Week 6

I built up a sweat this week with lots of sawing and some chiselling.

This is the back. It is the only bit with any strong grain.

This is the front. Not much to see from this angle really.

The two side views give you a better idea of where I'm heading. I'm quite pleased with what I've achieved this week.



Tempting to just leave it here! It doesn't look anything like an Easter Island Head but is interesting in it's own way!

Week 5

While I think about whether I want to put any finishing touches to the stone sculpture or leave it as it is I started on a new sculpture. Out of wood this time.

I spent almost 2 hours making a maquette out of clay for this project (picture to follow - forgot again).

I also forgot to take pictures of the piece of wood before I started work on it but I only did a little bit of work on it this week.

I made several saw cuts and started some work on the back of the piece with a chisel.

Week 4

This week was 3 hours solid sanding and polishing. Not quite as satisfying as last weeks filing.



I used 3 grades of wet and dry sandpaper. Starting with the coarsest (obviously) and working my way down to the finest.

Then I did some polishing. With Brasso in this case as that was all that was available.

Unfortunately it's not until you start polishing that you realise you haven't done enough sanding in places and have to go back to sanding again. I think it's about as smooth as I want it now though. I don't want it to look machined!

I've decided that it's more or less finished now unless I decide to do something else with the base (as that has not really had any work done on it).

I realised that you might not get an idea of the size of sculpture from any of my previous photos so have included this one with a coffee mug to give an idea of scale.

Week 3

A very satisfying week despite the fact it was 3 hours solid filing. No sawing or chiselling (which is frankly more enjoyable).

This is the view from the back which I didn't file to such a sharp point as the front. I was a bit afraid that I might make the point at the top too fragile and break it off. That would be very depressing after all this work.

Hopefully what I'm trying to create is becoming a bit clearer now?!?

This is the front view. Fairly symmetrical I hope?!?

For the last 10 minutes of this week I changed to a less course file to make the surface smoother. I'm undecided what to do with the base at this point. I might just leave it as it is to illustrate what the shape and texture of the stone before I started to work on it. I could do something with the upper surface to make it look something like water (I don't know how though). Or possibly making the shape more like the upper part and smoothing it all off.

Week 2

Started to use a large file to create the shape here. It's amazing how much of stone the file removes. Apparently it's better than using a chisel because chiselling sends shockwaves through the stone and could spoil the finish of the completed sculpture.

I lowered the base a bit more at the beginning of week 2 by taking another section out with the saw. I decided the base looked too chunky.

The felt tip line was to stop me taking too much off one side or the other with the file.

Week 1

Unfortunately I don't have any photos of the piece of stone before I started. These pictures were actually taken at the beginning of week 2 of the course as I didn't have my camera with me the 1st week.

We were asked to look at the piece of stone from all angles before we did anything and see if it suggested anything to us (real or surreal). It immediately suggested a shape from nature to me which hopefully will be recognisable as I work on it.

I had cut out 1 large piece of the stone with a saw at this stage but placed it back just for the photo. I had also experimented using the chisel on the back.

It is (apparently) a piece of white English alabaster weighing about 7Kg.

Quite a soft stone.

Just in the edge of the picture here is the maquette I made out of clay before starting on the stone. This was made by cutting a lump of clay approximately the same shape as the piece of stone (but smaller). I should take some seperate photos of the maquette.