Making of … Bons open Golf trophy

September 2013 - with the opportunity to participate at the BONS Open in Brunssum , The Netherlands, I offered to create the first place trophy. Proud first owner of the Bons Open 1st place trophy:   Now for the process to get to this smile: ...   First ideas / sketches with a golf theme Selected a stone based on size and form. I thought this was  belgian blue stone as well, but it turned out to be Green Granite :-) . A bit harder than I had bargained for. Washing the grime of the stone gives a first impression of the colour the stone will be. First Incisions to break off large pieces and create the base shape Using a pneumatic hammer I break away the big chunks created with a diamond cutting blade specific for marble and natural stones Before - with the cuts. After using the pneumatic tools. Chipping off big chunks. The advantage of this hard rock is - that, while it refuses to give away, it also refuses to break apart and split unexpectedly. In all my other sculptures I was never able to use so much force and abuse a stone in such a fashion without it breaking apart … :-) More cutting and chipping: I have now started to smooth out the rough parts using a diamond abrasive disc . A convex metal disk with diamond bits embedded for a very rough "sanding" and smothing action. This is excellent to even create concave shapes in the stone. (Visible on a later  picture day 2) It is getting dark - end of day 1 : Rough shape beginning to form, initial figurative element is changing more into a abstract form. - deciding now to go with the abstract , since the rock is too hard to work in more detail with my tools. Day 2: Wear and tear. I used up 2 diamond cutting blades at this point, and found out that the sand paper disc - very effective on Belgian blue stone is utterly useless on this granite - the disc burns and doesn't make a dent in the granite … need different approach for this stone. With the diamond abrasive disk I am getting somewhere... Even for small corrections I have to cut with the diamond cutter, then hammer with the chisel to get millimeters away. It's starting to rain… What did you expect - it's holland :-) Yes it is still raining , but I also washed away the dust to get a better idea on imperfections and where I need to continue: On the left hand side you see a rough lump - this will be the base of the sculpture where it will stand on. Cut away the base : Shape is getting smoother. I next tried a disk grinder - 60 grain , but the rock keeps burning See the brown marks along the center of the sculpture Now I start the sanding process. Rough cut marks etc were ground away before , but the electric sander doesn't work  - so back to manual sand paper and lots of elbow grease )@(*#)@$ this rock is hard :-) 100 grain: 600 grain - Standing upright front: Back Wet sanding 100 grain: Finally wet sanding 1200 grain: First I used Marpol to polish the stone but I didn't like the final result, so now I heat up the sculpture and use antique wax to finish the Stone. Wax applied : Polished: (moved back inside - dark and raining ) End of day 2. Day 3. I intended to use a golf ball as "Head" of the sculpture, but this didn't work any more with how the form finally turned out. So i figured i use the little "foot"  as rough and place the golf all at the bottom. Tried hard and finally found an unused Golf ball with a "1" on it … since this would be the Nr 1 trophy… Drilling a hole in the rock carefully, using a steel pin and drilling a hole in the Golfball - keeping in mind that the logo and number should be readable from a angle from above… Final result: Again -  This is where I started:                :-)

Making of … Garden Female Nude Bodyscape - Aug 2013

Making of … Garden Female Nude Bodyscape - Aug 2013

First step,

deciding on a design and creating sketches.

Front and Side view… trying to get size and proportions right.

Second step -
Picking a stone and setting up shop

The stone was too heavy to lift around . Tripod ready and ready to put the cushions on and the stone on top.

New compressor setup and old used as extra expansion vat

Old Jeans , filled with sandbags to support the stone and cushion the impact  of the pneumatic chisel.

Sawing slits with a diamond blade and using the chisel to break them off

Creating shape, depth and form, you can see the cut for the spine wher I try to create the recess for the spine

Cutting deeper to create the small and the arch of the back

Hosed down to get rid of dust and showing off the chisel marks nicely

Top of the picture you can see the chisle marks in a cross pattern going deeper and cutting away a lot of material

Two hours into the work , some shape is taking form

Working on the leg bent up , next

4 hours into the project, working out details of the back , lot of material gone, but not happy with the form
a lot more has to go...

Rinsed clear of dust

Right leg , and standing up for the first time

Flip over and starting on the front

Darn… not enough material left.

But taking shape:

Taling in the waist (right side)- took another kilo of stone off:

Carefull - not to destroy the parts that I am already happy with…

Pile of rubble chiped off

More detail work on the second day :

Front Rough:

Back rough

Day 3: Sanding down and smothing

Waist tucked in a LOT more

Hosed down to get an idea of the colour of the stone

Mockup on a stand:

The steel rod (12mm) is too weak for the length and is bending under the weight of the sculpture.

The base (concrete tiles, stacked 3 high and hole drilled through 3 of them) seems to be workign fine though.

Yes it is getting dark… working late :-)

Day 4 - polishing, sanding down with sandpaper grit 200, 400, 600, 800, 1000 and 1200 - wet sanding.

About 2,5 hours

Shortened the rod - more stability and covered the thread with a stainless steel tube

Front

Side