The statue of Pope Leo the Great, carved out of two parts of Udelfanger sandstone, is completed. I made this copy for the restoration of St John's Cathedral in Den Bosch, The Netherlands. You can read the two previous articles on this subject on my blog under the following links: Here is the article about the pre-sawing work and here is the second article, on the fitting together of the two parts, and why this is made out of two pieces of stone.

Detailing, to go, finishing

The procedure, after all the presawing and fitting together of lower- and upper body of the statue of Pope Leo, is the same as in the previous statue of Thomas Aquinas: just copying what the old statue was like and what I had earlier reconstructed in plastiline clay. Upon completion it was mainly down to detailing. All details had to be finished very sharp and after much sanding I got the statue smooth and crisp. All false dents were removed.

I had discovered that grit files of (tungsten)carbide work well on this fine sandstone. I had bought three very cheap grit files and bent two of them, so that I could reach every nook and cranny. It turned out very convenient for the first rough finishing. After that, I could finish the surface completely free of scratches with sandpaper.

By now, the statue has been sent on its journey, encased in a wooden box, off to St. John's Cathedral, where it will be put on the site of the old statue on the facade in due course . The original statue will be placed inside the adjacent museum, in storage.

Gallery

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