DENALI - Phase 1

DENALI - PHASE 1

January 11, 2000

The permutations and combinations of design!

No matter what assortment of arrangements I have tried, nothing seemed to work in the 30x30 inch space. This mountain seems to demand a rectangular shape, and even when the essential shape within the square was rectangular, it appeared to look more like a muffin than a mountain. Miranda suggested a different view of the mountain from the base that was clearly rectangular and gave the mountain more scope and size. But how to fit the image into the requisite square? There would have to be masses of sky and foreground and the mountain would be too small ...

The 'ah ha' came with the idea of dividing the stone in two and stretching the mountain over both slabs. Back to Integraphics for the third time I went, to work with Doug Wing to produce a copy of the image that would be to size, now 5 ft long. They have this marvelous scanner/printer that can produce images 30 inches wide and however long, which I used previously to try two different views of the mountain, attempting to fit the square shape. The pic, (which you can see below), was much smaller than the previous images used, and so required a two step enlarging process. In addition, the image was taken from a magazine ad and so the final enlargement lacked resolution. However, the results were enough to show both the outline and basic shapes within the mountain. I accentuated the major shapes with a black marker. To enhance the composition, some artistic licence was used to move the rear mountain at the extreme left further to the left, so that it is not as pronounced. (See the second image below.)

The peak of the mountain was larger than half the size of the slab (16 inches) and so I was faced with another dillemma: to reduce the length of the image so that the peak fit within half the height of the slab (14.5 inches), or to crop the bottom of the image and lose most of the foreground. After a little more thought, it became apparent that the left half of the image was far less than 14.5 inches so that if both halves were placed on the slab before cutting, a new cut line could be drawn that allowed both sides to be included in the slab at their full size.

After cutting out the image and dividing it in half, then taping it with double sided tape to a cardboard backing, also cut to fit the image profile, I traced the outlines on the marble ensuring the bottoms and joining edges were square. Then I plotted two lines, one to divided the slab and one to remove the excess marble. With the help of my next door neighbour, Mark Stenzig, his friends and my son, Malcolm, I moved the slab outside and made the cuts with an angle grinder.

Following this I removed the excess marble down to the outer profile, being carefull to leave a little material (1/4") as a working safety margin, which I will remove later. To do this, I cut lines into the marble toward the profile with the angle grinder. A hammer and chisel were used to remove the rectangular chunks and then the whole profile was smoothed out, again, using the angle grinder. (See the third image below. Note the marble is sitting on the mahogany I will use as the base.)

I used a diamond blade on the angle grinder and found the process a bit frustrating as the blade didn't seems to bite into the marble. I was later informed that this kind of marble requires a softer type of blade since the marble itself is a little softer than the kind I am used to working. Apparently, the Carerra marbles from Italy are softer still!

Next, I will prepare the templates for the remainder of the carving, including outlines for the three major planes and smaller outlines for sections within the planes. The templates serve to keep the carving on track and to check the work as it progresses to make sure that the lines are true to the overall composition.

Bela Simo, a local sculptor, has offered me the loan of his air hammer and chisels for the next phase. I will move the work to Sidrock's shop so that I can complete the work indoors. (The temps have dropped again and working outside is no longer a viable option!) Working the marble generates a lot of dust and his shop is set up for this with water to keep the dust down.

Till next time,

Shane

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