2/16/22

Sangre de Anza

 

We've had one of those little false summers that often pop up in the middle of February. The last several days have been warm and clear, and I took advantage of the shirtsleeve weather to get a lot of work done. The transition from shaping to finishing happens so gradually that it's easy forget that you're on the home stretch. Suddenly I'm working with smaller, and smaller tools. Then I'm sanding. Start out with 80 grit to take out tool marks, then 150 grit to even it all out. Then do it again with finer grit on each pass. I was getting close to home by Monday afternoon. I got the plastic cover over the table, and made ready for the messy, messy business of wet sanding. 

Our little false summer ended abruptly Tuesday. The day after Valentines day was cold, and gray, and windy with bouts of spitting rain. Le'mme tell ya', I was doing some serious rubbing with the rag. By afternoon my fingers felt like stumps. But finally it came time to break out the magic in a can: Simichrome. By the end of the day the stone was in the living room. But no matter how thorough I try to be on the initial polishing run, I always, and always find a zillion little spots that escaped my attention. It took another full day, Wednesday, to get them all worked out.

But this is Thursday morning. It's done. I made the submission to the Made in California show, in Brea even though that meant I had to start an Instagram account. (just what I wanted. more anti-social media... *sigh* )

I'll put more pictures in it later.

jwm_stonecarving

But anyway. Here's the goods. Remember where we started.

Before:

Add a bunch of work:

After:

That's all for now.

I'm takin' a bit of a break.