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Twelfth Annual |
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Limestone Sculpture Symposium 2008 |
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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 8-14, 2008, 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.
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I started with a 1,200 lb block of buff
Indiana limestone measuring 48"x24"x12".
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I
wanted to make two smaller sculptures, so I began drilling a line of holes
in preparation for splitting the stone in half.
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I inserted a set
of slips and wedges and began tapping them down. I could hear the pitch
of the tapping rise as the tension on the stone increased until the block
finally split cleanly in half.
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Ned
Cunningham, an instructor and the fork lift driver, placed one half of my
stone on top of the other to get it at a comfortable height for working.
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To
quickly remove the scrap material from my design, I made parallel cuts
with the 4 1/2" diamond saw, about 1" apart, then broke them off with a
point chisel.
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After removing
most of the scrap material, I began shaping the stone with the point
chisel and a 1" pneumatic hammer.
Note the drill holes in the bottom stone from the
splitting process.
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To create the through-hole in the design, I drilled a series of smaller
holes, then broke out the honeycomb pattern with a chisel.
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To
refine the form, I used a smaller 3/4" pneumatic hammer with rondel shaped
tooth chisels. Closer attention to the maquette and more accurate
measurements were now required.
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By the end of the
third day I had taken the design as far as I wanted to here at the
symposium. I plan to finish it in my studio at home.
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Amy Brier,
the symposium coordinator, demonstrates letter carving.
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Janey
Weston, an instructor
from Edina MN, gives some
helpful tips to first-time carver Wendy Kasmaul-Keeling. Her
husband, Kevin Keeling, is working in the background.
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Frank Young, one of the
symposium founders, carefully carves an relief of a heron and dragonflies.
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Calvin Babich, from Toledo OH, experiments with different textures on a
sculpture that "I am making up as I go along."
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Bill
Holiday, a Bloomington resident, is carving an owl.
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Josiah Updegraff, from Des Moines IA, removes a lot of material quickly
with a diamond blade chain saw.
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Kathleen Houston-Stokes, from Columbus OH, works the outside of one of her
hollowed-out organic forms.
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Sharon
Fullingim, from Socorro NM, begins an ambitious project of carving a
rearing horse.
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Sharon
Licata, from Columbia SC, used a set of clamps to support her stone as she
worked.
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On
Wednesday, I started work on the other half of my stone. Like the first,
the design is
a variation on the mobius strip.
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The profile
was established by again making parallel saw cuts and breaking them of
with a chisel.
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To be sure of
accurately transferring the design to the back of the stone, location
holes were drilled all the way through the stone.
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By the end
of the day on Thursday, the basic shape had been roughed in.
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Back
view.
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On Friday, the
last day of work, I began refining the shapes.
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| At this stage,
having a maquette is invaluable in helping to decipher the twists and
turns of the design. |
I used
proportional calipers to make the 1:3 scale enlargement.
Back view. |
By
the end of the day on Friday, I had taken it far enough that I could
finish it at home. |
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