• Corbel: 1 lady with two doves

    Eusebius, Restoration
    Copy of Corbel in new Muschelkalksteen of 1 lady with two doves

    Lady with two doves

    As you can read in the most recent posts on this blog, these past few weeks I've been busy carving corbels for the Eusebius Tower. This tower of the Eusebius Church in Arnhem has been covered in scaffolds for several years already, mainly to replace large parts of Ettringer tuff with the more weather resistant Weiberner tuf.

    All of the sculptural parts are being replaced with Muschelkalk, a coarse German limestone with lots of pores. Because of its coarseness this type of stone matches well with the rough character of the original tuff, but it is however much more resistant to weathering. Over the years the soft brown parts will wash out, but the white parts will become ever lighter, and the inclusion of some dirt from the air will cause the sculpture stand out more clearly over time.

    Two levels with architectural sculpture

    There are large and small corbels on two levels of the tower: on scaffolding layer 20 (at 45 meters up) and on scaffolding layer 10 (at 23 meters up). At this latter level there are also many stone masks with grotesque heads . These masks have meanwhile already been copied by my colleague Stide. We both are now busy working on 10 South and 10 North, and the next one of those was this lady with two doves.

    blocks for new corbels in the yard of the studio
    New blocks of limestone for corbels

    Approach

    As you can see in the picture of the blocks above, the stone is delivered to me after it has already been worked on. The stonemasons have already carved the profiles, and the part that will sit inside the wall is roughened up, so that the mortar will properly adhere to it. A mere slick surface will not offer enough grip for the mortar to adhere onto.

    On the lower part of the corbel, another round profile can be seen. Strictly speaking, this would be stone masonry, but this time it was left to me. After I've carved that neatly to size, I can start carving the actual sculpture. Usually I start with a template profile of the head and trace that onto the stone. From there I can start measuring the remaining parts of the head and carve those into the new stone.

    Copy of Corbel in new Muschelkalksteen of 1 lady with two doves

    I usually measure a lot of this with compasses, but with blocks like these, the place of the main components can be found faster and easier with a transparent film. Parts such as the doves and the hands almost entirely fall within one convex surface. On this transparent film I can quickly trace the outlines with a marker pen and then transfer this back to the stone. To see how this works in practice, it is best to read the following blog post about this: ten tips 2: from design to stone. To the next curbstone.

  • Pan in Red Porphyry (1) (video)

    sculpture, video
    6 comments

    Resumed

    I finally continued with my plaster statue of Pan (read here more about it). After much doubt about a beautiful red block of granite it ultimately became a piece of Chinese Porphyry. It is available in large blocks, and even though it is very hard and difficult to carve: it looks beautiful.

    block of porphyry for plaster image of Pan
    wooden frame for plaster model. for Pan sculpture in porphyry

    I thought I could take this opportunity to explain my approach to carving such a figurine. But on the first day I'd unfortunately forgotten the camera, so the video below regrettably doesn't show how I put the machine ready for use, hoisted the block up on it and made a wooden frame for the model.

    Pedestal

    I have actually ordered a way too large block! The idea was that I would attach the plinth to the sculpture in one piece, or rather let it still be attached. Sculpture and pedestal from a single block. But for that I'll need to carve the statue as high up as possible inside the block , and everything below that will be the base.

    A while ago I welded some stainless steel nuts onto the turntables, in order to secure the flying buttress figurines properly. That came in handy this time; because I could now fix a pair of twobys on the turntable, and from there I further built the woodwork up. It had to be quite firm because it absolutely shouldn't deform under pressure: otherwise the copy would not be cut accurately.

    Alignment

    The first job is to accurately align the sculpture. It should fit within the block on all sides. For that reason I had already ordered the block a little bit bigger, otherwise it would become very difficult. If I would not put it exactly right, it would cut away too much on one side and on the other side there would not be enough material left.

    Block and model are also secured below and above by two center points, so that nothing can shift during the process.

    With a blunt saw

    copy-sawing the plaster statue of Pan in porphyry

    I cheerfully started sawing, but it was not quite that easy! I had been warned beforehand: on porphyry a blade will quickly get dull and then it's all not so smooth sailing anymore. Well it was not as bad as I expected. My granite blade initially cut very well, except when I had to cut quite deeply. Only later it didn't do so well anymore. It started to pinch, jam, and start to follow a previous cut and everything took an excruciatingly long time. I ultimately dulled four different blades on this one piece! All in all, it took three times as long as with for example the limestone flying buttress figurines , and it didn't look as good either.

    I usually cut a sculpture in three rounds: in the first pass I cut layers of about five centimeters thick, at a few centimeters away from the final surface. The second round I cut layers of one and a half centimeter, to one and a half centimeter distance, and in the final round I preferably cut each line just below the last one, at 3 mm from final surface. Only the latter did not work so beautifully in this material as in for example at the Monkey.

    Tapping away

    Between each course I strike the porphyry off with a hammer. With a claw hammer in this case: I find I can strike faster than with a bulky hammer. This cutting process takes away a lot of material, but more importantly: it takes away a lot of the measuring work. And as you may know I have a thorough dislike of measuring.

    Bad Luck

    After the sawing, during which, because of the cold and wet, I had to change clothes several times, I cleaned everything and I wanted to continue right away with the carving. But then a hitch came: during a small job in between I cut my hand very deep. The sculpture is now at a standstill, and so am I: I'm sitting at home with three stitches. Again.

    Apparently I needed a few weeks vacation.
    Read more in Part Two on the heels of this.

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