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 spent most of the winter in the historical Montford district of Asheville, building a set of radial stone steps, three big columns and some drystone retaining walls. The house is featured on a tour from HandMade: The Western North Carolina Craft, Architecture & Design Expo taking place June 25-26 at the N.C. Arboretum. The Asheville Citizen-Times ran a story on the house that featured an image of the steps and mentions of Hammerhead and its marbles! Click the photo above or this link to check out the story. There are other images of the work in a slideshow linked from the main article.

Click the image for a larger view.

This drystone wall connects two columns in a Montford backyard. The redial steps are visible in the distance. Another wall segment will continue from the furthest column and turn at the bank. Most of the stone is a granitic gneiss: heavy, sharp and cantankerous. And it makes a lovely wall. Quarried a few miles outside of Asheville, it looks like it belongs here because it does.

In the photo below, find the green marble tucked in the joinery. In the bottom photo, there’s a pool ball.

The radial steps are all in place, awaiting some serious clean-up and grouting. The two columns that frame the steps are up to height, awaiting caps. The third column in within inches of completion. I have shifted my focus to the drystone retaining wall between the columns.
PIctured above: looking down one of the columns next to the steps.

I’m almost done with the radial stone steps I’m building in the Montford district of Asheville. The sixth riser is in place, awaiting the final tread, which I still need to fabricate. The image above is a panorama looking down onto the left hand column and the steps. A wall connects the top radius and the column. You can see the shape of it in this image, but it is not completely built up yet. The columns will be a few inches taller than the wall/steps and will have capstones.

This was the view Monday. I’m using the propane heater to warm up the stones in the area I was planning to work.

This is a shot from behind the steps. From here you can see the overall shape and get a clear picture of the structural nature of the stonework. This is a not a veneer. By my very rough calculations, there will be 12+ tons of material in the steps and columns when I’m done. The backside of the steps is ugly as all get out, but it’s solid as a…

The prettier side of the stone steps.