THE ‘MAGIC JUMPING BEAN’ UPDATE MAR 2018
Lister House Sculpture Progress Report by Tim Shutter Artist/Sculptor March 2018
Testing Times
The big chill made working in my unheated studio quite a challenge. The adjacent Grand Union canal froze over, so it was not unexpected when the studio water pipes froze, so no coffee breaks or working toilet! Even three pairs of socks and thermal insoles did not keep my feet warm! Railtrack also picked this month to ask for a 140% increase in rent, and presented the real prospect of having a month to find a new studio, fortunately they eventually agreed to a smaller increase, so I should be able to finish the sculpture here
Steady Progress
Despite these difficulties the MJB is progressing to schedule. I have just started work on roughing out the last of the five slabs and soon I will have fifty spheres in which to start the detailed ‘happy heads’ carving. This is the phase that I am really looking forward to.
The cracked top stone has been re-cut and should be delivered this month. The photos in sequence show me at work, using a pneumatic claw chisel to shape a sphere, employing a large diamond porcelain core drill for shaping and smoothing (a chance lucky discovery) and using my trusty gantry to turn a slab over onto blocks of dense foam so that the edges are not damaged.
You can download a copy of this progress report by clicking the link below