98P-10 "Hands Off!"

The day comes up warm and clear. Feeling the usual "post-partum" depression from Friday's sculpture, there's only one thing for me to do.

Build number:	98P-10
Title:	"Hands Off!"
Date:	August 30
Location:	Venice Breakwater, south side
Start:	0700; building time: 2 hours (approximate)
Height:	3.25 feet
Base:	4 feet X 2 feet, broad V plan
Photography:	most of a roll E100S-135

Low tide was due at around 0900, but there wouldn't be much of a change. I watched the waves for a few minutes, then chose a building spot for this free-pile effort. The big problem with handbuilt sculptures is the softness of the pile. It's compacted enough to stay put, but the edges tend to break off of any sharp cuts, especially when polished by hand. Would sharp tools help in preventing this? Another problem is the peripheral sand. Because the pile is made of a stack of uncontained layers, the outer inch or so of each layer never gets compacted. Would the sharp tools help trim this off, so I could get at the more solid sand inside? A third problem comes in cleaning up the curves. Handwork is difficult, because rubbing pushes the sand back and forth without removing it as happens with harder-packed piles. The hand-built pile is too plastic. Would tools remove sand more easily and delicately? A few overachieving waves--typical of days when the tidal range is smaller--almost drove me higher, but eventually the ocean relented. The sand was good, and required much patting of each layer to drive the water out before adding another "pattycake." The main pile took on a curving plan, and I put a tower at one end. With the Pointer tool, I made a curving cut down the tower after trimming the soft outer sand away. The sharp edge didn't crumble nearly so badly, and when it did it was more due to the soft outer part of the pile. The trick now is to keep the cut from looking fussy; it needs to be done in one confident stroke. I'm better at rubbing things gradually to where I want them. I started a cut into the tower with the Pointer, then used the Steel Pinky to deepen it, tearing a chunk out of the narrow rib left. Its flat tip tends to pull, so I started canting it a bit so it would cut more, with the edge, than pull and this helped. Another panel started on the tower, ran down, and then along the top of the main pile. I cut it to a sort of wing shape, then outlined it with the Pointer. The Pointer also worked for smoothing the surface; it's light enough that I can feel what it's doing and rotate it to match the curve of the panels. Tools make for fast work, and are less destructive than fingers so that more sand remains on the pile. The uphill side acquired an arch made of three overlapping panels. The middle panel wrapped around the end. A long slanting rib provided support for the tower after forming the bottom of the arched opening. Back on the downhill side, I made a curlicue round opening under the wing's tip. It opened into the uphill side's arch. While working on this, a real overachiever wave smacked me hard and parted around my body, which saved the sculpture as water ran around and ten feet up the beach. The ocean doesn't like to be ignored. The tower's base curved outward gradually, typical of hand-built piles. I left it that way, but cut under its lower edge to give it a panel look. A wave came in and softened the edge. Above that a narrow slot connected to the space under the slanting rib on the uphill side. Another wave came up, ran around the sculpture, then flowed through this space, leaving flow marks. A man with a Russian accent--I think--stopped and exclaimed enthusiastically how much he liked the sculpture. The remarkable part of his story was that he'd come by Saturday morning, and 98F-16 was still standing then! He intruduced himself as Anton, and thanked me for making the sculpture, and commented that he liked the way I worked parts of the sculpture inside. Shortly after this, the Chatty Kathy Award winner from 98F-15 came by, just as loud, but at least keeping the cruder comments to himself. Various other tourists stopped, talking among themselves in their own languages. There wasn't much left to carve. I cleaned it up a little, then got out the weather-resistant camera, already loaded with slide film, and shot a round. Then I thought of some improvements on the downhill side, so worked on that and it did help. I shot a few of the changed facade, then got some shots of the flow patterns made by waves washing around the sculpture.

I felt rushed by the tide. There was plenty of time, but there's something about having the water only ten feet away that leads to hurry, and that affected the sculpture. It was rough. It was a nice sculpture. More a collection of interesting parts than a whole piece, it still was lively. More important, it shows promise. Sharp tools definitely help with hand-built sculptures, although the Pointer has the wrong kind of tip for this job. It needs a more pointed tip, rather than its current round one. The handle could be improved also, to make it more balanced for starting cuts. Sounds like a new tool to me. The Sand Knife is nearly useless. It looks great, but just isn't effective for very many jobs. I thought that perhaps it'd work for slicing and trimming on small sculptures, but the Steel Pinky works even better. I only used the Knife for its point. Making overlapping curved panels is great fun. They look neat, adding a lot of texture and interest to the sculpture. One simple line and it's there, with an undercut to help the definition. There's a connection with 83F-1 in this sculpture. They have similar profiles and are of similar size. 83F-1 was my first formed sculpture and the biggest I'd ever done. Basically a pile and tower, with holes, having a sort of southwestern look. It was a major effort. 98P-10 was a lark, almost casual, quickly done yet more complex than the earlier one. The difficult becomes routine, to make way for more difficult things. I walked away north, thoughtful. This sculpture was fun, perhaps the most fun I've ever had with a free-pile sculpture. Sharp tools are the way to go.

83F-1 with builder Branched Oak Lake, Nebraska	98P-10 with builder Venice Beach, California
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