| |
The annual symposium is held in the heart of Indiana limestone country.
Participants set up in a large field at the Bybee Stone Company located in
Elletsville, 5 miles from Bloomington. For a week, June 5-11, 2005,
carvers of all levels learned about the rich limestone carving tradition
from professionals who have an extensive background in creating limestone
sculpture. For more information on the Symposium or to enroll in the next
session, see the information links below. |
|
 |
 |
 |
|
I started with a stone 72"x16"x12". The first thing I did was to split the
stone with wedges into two more manageable pieces each 3 feet tall.
|
Day 1: I began by cutting parallel rows with a diamond saw, then
breaking them off with a hammer and point chisel to establish the rough
profile. I then began rounding the block off with a point chisel in a 1"
pneumatic hammer. |
Day 2: I continued roughing out the figure with the point chisel and a
large rondel-shaped tooth chisel.
I continually took measurements from the clay maquette placed next to
the stone. |
 |
 |
 |
|
Day 3: The figure is slowly beginning to emerge. Using proportional
calipers (scale 1:4) I measure off the clay model to locate proper size
and proportions on the carving. |
Calvin Babich from
Toledo
OH, another symposium participant, carves a large vase.
He plans to add flowers carved from colorful stones attached on steel
stems coming out to the top. |
Josiah
Updegraff from Des Moines IA roughs out a kneeling figure. |
 |
 |
 |
|
Day 4: Wednesday. I start to define some of the details in the figure. I
am doing most of the shaping with a toothed rondel and a toothed U gouge. |
Limestone is soft enough that you can draw the shapes and follow the
contours with the pneumatic hammer and sharp carbide tipped chisels |
Back view. |
 |
 |
 |
|
Bill Kolok from
Owensboro,
KY carves a composition that includes an antique hammer
and wrench. Here he uses a bushing tool with the pneumatic hammer to add
texture. |
Kathleen Houston -Stoke from
Columbus
OH is intrigued with the organic shapes of bones. Using
a cervical bone from a deer as inspiration, she punches a hole through the
center of the stone to hollow it out. |
Pat Knoff-Vincent from
Bloomington, a
jewelry maker by trade, tackles her first stone carving. The larger scale
was intimidating at first, but she quickly learned how to use stone
carving tools. |
 |
 |
|
Instructor and master carver Ned Cunningham cuts the profile for a table
top with a diamond saw. |
Don Parsissons from
Akron
OH begins roughing out a second sculpture after almost
completing his first one shown standing in the background. |
 |
 |
 |
|
Sharon Fullingim from Socorro NM creates a relief carving of swimming
salmon. She plans to place the carving in an adobe wall at her home. The
relief carving will simulate a window. |
I decide to split the remaining half of my original 6' long block to make
it easier to handle. I drilled holes on both sides of the stone and
inserted slips and wedges. I hoped to use the pattern of the drill holes
as design elements in another carving. |
Limestone splits easiest when splitting parallel with the bed of the
stone. Here I tried splitting perpendicular to the bed, something that is
less predictable. The stone didn't cooperate, but did leave some
interesting shapes for future sculptures. |
 |
 |
|
Thursday: Instructor and professional sculptor Dale Enochs,
www.daleenochs.com, offered me an opportunity to help him
install a fountain sculpture he created at the home of a private
collector in
Indianapolis.
Using the winch on the back of his truck, Dale and his friend
Drew unloaded the large stone sections. |
The
'tricky part' was how to get a 600 lb. stone section up a flight of
stairs. Dale built a ramp which enabled us to pull/push the four
wheel cart with the stone strapped to it up to the patio where the
fountain was to be installed. |
 |
 |
|
Dale bolts the first stone section onto a stainless steel armature
which also holds a large pan that serves as the water reservoir for
the self contained fountain. |
The
fountain is the latest of several sculptures that are already are
installed in the beautiful landscaping of this home. |
 |
 |
|
A
portable aluminum tripod, custom designed by Dale, is used to
maneuver the largest stone into place. |
The
installation is complete. Water bubbles up from the two smaller
stones and cascades down the different levels. |
|
 |
 |
|
Stewart Blay from NYC uses a grinder to level the background of his
relief carving. |
Susan Webster from
Lawrenceburg
KY roughs out her sculpture of a abstract figure. The
model sits on the top of the stone. |
 |
 |
|
Larry Schueckler from
College TX started with
the largest stone of all. A tireless worker, by the end of the week he had
removed about a ton of stone and his crouching figure is began to emerge. |
Amy Brier, Symposium Coordinator and professional sculptor
www.amybrier.com, explained the techniques used to create her latest
sculpture in fused glass and carved limestone. |
|
 |
| |
The figure sat around in my studio for a
long time. Every once in a while I would chip a little more off of it.
After two years, it is finally finished. I tried to contrast smooth
areas against rough tool-marked areas.
I did more 'direct' carving on this figure than is my usual
routine. Before, I have always made clay models to scale and worked out
the
features and proportions of the figure. Then it was just a matter of
reproducing it in the larger stone. This time I made only a small
'thumbnail sketch' clay model and worked out the figure in the stone just by eye. This
method is more satisfying artistically, but slows down the process since I
was constantly reworking areas to correct proportions. |
|
|
