Lovers

[GarryRicketson]

I started this yesterday, I am not sure what kind of stone it is, but it is nice to work with,

[scrapartoz]

Looking good Garry . Please continue to show progress shots . i am interested in your technique .

[GarryRicketson]

Thanks, however, unfortunately, this turned into a disaster, I am so mad at myself !!!
I had it looking ok, and was ready to start sanding and polish it,...well often with onix,and treventine I wash the stone with muriatic acid, before I start sanding, in some cases especially with the onix, we don't really "polish", just a little sanding up to 120 grit, then wash with acid, the acid brings out the colors nicely, and that is it,.. How ever on this piece, as I mentioned I was/am not sure what kind of stone it is, any way, I had put it in a bucket, and poured acid on it,..before I knew it was foaming so much, ...much more then normal, I was unable to just stick my hand in and pull it out, because I did not have any rubber gloves on ,nor handy, usually they are not really necessary, so any way , I dumped the bucket, to get the piece out, and poured clean water over it, to get the acid off,but it was to late, it almost completely desolved,!!! it looks horrible,...I may take a photo today,..just to show what the acid did,...so stupid on my part, I should have checked with just a little, first to see how it reacted,...actually the acid, I don't use very often, for my figures,..so it is not really part of my "technique",...oh well, we learn from our mistakes,.. Now I have a client that wants a angel, and am using a white marble, mined here in Mexico,.. I got it "roughed" in yesterday, also hope fully I will show some photo of it later tonight.
On this piece, I had not done any drawing, or anything, it just sort of came into my head, I had started cutting on the stone, to see how it worked,and what it looked like, more on the inside, as I cut more away, I got the idea, and just kept going "whittleing" so to speak,..... usually, like with this angel, I have some drawings, or photos, then I draw rough sketches on each side of the stone, according to the view,.. then I make cuts, that will allow me to chisle, or "break" away, the most material I can, to get the "rough in" or basic shape, after that mostly either the grinder,and grinding cups, or the die grinder and burrs, for smaller areas,..then sanding and polishing,..I very rarely use the old fashioned "paper" sand paper any more,..these diamond sanding pads are great, they ;ast along time to, and the sanding goes so much faster. got to run now,

[mantrid]

Limestone (calcium carbonate) reacts vigorously with acid. The gas produed being carbon dioxide

[GarryRicketson]

Originally Posted by mantrid

Limestone (calcium carbonate) reacts vigorously with acid. The gas produed being carbon dioxide

Hmm, that is interesting, marble also reacts with the acid, but not so vigorouslly,...
Here are some shots of the angel I started:

This (above) is how far I got yesterday,
And below is where it is at today, at the end of the day, the details are going slower,

[GarryRicketson]

Here is what the "lovers" looks like after the acid.///



I could go over it again and smooth it down,polish it, but it would not take much more to just start a new one, we do have more of the same stone, and now I know ,not to put it in acid!
I do like the "theme" and the design, so I am sure I will do another.

[GarryRicketson]

Originally Posted by scrapartoz

Looking good Garry . Please continue to show progress shots . i am interested in your technique .

I wasn't sure if I should post this here, or in "construction and techniques", since it was brought up in this thread, I decided to just add it here,.. I put together a html doc,
This piece is similar to the other, that got ruined with the acid,same theme, different stone, so it is pretty easy, I all ready have the idea pretty clear in my head.

(you can click the image to see it), I am pretty tired right now, but later when I have a chance, I will change the html, to the bb code, and put it in the "construction and techniques" topics. There also is some more I would like to add,..if I can find the time.
For now,for anyone that is interested,..click the image.

[mantrid]

Originally Posted by GarryRicketson

Hmm, that is interesting, marble also reacts with the acid, but not so vigorouslly,...

Marble (metamorphic rock) actually starts out as limestone (sedimentary rock) The limestone is subjected to heat and pressure deep under ground and changes to marble (meta - later , morph - changed).
Chemically limestone and marble are the same - calcium carbonate

[GarryRicketson]

All ways learning something new, I decided to look at wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metamorphic_rock