Stone Sculptors?

I don't have the answer for you, but statues that size that are well-known enough might have enough history to be useful starting places. Michelangelo's David, Mt Rushmore... it would presumably depend on how many people are working on it, the quality of the stone, and how refined the sculpting is.

Sat Nam! (Literally "Truth Name"--a Sikh greeting)

Agreeing with Marta that you check to see how long it took Michelangelo to sculpt David. That info should be available somewhere.

Blessings,

Siri Kirpal

Dr-I-Know-All said:

Who knows anything about stone sculpting? AS in, how long would it take to carve a granite sculpture about 8 feet tall, only about 6 feet of it is detail carving.

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What sort of tools are available? How sharp are they? How quickly can they be resharpened? How fast and energetic and accurate is the sculptor? How inspired is he/she? Does he see the carving inside the rock and liberate it or does he have to think and plan and spend time visualizing and consulting sketches of views of the finished product from various angles? Does he have computer assistance? Does he have machine tools with whirring grindy bits that are diamond coated?

How deeply carved is the detail carving going to be? How intricate?

What is the image being carved? A modern abstract thing? A cluster of marmosets hanging from vines all of which need to be carved? A copy of the Ishtar Gate bas relief? An angel? A knight with chain mail, every link of which is going to be replicated?

I'm pretty sure that someone who knows something about sculpture would need to have at least some of this information before they could give you an approximate answer.

Laser imaging and computerized equipment could do it in an hour or so. A student with a blunt piece of pipe and a rock might take longer. What do you need for your story?

Jeff

Michelangelo took 2 years to carve the statue of David. Here's a video that might answer some of your questions about sculpting statues.

Granite is harder than marble and might need different tools. I suggest doing a google search to help you refine your question.

I've done some stone sculpting before, so I can answer from experience!

I've never touched granite, because it's an excruciatingly hard stone and I don't have the time, patience, or inclination. However, what I can help you with is some of the problems an artist might face when looking for the 'perfect stone,' and some information about the carve itself.

The main concern one might have about a stone is its flaws. picking the 'perfect' stone is impossible, but minimizing heartache is pretty easy. I used to rub graphite on my stones to look for cracks I couldn't see with my eye, because it was easy enough to rinse off, and disappeared anyway when chipped into. You don't want to get 3/4 of the way through a carve, especially on a difficult material like granite, and then have a good portion of your sculpture break off.

Some faults can be worked away. Put them on the side of your sculpture you intend to get rid of, anyway. Some stones have weak points that go right down the middle. You want to avoid those, because you don't know where they go.

Your sculptor will also want to make his own tools. I use re-bar, which is the stuff they put in streets and sidewalks to strengthen it. This can be an interesting process to include, as it does take some time, and adds to the time it'll take to sculpt.

You need tools that are malleable and not breakable. If you stick a piece of rebar in water to cool it off, it cools fast, but as soon as you hit it with a hammer to shape it, it'll shatter. You need to hammer the metal into the shape you want it when it's nearly molten, then let it air-cool. And! After you've hammered it out into the shape you want, heat it up again to cherry red and let it air-cool again. Very important. That's called annealing.

I'd look up "hand-made stone sculpting tools" in google images to get an idea of what your sculptor would be making. For granite, you'll see a lot of tools that are grooved, because this makes material easier to remove from the block of hard stone. It also distributes pressure your your tools don't crack or bend in the process. See how tiny they are, too? The use of these tools also adds time to the process. You're chipping away tiny, tiny pieces at a time, with super-gentle taps, so as not to accidentally crack the stone.

Making even the slightest progress would take hours of dedicated time. You're not going to see any features emerge from your block of granite on the first day, or even the first week. You'd be concentrating on stripping it down to a more workable shape.

When I start, I actually draw the areas I'm chipping away entirely on the stone with pencil. make circles. Start with the broadest areas and work to the tiny ones. And remember, you can't just break these off, or you'll damage your stone! They have to be worked away carefully and slowly.

Unlike the great Renaissance artists, (if your sculptor is modern, that is!) You also have tools like dremels at your disposal to make refining your carve a little easier. If your artist is more traditional, then you can use sandpaper, starting with the roughest (largest grit) and working down to fine. This is call polishing, and could take weeks all by itself.

Depending on your level of detail, it could take years to work a granite sculpture into a form you prefer. If your artist needs something faster, you might consider trying alabaster, and then doing something like covering the finished statue in bronze. I worked in alabaster a lot. It still took weeks, sometimes months, to get the sculpture where I wanted it, but I didn't have to worry as much about shattering the stone.

Lately, I work a lot smaller, because it's less heartbreaking when something goes wrong. And it will go wrong, by the way. It's very realistic to have your artist reject a stone or two, and then maybe even break one, before he finds one that works.

Even Michelangelo broke stones.

Good luck!