It was finally time to begin the actual sculpting of the ship's hull today for the Hazelnut Inn. The bottom portion of the hull remains upside down for the sculpting About two thirds of the planks were created today to facilitate easy access for the sculpting process. Tomorrow, the balance of the concrete will be troweled into place and then carved with a realistic woodgrain. As always, the piece appeared to grow substantially larger as the transparent mesh was covered. It is very exciting to see this substantial piece come to life!
Elephant in the room
There is definitely an elephant in the shop of late - as large as life! We are currently sculpting the 'cut stone' elephant head for the corner of the retaining wall for the Hazelnut Inn. To get a sense of scale, the head measures just over 12' tall. We had to build the JUMBO feature laying down to fit it out of the shop door when we are done. It will stay horizontal until it is lifted into place on the property next door in three or four weeks along with the ship. That will change the neighbourhood forever! :)
Instant installation
We sent off the two truckloads of components for NEB's Fun World last week. We knew from experience that the crew there were more than capable of offloading them safely. The pieces were designed to disassemble and just squeak through the six foot doorways of the facility. Then they had to reassemble and lift them into position - no small feat considering the pieces were very large and extremely heavy. But the NEB's crew really knows what they are doing. Within hours of their arrival we started getting pictures of the installation. It's looking mighty fine already! Great job! We look forward to seeing pictures of the finished installation soon.
