Last piece of stone installed. Now we are ready for the plants

Paper Sails - 2016

Delivery Day!

Preparation for Installation

 

Seduced by the polish!

From Blue to Brown in 6 stages of rubbing and sanding! 

The Last Push!

The end is in sight and its the last push now to polish the ragstone to a beautiful luster.

 

 

Upside Down & Back to Front

Grinding and more grinding today! Even thought it's the underside of the bench I'm working on and no one will ever see it, I still must have the surface perfect! I'll start drilling the fixing holes for the legs next and finally get it upright, to its correct height. I'm expecting the next stage to be a lot slower as I know I will need to lift it off the legs and test it quite a few times until it sits solid and firm.

Making Waves

I have been adding the 'ripple'detail to the bench today. Now the polishing can begin. The stone will change colour as I polish the surface over the next few days from the silvery white to a unique palette of blue, brown and green!

Take a Seat!

With the sun on my back, progress is being made with the 1.8m stone bench.

The first profile has been cut and now the process of emptying the stone curves begins. The only way to do this is by removing long thin sections, cut to a depth of 2 inches and then repeating the process. It always surprises me exactly how much stone you can and need to actually remove to get to your desired form!

Curves and Line

The long block of rag is now in position to be drawn on and the removal of stone can begin.
At the very start when creating a large stone sculpture, the awkward weight and volume of a quarry block always gets me excited! I know the objective of removing and emptying the stone of all the parts I don't want will soon transform it from being something rigid and solid into something, lighter softer and malleable looking, it just takes time, patience and a lot of dust.

Folding Stone

The small origami boat is nearly finished and is being carved from a block of Portland Limestone. I have to be mindful of the folds and returns on the design so not to allow for the collection of water or debris when it is fixed in place. I have modified the folds and kept them shallow and robust rather than thin and deep like on paper maquettes.

 

Refining the Design!

After listening to feedback regarding the first initial design I have reworked the idea, changing the scale of certain elements and hopefully increasing the seats appeal!