Wood and Stone

[Walter Arnold <walter@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Mixing wood and stone, or stone and glass, or a number of other materials
can be done well; the advice given here by others does a good job of
explaining the issues involved.

Mixing metals can be another thing entirely. I heard about one large public
sculpture which was made of iron, steel, brass, copper, lead and some other
stuff, all bolted together. Essentially it was a giant battery which had
begun to corrode before it was even installed. That was dumb.

The client has an art restorer disassemble it, seal every element (I think
they plastic coated the pieces), and set up an elaborate long term
maintanence program.

Mixing metal and stone can be done, but be careful- any metal which can
rust or corrode will have an adverse effect on the stone. (staining or
splitting the stone over time). Even if it's an interior piece, moisture
will get in and the metal will rust eventually. As it rusts, it expands,
and I've seen a LOT of stone that split because of that.