Stone sculpting – Sue Taves Sculpture

I’m back home but still posting photos from my Italy visit. We packed a lot in for one month so I’ll keep posting until the stone gets here in late May.

On the Sunday preceding our last week at the studio we went on a Quarry Tour. Sunday is the best day to avoid sharing the tiny roads with giant trucks hauling stone. We drove up the mountain outside of Carrara and then the jeep took us up to the near-top of the mountain where we could see numerous quarries. The weather was clear and mild, a great day for being on the mountain.

We drove up this far and then the jeep took us up to that saddle section in the middle of this photo.

Going to the quarry is an opportunity to touch the origin of the stone; to see it where it came from, to appreciate all those centuries this marble sat in a mountain after is was formed. There’s so much history in these mountains, they’ve been quarrying stone since well before Michelangelo and the Renaissance.

Michael (our guide) explained the techniques and some of the current rules and restrictions governing the quarries. At the base there is a small outdoor museum with old equipment and photos that helps illuminate the history of the area and the dangerous work of quarrying marble.

Micheal, our driver and guide
Glad it was 4WD!

I took hundreds of photos so please appreciate the restraint I’m showing by limiting my choices here. I’m not known for my restraint when it comes to stone (which you likely already know if you’re reading this blog.)

Looking out over multiple quarries to the Mediterranean Sea.

One of the old bridges (its in all the old photographs). This road will take you up to Colonnata.

The “back” side, looking inland. See how tiny the giant earth-moving machines look.

A huge block being carved by an automated machine. There are many places that are doing this now in the area, this studio was at the base of quarry that we toured.

What the sculptures look like after the computerized cutting. Still lots to do by hand. I have no idea whose studio this is.

Even if you’re not a stone sculptor, getting a chance to go on a tour and see a quarry is a pretty amazing thing. If you want more photos, I’ve added some here at the end.

Ciao!

Three happy sculptors. Still happy even though we didn’t get to keep the hardhats!

Blue sky, white marble, big smile! Thanks for the photo Tamara!

*Disclaimer: This is all about tools so it may not be so interesting to all of you but I know the stone folks following my blog will want to know.

The end of the first day were were at the studio we had to leave early to go buy some tools. Since Italy runs on 220 power our US grinders won’t work here so that was first on the list. We stopped a couple places before we found some reasonably priced Makita variable speed angle grinders. They have these new handy clip on mesh screens for the intake holes, I haven’t seen those before. I’m also not sure they are effective for keeping the stone dust out but I’m using them anyway. I also got these great little 3 inch silicon carbide grinding wheels and they are sweet. Anyone know where to find them in the states? (Because these fit these tools and won’t fit on a 5/8 US shank).

Mesh screens protecting the intake

Last week we went to Milani tools, I failed to get photos of anything except the wall of the famous “italian” riffler files. It was a bit of a challenge to find but our navigator Tamara got us there. So far we’ve only had three trips to Milani (they are close by) and I’m sure we’ll have one or two more to get some things to take home. They have so many goodies there, pins and sleeves, silicon carbide bits in all kinds of sizes, and of course, rifflers.

I brought all my protective gear from home; respirator, googles, ear protection, hat and gloves.

Last week we ventured to Massa (which is 5 km north of us, and on the way to Carrara), to Cuturi Tools. Cuturi makes pneumatic air hammers and Tamara has a couple of old ones, one small Piccolo (small) hammer that needed repair. She has been emailing them so they buzzed us in the gate and welcomed us into their factory site. We met Ezio Cuturi, the grandson of the original founder Gino Cuturi. He now runs the business with his brother. He helped Tamara with the repair and entertained us while we bought chisels and experimented with their new “Piccolino” (even more small) air hammer which does engraving and small work.

Not your usual storefront.

Yes, this is a sculpture of an air hammer made of marble.

We all got to try to Piccolino, which was a sweet little tool. Eirene got one and amazingly I resisted buying one.

All the sizes
The inner workings

Both Milani and Cuturi are great brands in the world of stone so it has been a treat to look and buy tools directly from the source. Who knows what else we’ll find to bring home with us!

If you’ve got questions, ask them in the comments and I’ll try to put together a Q and A blog.

Until next time, ciao!