prototype

last week, the quarry in china selected a piece of limestone that is large enough and in good enough shape to generate a prototype. we have been working back and for the past few days to mold the prototype into what will be the final basic form for all of the stones. the prototype, in its current state, looks like this:



nicole gelpi (yellow mountain stone works ) and i have been in communication with the fabricators in china to request a more organic feel and a less regular shape. yellow mountain is doing an incredible job facilitating this process. we are looking for a deeper cleft and a more irregular top. more variability...more whacking on stone... white veins can be seen running perpendicular through the stone. this should show up beautifully on the honed surface, but we must be careful that the veins do not create weak spots that could potentially break. for the final stones, we will spec that the stone is cut with veins at odd angles, not perpendicular to the bedding plane. i should have more pictures of the prototype early next week. the quarry where this stone is being pulled from is located in yichang (hubei provence) on the yangzi river. more images coming soon. stay tuned and thanks for reading.

this is what the stone looks like when it is pulled from the quarry.