Will Miss You, M/m

For reasons of an acutely personal nature, I will not be attending MARBLE/marble this year. I will miss you, M/m.

marblemarble.us

Just registered domain "marblemarble.us". My original intent was simply to move this blog onto my own server space (using the far-superior WordPress software) but now I'm wondering if it should somehow become a more general site--where any MARBLE/marble sculptor can have a dedicated blog and photo album. Madeline? What do you think?

Masks at MOCA Gala & Live Auction

Last evening was the annual Masks at MoCA Gala & Live Auction. This year, for the first time, the event was held at the Museam itself.

My mask, thought not originally chosen as a "Gala Mask" (a select group of 10 or so masks chosen for the live auction) through some last-minute arrangement was included at the end of the auction. It went for $3,200 and ended up being tied for the highest bid of the evening!

MoCA Mask 2009

The deadline for MoCA Mask turn-in was today at 4pm.  I was 30 minutes early.

Next year I solemnly swear I'm going to complete my mask by the midway point! Procrastination is a mixed bag. This year it was a bit too tight for comfort. This material is much more difficult to work than I anticipated, though I loved every minute of it.

Lazy Afternoon...

I pulled out the rasp today and began trueing the surfaces. Probably a bit to early as I will likely continue to substantally work the basic design.  But that's the way I work: smooth it up a bit to see if it's going to be to my liking, then rough it out some more.  There are some interesting life-parallels here.  

In the process of revisiting this stone every few days, I notice I have becoming intimately attached to it. It think that's more to do with what it does for me than what I do for it.

I hope I can keep track of this one after the auction.

For this first image, I wiped the ribbon area with a wet sponge to mimic the effect of polishing.

Another Good Day

In reverse order...

Progress!

After weeks of procrastination, I finally got back to my Mask project.  It may not look like it but I made huge progress today. Part of that progress is not and will not be visible. Progress of the Mind. This first photo is just after the piece was drenched with water.

Daily Grind

Done cutting and grinding. Next step will be working in detail with my little air chisel.