Friday 18 November 2011

Stone-cleaning and an Asian dating agency

I thought I would show you this picture of recent activity (a rare thing) at my workshop, because the post before last was about how black all the buildings used to be in Bath about 35 years ago. They were all cleaned using exactly the same method as I am employing here to clean this stone capitol up with - sprays of water.

I bought 4 marble pillars at auction, and they came with two sets of stone caps and bases, so I am making two more from new, then 'dirtying' them down a bit (using pigments) to match the originals, which are being cleaned up to meet halfway before they are installed in an internal environment where they never would have got so dark brown. In case you are wondering, it only takes two or three hours of this treatment to bring them to the right surface condition. No sand-blasting here, Cro, but I do use a sandblaster if I am faking a piece of stone that has to be artificially aged. A couple of seconds with a sand-blaster puts about 250 years on a piece of pre-damaged, soft stone, then all it needs is some colouring.

I came across this advert for an Asian dating agency (below) on You Tube last night - I had to check to see if it is genuine, and was gobsmacked to find that it is (otherwise I would not have posted it). It displays a great - if somewhat unkind - sense of humour, I think. Satyajit Ray made an entire film about an arranged marriage in which the young man was duped into wedding a bride who looked a bit like this, and the lad only saw his bride when he lifted her veil in the carriage, after the ceremonies were over. I don't think these agencies existed then...



10 comments:

  1. Maybe she thought the same about the lad. It's a strange way to wed!

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  2. I think arranged marriages have a far higher success rate than western one, but I know you are an exception, Cro.

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  3. I asked an Indian women about arranged marriage once, expressing my concern at its apparent randomness. She looked at me quite puzzled and explained...my parents love me, they would only choose the absolute best person for me. She said she and her husband did not love each other when they married (how could they, they didn't know each other) but they came to love each other because to them it made sense that they should and would.
    Having said all of that, my mother would never have chosen Rudy for me.

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  4. The title of your post today is incongruous to say the least. Buying four marble pillars (as you do) as well - really Tom, I am pleased i blog with you - life is always a surprise.

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  5. if I let my mother arrange a partner for me...I would be wearing a cardigan with an old fart called Eileen on my arm!

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  6. I would never let my daughter marry anyone called Rudy either, J.

    Thanks, Weaver - I appreciate your comments!

    If I let my mother arrange a marriage for me, I would be walking around with the same woman, John - plenty of scope for spit-roasts.

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  7. John. That's my wife you're talking about!!

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  8. This is an intresting blog that you have posted you shares a lot of thing about asian dating, asian dating and asian dating agency.

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  9. . In case you are wondering, it only takes two or three hours of this treatment to bring them to the right surface condition. No sand-blasting here, Asian Dating

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