"Is anybody still out there?"

["Ted Schaghy" <ted@zzzzzzzz>]

Howdy!

I'm still out there - waaaaaaay out there!  Just got the Grasby and
Kindersley books I ordered on lettering in slate.  Wow.  I thought I was
pretty good at this stuff until I tried to do it all by hand.  I am
accustomed to working signage and lettering by sandblasting and stencils and
being surrounded by more equipment than I really needed to do the jobs,
e.g., bridge saws, polishers - everything a guy could ask for.  Now that I
am on my own and trying something new it has become a bit rough.  I keep
looking at all the great things people on this list are making and it makes
me a little discouraged.  Dang, it could take a couple of years before I am
any good at this and can make some profit - in spite of the fact that I have
a steady hand, a good eye and a wild imagination.  It's a whole new ball
game.  You guys are really great.  Keep the good stuff coming!

One thing I have noticed very quickly in this experience:  you can be a
lousy letter carver, but if your layout is great - then your work looks
great in spite of it.  But if you can carve skillfully and your layout is
bad - your work looks bad.  Spend mucho time perfecting your layout!  Doing
letters by hand is no easy task!  Perhaps a class or two in lettering is in
order for me.

Tools: I started out with the Dick Blick beginner set of stone carving tools
and a Rebit lettering chisel (not carbide tipped).  I didn't think there
would be much of a difference in the lettering chisels being plain metal or
carbide tipped - man, what a load of crap that little bit of thinking was.
The carbide tipped chisels leave the plain metal ones in the dirt.

Material: The first few slabs of slate I got from the rock yard were raw and
rough faced.  I wanted to be a purist and take the rough face down with
chisels and a hammer before sanding.  This takes a lot of time.  One slip of
the chisel and I am right back where I started.  I can do it, but it is a
long time and a lot of labor in coming.  I am going to cheat and get a belt
sander to smooth them - but I promise to do all the rest of the work by
hand!  I don't know what kind of slate it is I bought.  I know very little
about slate to begin with other than people out here in Vegas buy it by the
truckload and lay it in their patios and sidewalks.  The dispatcher at the
rock yard said the slate I bought, "comes from Arizona... I think."  When I
asked him what kind of slate it was, he said, "It's the really hard, rocky
kind!"  Well, at least we had a good laugh.

Anyway, I am not about to give up.  I am struggling and frustrated, but
there is just something about the letters carved by hand into slate that
mesmerizes me.  Very beautiful.  I have what I think are some great ideas
and I just have to do them!  This is going to take some time.  Aspiring to
follow in the footsteps of some of the Gods like Grasby and Kindersley and
some of the people on this list is a little early in the game for me.  Gotta
get back down to earth and start taking baby steps.  It will come.

Any tips anyone wants to throw my way, please do so.  I am going to need
them.

Ted

-----Original Message-----
 From: Gary Kinsella [garykinsella92025@---------]
Sent: Tuesday, March 29, 2005 11:20 AM
Subject: [stone] Is anybody still out there?