Preliminaries. Rolling the Stone

 I unlocked the garage, pulled out a couple of bicycles, moved some junk and crap out of the way, and rolled the dolly into the corner where the stones have sat untouched for over fifteen years. I wrestled the big stone onto the four wheeler, and rolled it out to the carving table. Here it is:

A-side:

 B-side: 

Right end:

Left end: 

 

You'll notice that my "studio" is my back yard.

Nothing fancy here.

 But this is one fine piece of rock. I seem to remember that when I bought it, it weighed in at just over a hundred pounds. I haven't put it on a scale, yet, and it's not going anywhere until I can get some help hoisting it up to the table. I'm a skinny old bastard, and I don't have the juice I once did. I don't want to start this project with a hernia or a wrecked back. 

The Italian Crystal is clear as ice, and there doesn't appear to be any big flaws in the stone. There is a lot of clay at the top of the B-side. That may, or may not be workable. We'll know in due time.

 

So I guess this is the introduction to a long project. Here we go. 

 

 I know that the blog, here, doesn't get anything like traffic. Some few friends may drop by, and once in a blue moon someone may click my profile after reading a comment I dropped on another site.

 That does not concern me much. I'm doing this for my own enjoyment.

 

 Plenty of people carve stone, and plenty of people write about it. Some are professionals. I am an amateur in the true sense of the word. "Amateur", is a word that really needs two different connotations. Most commonly used as an adjective, it refers to a  poorly, or inexpertly done  craft or artwork, "an amateur effort". As a noun it usually means,  "poor workman", as in, "He's just an amateur. He doesn't belong in the big leagues." 

 

But the root of the word is "ama", as in love. The true amateur works for the pure love of the task, whether it's writing, painting, building, or whatever. So, in my view we need two connotations, and two appropriate pronunciations to boot: 

There are "ama chers", who are just crappy workmen, and "ah ma toors", which is the spiffy, high-class sort that I aspire to be.

 

Making money is not in the list of considerations.  Making something beautiful, is. It's one of the wonderful peculiarities of being human. We have this spontaneous desire to create for the sheer love of creation, to expend huge amounts of effort for no reward other than to know we've added some beauty to the world. 

The next step will be hitting up my neighbor to give me a hand getting that rock up on the table. I'll weigh the thing, and start grinding the quarry marks away so I have a smooth blank canvas to sketch on. Thanks to anyone who has stopped by, and spent a few minutes here. 

More to come.

 

JWM