Refinement

4:20 Monday morning. I'm sitting here at the desktop all bleary eyed from a second night of insomnia. When the sun comes up I'll snap a photo or two of the rock in its last phase before finishing.

Friday night I didn't sleep well. I got home Saturday, after the RatRod Ride, feeling exhausted and beat, even though I didn't smoke on the ride. Eighteen miles on the cruiser followed by the utterly miserable crawl through Beach Boulevard traffic just took it out of me. I turned in about eight, and woke at one. Repeat that for last night. So I'm sitting here feeling like total crap with another long hot day ahead.

Oh. Sun's up. Here:

Work has been steady, but slow. I'm coming close to the finishing stage of the project. As the sculpture progresses, the tools get smaller and smaller. I'm past the big tools, pretty much done with the middle size tools, and down to working with the small refining tools. I ordered a couple of new 8" rifflers from the Stone Sculptors Supplies gals up there in Sebastopol, CA.

And here they are:

  The 'knife and spoon' pair are my favorites for this stage of the game, but the ones I have are 20 years old, and dull. These little rasps are works of art in their own right. They are hand made by the Milani Tool Company in Italy, and they aren't cheap. But they are worth every penny. You can't say enough about the pleasure of working with fine tools.

The task, now, is to seek out, and terminate flat spots, straight lines, and awkward curves. The tricky part here is to shave off enough, but not too much. You always have to leave a little so that the sanding brings the lines to that 'just-right' place. This piece should go on the shelf in another week, maybe more. I made myself promise to attend to some domestic chores at the homestead. That garage... The Chinese elm... Stuff in the yard... 

Ugh. But it's gotta' be done.