I received some good news yesterday. My sculpture "Peace Lilly" was selected for inclusion in the Louisville Visual Arts juried exhibition. "Peace Lilly" is carved from Indiana Limestone. This is the first time I have participated in the open studio weekend. I am happy that my piece will be included in the juried portion of the weekend. The Jurors were from Cincinnati, Nashville and Lexington. Now we just need to get it sold!
"Peace Lilly"
I have been invited to join Karen Terhune and William Duffy in a sculpture show at Kore Gallery in Louisville, KY. This show is all abstract work in stone. This is the first time I have shown at Kore. The opening reception is next Friday, October 13, 2017 from 5pm to 8pm. If you are in Louisville, come by and see the 10 pieces I have in the show.
Here is a short time lapse to show the progress on the large Figure of "Cor Liberum". She has lost about 7000 pounds and is finally starting to take shape.
Removing this 3300 pound chunk of Indiana Limestone from the big figure of "Cor Liberum", my Norton Hospital commission, made a big difference. I ordered the stone a little larger than needed. I was moving along ok, but wanted to move a little quicker. I used a hammer drill and feathers and wedges to split out a large piece of stone. Splitting it out is one thing, removing it afterwards is another. One of my favorite tools is the pry bar I am using in the video to get room to slide my straps under the stone. Then the gantry makes small work of a big job.
I have a shop made gantry crane that I have been using to move some of the smaller pieces of stone around the studio. However, I do not trust it with more than 3000 pounds. That is not going to get it with the two blocks sitting under the crane in the picture below. They both started out at 17000 pounds. They will become the central figures of my Norton commission, "Cor Liberum". Once I get more of the off fall off what is now the tops of the stone, I will need to stand them up to be sure they fit together just so. This is critical to the success of the piece. The central negative space that they create forms a heart. The only way to be sure they actually do that is by setting them up and making sure!
I love the whole sculpture process. However, there are some moments that are just a little more fun than others. One of those is when you are splitting off a large section of stone from the main body. Last night, I was working on the smaller figure for my Norton commission. The stone came in at 8' long. The small figure is only going to be a little over 5'. So, I had a lot of stone to remove. This video shows how I used a drill and feathers and wedges to get rid of 2000 pounds of stone in about an hour.
A set of feathers and wedges
Force is an amazing thing! That force is the basic principle applied when using Feathers and Wedges to split stone. The three piece tool set applies force by hammering the tapered wedge between two feathers that have the opposite taper. Simply drill a hole, insert the feathers and pound in the wedge. The force will literally split the stone in a linear
The feathers and wedges inserted in the drill holes.
Now for the trick. For those who have used the feathers and wedges, you will probably agree that trying to cut a square or rectangle out of a larger block while maintaining a 90 degree cut from the larger block is difficult. Most of the time it will break in a 1/4 moon shape as opposed to the 90 degree break. That is why I am so happy with the break I got tonight. It broke just the way I planned!
The split rock moved out with a pry bar a little to give room for the slings.
The block removed with a gantry crane.
The block sitting on another cut clock.
I over drilled the vertical surface so that there was much less holding it in place. I also used a 3' drill bit to drill the majority of the way through the block. I then went to the other side and did the same thing there. While I was drilling, I started applying the feathers and wedges without pounding them in too hard. This allowed a longer period of force to be applied to the stone, I gradually moved along the drill holes to apply more and more force without working too fast. It worked!
I am now listing carving stone on my website, www.mikemccarthysculptor.com, under the Art Work drop down. Below are two of the blocks that are currently listed on the site. I will primarily have Indiana Limestone for sale for now. However, I plan to add other stones as they become available. I will also be listing some gently used tools on this page as well so check back often.
Block 101 - aprox 46lbs. - 9" x 5" x 12" - $15
Block 102 - aprox 90lbs. - 10" x 8" x 12" - $20