I’ve sometimes heard that I can be a teeny bit impatient at times but I believe I learned it from my son Peter. This morning he was very excited to assemble the first Caryatid this morning. Even though I had a doctor’s appointment scheduled and was wearing a nice clean shirt there was a bit of time to squeeze it in. The gluing went well but then Peter immediately wanted to haul the piece over to the Copper Crown for a test fit. I protested a little and suggested letting the glue dry but relented when he started to lug the heavy piece by himself. My clean shirt instantly became a work shirt. I’m happy to report that the test fit went perfectly and the Caryatid looks even more fabulous in position. I had just enough time to snap this picture before I had to rush to the house to grab a new shirt and get on my way. My annual doctor’s checkup went perfectly as well.
Sculpture number one
Peter loves Caryatids and Atlantids, draped female and male figures carved from stone and part of columns that support buildings. Four of them will be featured inside the Copper Crown. We began creating them today. Peter created the 3D mesh files of the figures, and I then converted them to routing files. To make these pieces, I sliced the computer sculptures into two-inch-thick layers and sent them to our CNC router. Our ShopSabre CNC router made quick work of carving the files. Next, I’ll glue them up, and then we’ll do a little hand work and also apply a thin coat of sculpting epoxy to make them look like ancient stone.
Loaded and ready
Between the efforts of our hardworking crew, Greg, of Wishlow Cranes and Jason, the driver for JD Transport the lift and tie down of the pieces was quick and easy. Every piece is now safely secured and ready to travel all the way to Vala’s Pumpkin Patch in Gretna, Nebraska, a distance of about 2,900 kilometres (1,800 miles). As planned, the features fit exactly with only a couple of inches of deck space to spare - the perfect load. The entire load weighed in at just under 20,000 lbs which makes for a light load on this rig. The trailer will sit in our yard for a couple of days, until the weekend, when Jason will bring his truck to hook up, check things over one last time and then head down the highway. I board a plane on Tuesday morning and will see the features again on Wednesday morning of next week when they arrive for installation by the Vala’s crew. As always, I am sure the colourful features will draw lots of attention in transit and the Vala’s team is eagerly looking forward to their arrival. Let the fun begin…
