For want of the cutting of the six ton block of Sherborne stone, am I am forced to begin this little job (which is not needed until around Christmas), and it involves turning two of these...
... into two of these, plus bases to match.
This is how it all begins. You make marks, then you cut the marks away. Then you make more marks again... which you cut away. This is exactly the same process as begun a few thousand years before Ephesus was built, and the tools are pretty much exactly the same as then. That pair of dividers have been in use since about 1750, and are still working very well. Not all antiques that I buy are to be sold on. I have had those dividers for about 30 years.
I feel quite happy leaving these blocks out at night - they weigh more than your average teenage delinquent can pick up on his own, and in any event, they are not known for cooperation in practical matters.
I am off earlier than normal tomorrow, so I will not be indulging myself with a post about Ostia Antica until the evening or next day. All I will say for now is that involves another, dried-up sea.
You are quite the Artisan!
ReplyDeletem.
The dividers are a gorgeous tool/antique.
ReplyDeleteThere's a man in your part of the world called Walter S. Arnold, Mark. He was the first stone-carver in the world to have a website. I was the second.
ReplyDeleteWe used to send each other Christmas cards, but we fell out of touch - it was almost 30 years ago. How time flies.
Wow, you're a stone carver? That's amazing! So cool.
ReplyDeleteThat's a good cap; not as complicated as some of the earlier ones. It makes my old job of cutting widow and door openings fade into insignificance. Good luck with them.
ReplyDeleteActually, my website must have been about 25 years ago, thinking about it. I almost got one job from it - rebuilding the Portland stone interior of a burnt out church on the US Virgin Islands, from a Texan architect. The job was eventually done by someone who lives about 2 miles away from me... grrr...
ReplyDeleteYou obviously haven't been following my other posts on a regular basis, Carolina! That's ok, there are quite a few book-reviews of yours that I haven't read.
Yes, Cro, the style is definitely 'composite' - a term more usually applied to concrete these days.