a beautiful April since I was busy working metal. So the stone still awaits. Since then, I've sawed off the top third of the stone since I didn't think a carved piece could survive being that thin relative to its length. I'll start on this soon.

New metal piece, May 16th

Here is a piece I finished just today, one that took about 4 times as long to finish as I expected. It is painted and then abraded, and by showing a photo of it before painting, I expect many to say, "I liked it better before the paint!". Too bad 'cause it's my piece and I wanted it painted! Seriously, the bare aluminum was not consistent with my idea for this one whose title is, "Armored Low Rhombo". It will be mounted on a 1/2" thick, small square of MDF. Dimensions: 15" x 15" x 4.5". Weight: 1lb. 11oz. I thought about hanging it on the wall, but trying that out revealed an interesting phenomenon: The shape began to lose visual volume and became an unusual perspective representation of a cube, losing much of its "object-ness". The effect was compelling, but again, not what I was interested in achieving. So, the piece will be displayed horizontally, as though hovering close to whatever horizontal surface it sits on.

New metal piece

This piece, "Post-Structuralist Dilemma #2", is a reprise of a piece I did in 2008 that happened to sell immediately. I've been wanting to work with the forms and structure of the first one because they are still of interest to me after a considerable time. It has a core of 1/2" MDF covered with steel and features details of brass and copper. An aluminum-covered board holds it all together, though most of that component is not seen. Size is 26" x 6" x 2". I wasn't sure if the steel was going to work out for this type of piece, so I started small, hence its modest size. I think I can use steel, building on this experience, to make some larger scale works.

Art Deco Pull Toy

Another pull toy is finished. This one's a 6" cube with art deco encrustations. I like the appearance of the rivet-less construction (although I like the rivets too), but one of the internal braces came loose while I was attaching the wheels, hence the two rivets on one side. So, the next one may feature really small screws to make it structurally sound. This piece, except for the wheels, is all aluminum.