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tecciztecatl — Ajax carving prog_4
Published: 2009-01-21 23:18:28 +0000 UTC; Views: 3445; Favourites: 41; Downloads: 87
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Description
This is where I got to on the Belvedere torso project at the end of today, making 23 days work so far (92 to go I think!). The image on the left is where I left off at the end of last term. The pointing machine really helps speed things up!Most of the cuts on the middle image are made to specific points using an angle grinder - I haven't done any real carving yet, it's all been about finding where everything needs to be and removing as much stone as possible.
Today I cut away loads of stone under his legs - it's too tight to get even the little 5" grinder in there so I had to do it with a point. (a point is simply a hefty chisel with a pointed tip to break lots of stone away quickly) If you full view it you'll see red stains on what will eventually be Ajax's right leg - I kept catching my knuckles while cutting out the middle so it ended up smeared with blood. I even found it spattered all over the other leg and his arm! It wasn't even a bad graze, I guess it's just all the rapid movements.
I'll move this to scraps in a bit.
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Comments: 50
Thanks 
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Hello Tecciztecatl: any interest in making some of your Ajax images available for a book? Thanks, TD
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I really appreciate the view into the process! Do you have any photos with the setup of the pointing machine? In all of the old textbooks I've consulted, they describe a sort of scaffolding around the uncut block. (Its no problem if a photo isn't readily available, though, because I am just asking out of curiosity. Its been about a decade since I've carved stone. Back then, I mostly carved biomorphic abstractions. I wanted to transfer some of my figurative work in clay and plaster, but the technical roadblocks were frustrating enough--and I didn't have any commissions to pay for the experiments--that I just kept to freehand carving.)
Its interesting how people think you're almost done because most of the stone has been removed. In my own work, I would say that 90 percent of the sweat and damage to my own skin occurred after I had gotten within 3mm of the final surface. I absolutely hated polishing!
Anyway, your work is great! Very expressive and admirable--I don't think most people have a clue just how hard it is to carve stone.
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I'll take some photos with the pointing machine on the stone next week. The machine I'm using is borrowed from one of my tutors and it's not the usual type you see. I'm told it's Victorian, so around 150 years old, and the whole thing is designed to be adjustable so it can fit around pretty much any block of stone even as big as a lifesize figure. There are two other guys in my year and one of them is using a modern pointing machine with a wooden frame constructed to fit on his stone. I'll ask if he minds if I post an image of it.
Just to be clear, the image on the right is the clay, the middle one shows the stone as it was when I posted the pic. But yeah, everything slows right down when you get near the surface. But that's also the most enjoyable bit
I'd love to see the carvings you made if you could maybe post them? What sort of stone did you use?
Thanks for your comments and the fave, I really appreciate it
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Thanks for going to all the effort of finding pointing pictures! It is really appreciated!
I carved a couple pieces of alabaster for class projects at UM. The cool thing is that we took a field trip to a gypsum mine about 50 miles away and picked out our own stones from the pit. The advantage was that we were able to get much larger pieces for almost nothing, but because the stones were lying around in what was essentially a rubble pile, there were many faults and soft spots in the stone that had to be taken account of in the design. Also, there is a relatively local sculpture supply store in Blissfield, Michigan that stopped by the class and sold a bunch of us special imported tools from Italy, as well as tools that they made themselves, and blocks of colored alabaster they had shipped in from the Southwest US. I have since purchased many stones from them, including soapstone, limestone, Carrera marble, and marble from the Yule mines in Colorado. It has been my experience that polishing soapstone and alabaster is easy, limestone is a bit more challenging, and marble makes me want to pull my hair out.
One issue I noticed about polishing the colored alabaster was that the more finely polished the surface, the more the colored veins would pop out and obscure the "solidity" and sense of the overall form. It was sort of like throwing camouflage over the form, making it more difficult to discern.
I am unable to get pictures of most of my sculptures right now, but a year or so ago I gathered some shots of the 3 alabaster sculptures that I have lying around in the living room. They are posted on [link]
Thanks again!
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Those are beautiful forms! I love the veins, It doesn't detract from their shape but I do know what you mean about camouflage. The stone I'm using for the figure of Ajax is Nabresina limestone which is very shelly so when you polish it up the surface is speckled with all the densely packed shell fragments. I think it'll probably obscure some of the more subtle details.
I wish there was a decent white marble quarry near London but unfortunately there's nothing for probably a thousand miles in any direction 
I just posted a couple of images of the pointing machines in my scrapbook if you want to take a look
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Thanks again for posting the pointing pictures. I just left a comment on one of the pictures, but I forgot to mention that I had seen a grad student use a very similar setup to transfer a one third sized maquette in clay to a full-sized human clay figure. In that case, they had established "points" in the clay that were elevated to the final level (in contrast to points in a stone block that would be drilled down to a depth just above the final surface of the finished piece).
By the way, I am very impressed by all your work. It is a great achievement to be able to produce fine figurative work in any medium, but it is especially impressive in stone.
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I forgot to say thankyou! You're very kind with you comments
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oh its really interesting to see the stages of it like that, cool
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It is really cool to see how a carving like this progresses.
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Glad you think so
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Cool to see
I doubt my progress shots will look like this when I have a go.
It'll be more like when I did pottery at middle school.
Start with the idea of a 12" tall flower pot......end up with an ash tray
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Hehe, I reckon I'd have been lucky to have kept it on the wheel
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that looks awesome to me, cant wait to see the final version.
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Amazing... and the patience! Can't wait to see the final product
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Yeah your patience has to be boundless in this business. But I'm pretty much done with all the grinding and finding points so when my pneumatic chisels turn up in the post, that's when the fun begins
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Wow, this is so fantastic! I really enjoy seeing works in progress. You're not going to be working on this for the next 92 days are you? It doesn't look like there is that much left to do. Well, there is still a lot to do, but 92 days worth?
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I should probably have made it clearer - the pic on the right is the clay model, the one in the middle shows how far I've got with the stone, right?
Anyway even though there's not a lot of stone to remove compared to the original column I started with (see Ajax progress 1: [link] ) it gets much slower as you get closer to the final surface. Everything has to be done with precision and care.
Thanks
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Aah! Okay, makes more sense when I read the description again, still a lot of work to do then!
I've always wanted to do some sculpting, whenever I see your work I'm tempted to buy some clay and try it out. Your work is just amazing.
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Thankyou.
Give it a go! You can only gain from it
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Ouch! I hope you're all right. It's amazing to watch your progress! Thanks for putting these up. I'm very excited to see how this will turn out.
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Like I say it was only a little graze 
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I hope it's healing nicely. No infections! That would be terrible.
I can't wait to see more work done on Ajax. :]
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I don't know how you do it, but I'm happy that you can! Send more as you progress.
John
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No bother
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Ha! I use those at work, but only for destructive purposes!
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Definitely! Give it a try, it's so much fun!
What do you break up with them?
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Ha, the fire damaged parts of foundations, fire places, etc... basically anything that needs repair.
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great job so far (=
blood is okay so everyone can see that you worked hard 
keep up the great work and show your progress!
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Hehe, I'll keep out of the way when that happens but knowing my college it won't be for many years
I used a pneumatic claw chisel for the first time today - WOW! It makes it so much quicker! I've used flat air chisel before but the claw really is my fave now.
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Simple incredible! When I see people sculpt out of stone, I find it incredible. You are an inspiring artist.
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