ROCK TALK
MONTOYA SCULPTURE & SUPPLY

Interesting sculpture related news, technical tips, special offers and other important information

By Jeff Halverson
Sculptor and Owner of Montoya Sculpture & Supply
www.MontoyaSculpture.com

July 21, 2003
Issue 2
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IN THIS ISSUE:

1. Editor's Note
2. Texture on Stone, Creating Interest
3. Aerated Concrete for Sculpture
4. Current Sale (only to eNewsletter recipients)
5. Upcoming Events
6. Please send sculpture quotes (maybe win $25 gift certificate)

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“ ALL WORKS OF NATURE CREATED BY GOD IN HEAVEN AND ON EARTH ARE WORKS OF SCULPTURE” - Benvenuto Cellini (1500-1571)

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1. EDITOR’S NOTE

Thanks to those of you who wrote back with comments. It was encouraging to see so many responses. We only had two quote submittals so congratulations J Wilson in Indiana who wins the $25 gift certificate. As we continue our 30th year celebration we are looking forward to our next sculpture workshop season. Just a few last touches then it will be published. Everyone who gets this newsletter will receive first notice. I welcome your comments regarding the workshops and content of this eNewsletter.

Some of the items we will address in future issues include interviews with our sculpture workshop teachers, stone and bronze sculpture mounting tips, the foundry process, patinas, stone restoration, power tools, safety, book reviews, sculpture history, mastering volumes and other stone and clay related topics. Please let me know if there are other topics you want addressed in future issues.

Because you have given us your email you will soon receive an entry form to enter a free drawing for on of our 18th Season Sculpture Workshops. The value of the workshop is usually a $375 value. But I also include stone, and free equipment rental so the value climbs up to about $700. I hope you will take advantage of the opportunity to enter. They are unique and interesting events.

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2. TEXTURE ON STONE, CREATING INTEREST
By Jeff Halverson

A lot of the stone sculpture I see here at Montoya comes in completely polished. The stone available for sculpture is very beautiful, full of colors, and veining. People want to show it off and a high polish helps. Who can blame them? The stones are beautiful.

Over the years I have been encouraging visitors and students to explore texture in their stone sculptures. Texture creates interest through light and color. During February and March of 2003 we had Kennedy Musekiwa of Zimbabwe here to teach Shona Sculpture. He also exhibited about 40 of his works (see them at Sandawanagallery.com). It’s obvious that one of the traits that make Shona Sculpture so interesting is the use of textures. It’s very common to find even small Shona Sculptures with four and five textures.

Texturing requires consideration and can take additional effort. The sculptor must be selective in the use of textures depending on the color and hardness of the stone. Let’s explore some of the textures available to the stone sculptor.

NATUAL STONE FINISH - This case makes use of the natural exposed face of the stone. I donated a work to the Adam Walsh Foundation that was a fish coming out of the wall of the reef. The fish was highly polished but I left the natural face of the stone to represent the reef. One of Kennedy’s works incorporated the natural stone to form the headdress on a sitting woman. It provides a good contrast against any of the worked textures. The trick here is planning your work so that the natural face of the stone ends up in the right relationship to the rest of the work.

HEAVY FROSTING (BUSH HAMMER) – Creating a sort of pulverized surface on the stone provides high contrast particularly on darker colored stones. Using a 16-point or 25-point bush hammer with appropriate force will crush the outer stone structure and provide a frosted look. Allow enough “additional” stone in the area requiring heavy frosting. Larger areas may require a carbide-tipped frosting chisel and pneumatic hammer.

LIGHT FROSTING - This technique allows some of the structure of the original stone to remain. Apply the frosting technique lightly and more spaced. Use a pick hammer to get into the tighter areas. Use a metal shield to protect areas from misdirected blows.

PICKING - On softer stones the pick end of some bush hammers is used to create a picked or freckled appearance. This could be used on a light or high polished area to attract attention. For harder stones just look at how Auguste Rodin used the point chisel to pick away at the stone and leave heavy markings to attract attention and provide contrast to high polish areas.

POINTED TOOTH RAKE - A chisel with three to nine points can be used effectively to take down areas roughed out by a single point chisel. Those same chisels can be used to create the flow of hair, the fall of cloth, or the action of water. On darker hard stone a great finish is to sand and polish the high side of this finish leaving the valleys rough. This creates a light and dark contrast that accentuates the direction of the rake.

FLAT TOOTH RAKE - This finish is created much the same as the POINTED TOOTH RAKE but the flat tooth creates a wide flat valley. The high side is usually not as well defined but the effect is interesting. This technique is most effective on softer stones. Use a wide enough chisel, as you do not want to have to keep overlapping areas and take down too much stone.

DETAILING - I define this texture as something perhaps not as harsh or deep as the other textures. The uniform and systematic application of scratches on a high polish, such as a plaid pattern, or across an open stone book to signify words or sentences. The piping around the edge of a dress on a bust adds interest. The light swirling motion of a multi point chisel can signify locks of hair.

LIGHT SANDING UNPOLISHED - This texture is achieved through the use of a rasp or riffler and sanding to about a 220 or 320 grit finish. You will get a smooth enough finish but it probably will not reflect light.

LIGHT SANDING POLISHED - This texture is achieved through the use of a rasp or riffler, sanding to 220 or 320 grit and polishing. It takes some work as different stones will absorb the polish at different rates and create different finishes. The final texture will be somewhat smooth and will have a wet look when polished.

SAND BLASTING - I mention this because it is a technique used on harder stones, like granite, to create the LIGHT SANDING texture mentioned above.

HIGH POLISH WITH LIGHT FROSTING - This texture is created by sanding the stone to between 1200 and 1500 grit (up to 3500 grit with harder stones), and giving it a high polish. Once the stone is polished a very light frosting with a bush hammer will create an interesting contrast particularly on darker stones. The contrast is seen as the high polish areas reflect light in the field of the non-reflective bushed areas

HIGH POLISH - The ubiquitous high polish is achieved through the careful use of finer grits of wet/dry sand paper or diamond pads. Soapstone usually has a limit of 600 grit. Alabaster can be sanded to 1500 grit. Marble can be sanded to 3500 grit and you can use oxilic acid and tin oxide. The reason these different stones have these limits is that the stone structures are not tight enough or hard enough to be worked by the smaller particle sizes on the paper or diamond pad. You basically start stripping the exposed surface and are rubbing it against itself as it comes off easily and forms a cushion between the stone and the paper. After sanding to the appropriate level and dried, you can use cloth or fabric polishing wheels (disks) attached to a drill or slow speed angle grinder (which is one of the reasons you should buy a variable speed angle grinder and not a single speed one). Use the cloth disks with alabaster or marble compound. Once the surface is prepared you can polish it to a high light-reflective shine.

Most of the books I have seen on stone sculpture don’t go into much regarding texture. One of the books we stock that addresses texture in some detail is Sculpture In Stone by Cami and Santamera, page 90. (It’s on sale until Wednesday, July 30, 2003. See Current Sale below)

The different textures available create interest because they reflect light differently and the “add” color to the stone. Texture can draw your eye to a particular place on the sculpture or it can help hide areas. Too many or improperly placed textures can be visually confusing and distract from the sculpture’s overall appearance. But when you want to create hair on a head, bark on a tree, or cloth over the skin, try a texture. Don’t restrict textures to the classical forms look for opportunities in abstract works also.

A parting thought. Be sure and use a good polishing fluid and a non-yellowing wax to seal and protect that hard-earned high polish.

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3. AERATED CONCRETE FOR SCULPTURE

When I mention aerated concrete most people cringe because they associate concrete with hard. Actually aerated concrete is lightweight and carves easier that soapstone. Entraining air in the quick setting concrete mix forms it. Regular concrete uses aggregates such as sand and gravel to make it hard. But aerated concrete has thousands of small air holes per square inch. This gray airy mix makes it soft enough to carve with a dull kitchen knife (really).

So why use aerated concrete? There are several reasons. Its light so it’s rather cheap to ship. It’s cheap so you can play with form. It’s a great instructional material since students get to concentrate on form rather than the beauty or hardness of the stone. All the tools you now have will work on this material even if all you have is a dull kitchen knife and a riffler.

The real advantage to this material is that once carved you have many finishing options. You can leave it “raw”. You can seal it with a concrete sealer. You can put it outside and coat it with buttermilk to give moss a quick start. You can paint it. You can coat with Liquid Wood. You can fiberglass it. You can coat it with hydrocal or plaster of Paris and sand it smooth. And my favorite is applying a two part cold patina (available at Montoya). There are many patina options from rusted iron, Verdi green, Verdi blue, Verdi maroon, bronze, copper, and steel. These cold patinas applied with a brush or sprayed on with a household spray bottle. A very impressive finish is achieved when the hydrocal surface is patinaed. My favorite patina involves a base coat of iron in solution and a topcoat of rusting solution. The rusting solution turns the iron to rust in about 3 minutes and it looks deep red/brown. It looks like real rusting iron. I have a few of these patinaed works in the gallery and as I am demonstrating the patinas over aerated concrete I like to ask them to pick up the sculpture. They approach it with two hands and the muscles they think are needed. Invaiably they lift it with too much force and it springs up because it looks a lot heavier than it is. They are always surprised. Its lightweight aerated concrete not heavy bronze.

We carry it in 8”x12”x24” blocks. The blocks can be pinned and epoxied to form a totem or to form a larger block.

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4. CURRENT SALE

Through July 30th 2003 we are having a short but great sale. You have to call us

(1-800-682-TOOL (8665)) or fax us (1-561-833-2722) or email us to place an order. Our hours are Monday-Thursday 9-4, Saturday 10-3, closed Friday and Sunday. But you can call any time and leave a message on our recorder. Or simply email us with your preliminary order AND phone number and we will call you to confirm everything.

These items are only on sale to eNewsletter recipients. So you will not see the sale price in the on-line catalog. Please look over the on-line catalog to review the items but call, fax or email your order.

#52004-Sculpture Clay Reg $15.95 reduced to $10.95 each
#52005- Terracotta Clay 25 lb. bag $13.95 reduced to $9.95
#54006-#54010- Wooden Potter's Ribs -Reg $2.47 sale $1.85
#77503- 5 piece diamond riffler set (durable, works well on stone as hard as marble)
$39.95 sale 29.95
#77504- 5 piece diamond needle set (durable, works well on stone as hard as marble)
$39.95 sale $29.95
#78027- "NEW BOOK" Handbuilt Ceramics $24.95 sale $19.95
#78011- "NEW BOOK" Sculpture in Stone – Full of detailed color pictures, large hardbound,192 pages, our best seller in a very short time -$35.00 sale $30.00
#76011- College Modeling Stand - $199.00 sale $169.00
#03004- HoneyComb Calcite, translucent, warm anber color -$2.25 lb. sale $1.50 lb
#04000- Italian Bardiglio Marble dark gray with some wide white veins, beautiful -1700 lb piece 46" x 32"x 11" $935.00
#01060- Zebra Stripe Alabaster $1.69 Sale $1.36 lb
#01060A- Black N White $1.69 Sale $1.36 lb

While Supplies last..... No rain checks.....
This special eNewsletter sale ends July 30, 2003

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5. UPCOMING EVENTS

August 8, 9, & 10, 2003 - Loveland Sculpture Invitational Show & Sale, Colorado. Over 300 sculptors and their works on display. Billed as the largest of its kind in USA.

http://www.lovelandsculpturegroup.org/

Montoya’s 18th Season, Workshop & Class Schedule Nears Completion. I am preparing our class schedule for the upcoming season. I think you will enjoy the selection. Watch for interviews with our teachers in upcoming issues. See our last years schedule at http://www.montoyasculpture.com/workshops.html. You can also find area accommodations from this page.

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6. PLEASE SEND SCULPTURE QUOTES (maybe win $25 gift certificate)

I have included a sculpture related quote at the top of this issue that was sent in by one of our readers in Indiana. I hope it is inspiring and interesting. If you have an interesting sculpture related quote please send it to me. Please include the name of the person who said it. All of the quotes that are sent are being complied into a list of quotes related to sculpture that I will soon be posting on the Montoya website. I would appreciate your help in building this list of quotes directly related to sculpture. Quotes can be from recognized sculptors of the past or from a teacher or friend. Send me your sculpture related quote by August 10, and if it is selected I will send you a Montoya Sculpture & Supply $25 gift certificate and put the quote in the next issue. Email me at Jeff@MontoyaSculpture.com

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(c)Copyright 2003 Jeff Halverson

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