Taking shape....

Today I went to the Fyfe Glenrock yard to see how things were going. Although they had hoped to have finished roughing out the Pitcaple stone, a difficult week meant that they were a little behind, but it was still great to see that work was actually beginning. Over the past days or so one of the most skilled masons in the yard has been taking the angled edges off the cube shape and using a chipboard template as a guide pulling out a sphere from the rock. Even with the aid of diamond blades, compressors and dust extractors this is demanding work, both mentally and physically. There is a possibility that this stone, the smallest of the three at 600mm, could possibly when a little more reduced, be offered to the turning lathe, which could save time and I guess release the mason for other pressing tasks.

(Increasing respect for the ancients........)

If you look at the images above however you will no doubt see where we are a little concerned... there is definately a crack.. however it does not seem to run all the way through the stone and we hope that with care it will stay that way. This can be the face of the sphere eventually nearest the ground and we hope that the drilling and pinning which will be required to fix the stone to the site will help to stabilise the fault.

This is one of the hazards of working with any stone, but particularly local stone, which may have been blasted from the quarry wall. By trying to stay true to the ethos of the project , which is partly to celebrate the local geology, archaeology, and stone industry past and present, we may have to be prepared to adapt our working methods.

The material now is making its own demands - asserting its character, formed so long ago, and we must find a way to respond synpathetically and embrace these qualities.