China | 10.08.11

Rain interrupts play

Changchun is green because it rains a lot, mostly at night.But today it rained very hard so we sculptors returned to our hotel mid afternoon. The rain did not result in flash flooding and the day ended with clear skies.

The rain revealed the depth of colour in the red marble stone on which I have been luck enough to work. The marble dries quickly. If there are any cracks or faults they show up as the water in the cracks dries slowly. One of th two stones has a fault line which the artisans identified prior to working on the stone but it was not considered to be severe enough to reject the stone. Where necessary the stone
has had to be repaired.

Currently I am working on the stones with the 5″ diamond flush face diamond blade I brought with me from Australia As I can not find a 5″ angle grinder I have resorted to using the blade on a 9″ angle grinder with compatible RPM rating. It is OK but the machine is heavy and awkward to use doing shaping work. So I play with the shapes of the many lines carved into the stone and enjoy the work.