Hammerhead Stoneworks

This is the beginning of a set of drystone steps that fall on a very tight radius. This is a new challenge and one I’m truly enjoying. When completed it’ll be a set of eight steps that lead to a patio that I’ve nearly completed.

Here’s another view of the tight radius, from the inside. Not quite a spiral staircase, but still tight and fairly detailed in terms of structure and placement. Unlike a spiral staircase though, there’s ample room to land a foot on each tread, an important aspect for a heavily used set of steps.

This is the sketch I made to help guide me through the layout, so that I hit the top of the block wall in the proper alignment. I spent a couple of hours moving pixel-stones around on the screen, trying different configurations to get the right arc. So far, reality is lining up with the design quite nicely.

I just added a new portfolio page for the Montford Terrace project, which is featured on the new postcard.

This is a photo montage/panorama of the steps I built this past winter in the Montford district of Asheville. The step treads are made of the full-color variant of Pennsylvania bluestone. The wall, columns and step risers are made of granitic gneiss, mostly from the Hooper’s Creek quarry in Fletcher. The steps and columns are mortared; the wall is completely dry. Click the image for a larger view.

Sandstone steps and wall buried in snow. Looks positively comfortable right now. Click the image for a larger view.

Last Friday I led an hour long workshop for craftspeople and artisans on how to market their work. It was part of Handmade in America’s Art, Craft and Design Expo at the North Carolina Arboretum. The main push of my talk was that marketing is education and that craft artists should focus their marketing efforts on the 3 P’s: product, process and person. I also talked a bit about setting goals, making a cohesive plan and punk rock.

I’ve recently started a new project in West Asheville, building a drystone patio under the deck of a new green-built home. In this image sunlight filters through the decking. I’m using a sandstone, presumably from Tennessee. I’ve switched suppliers recently and am pleased with the colors and durability of the stone.

I recently finished this small drystone path and patio behind an Asheville residence. The patio is square, but the perspective of the photo makes it look like a trapezoid.

Yesterday, I spent the day with photographer Steve Whitsitt taking pictures of stone projects I have worked on around Asheville. He is putting together a coffee table book of stone work, hopefully to be published in 2011. It was fun and educational to spend a day with a pro photographer. We visited several projects and I got to take some shots too. It’s always good to revisit the work as it ages and weathers in.

I have been tying for a while now to get a good panorama of this project. It’s in a very tight space and I can only get a small bit of it in each image. Yesterday, while wandering around taking pictures with Steve, I got the best panoramic view of it I’ve done so far. Click the image for a larger view.

The sun really brings out the textures.

Click the image for a larger view.