Sandblasting vs. lettercutting by hand

["Ian Marr" <ianmarr@zzzzzzzzzzz>]

     The stone for my hand lettercutting, from Mintaro in South Australia &
Gosford Quarries near Sydney, is quarried & shaped by multi_million dollar
businesses, using diamond saws, heavy earthmoving eqipment & a large labour
force.It may seem half-principled for me to take a hard line, then, on the
virtues of craft skills. But, even though I'm a tiny customer, I'm arguably
transforming the stone into its most distinguished and culturally enduring
form (as are others like me).I don't have a quota to fulfil, this week, or
over my whole life.
      There will never be many really beautiful & distinguished inscriptions
in the world: just as with Andrew Wyeth's paintings, Emily Dickinson's
poems, or Gershwin's songs, it's a wonder that they exist at all. We would
be lucky to make one such thing in our lives.
      As John Olsen (artist) said to Paul Keating( Oz prime minister) :
"There are two kinds of people in the world: Lovers and Others, and you know
what you can do with the Others." I just think hand-lettercutters line up
with the Lovers.

Ian Marr
http://www.ianmarr.com.au