Thursday, April 3, 2008

work stuff

yesterday i went with harold to visit and photograph some of his fireplace carvings. at one point we passed a house where i had done some work years ago and i said, "pull in here." i knew the original homeowners no longer lived there, but there was one project i did there i'd never gotten a photo of. plus, i've since lost all of my digital copies of the rest.

i'm not exactly sure when it was i did this job. i do remember my son sean helping me lay the stone and brick patios and he was about 11 or 12 at the time, so i guess that puts it about 1995 or '96. i also remembered it being a job site with at least one example of every type of work i do: from the pedestrian tile, slate, brick and stone flatwork; to designing, building and installing mosaics; to designing and carving stone relief sculptures.

the original homeowners liked to travel and one of their interests was old scottish, irish and english castles. at one point in the project they decided they wanted the shower in their guesthouse to look like a castle! how cool is that? after a little (or a lot of) research of castle elements, this is what i came up with...

there wasn't much room to deal with so i had to keep it simple. the 8" x 8" rustic tile walls were meant to simulate heavy stone masonry walls. the arched *window* intended to stretch the space, is in the shape of the windows in one of their favorite castles. i don't remember now which one.




the italian glass, tile mosaic landscape looks pretty crude to me now. in fact, harold even said as much - that he didn't think it looked like my usual work. as i recall, my focus was on the colors rather than detail. there are probably 50-60 different blues, browns, golds, greens...i used to know how many, but don't remember now.

and there's something missing from the original installation: the bit of whimsy i normally include in some way in all of my work. in this case it was the sheep on the hillside, but someone had removed them.

you see, i'd gone to a local hobby shop and purchased seven HO-scale, plastic sheep. 6 white and one black. i'd sliced the backsides off with a blade and epoxied them to the tile. the homeowners loved it. when i asked the new owners about them, the wife looked perplexed, but the husband laughed and patted me on the back saying,"oh, i remember them. that was my favorite part! some guest must have removed them. would you like to find some more and get them back to grazing in my shower?"

would i!? HELL, yeah.

(he's also interested in seeing and finding a place for my original mock-up of the mosaic i did in his swimming pool. it's made of $450/square foot, real gold tile that the original owner decided against for aesthetic, not monetary, reasons, but in my opinion would have been a much more handsome finished product. the new guy agrees with me and who knows...maybe i'll get to redo it the way i thought it should have been done all along. suh-weet.)



the wreath is about 10-11 feet across, i think. it's an exact replica of a tiny (approx. 5" diam.)wrought iron detail on the iron gates at either end of the estate which was built in the 1920's. see what i mean about the contrast? even though the gold tile was nixed for being too *glitzy,* i think the darker contrast would be much more subtle and the gold would add a degree of sophistication rather than a gaudy quality.

...so, back to the *castle shower*...

this bench is made of tile that really looks like wood. i found this element in many of the pictures of castle interiors. placed in the stairwells usually, they were used to store weapons and food supplies in case of seige.



the photos we took of my stone carvings didn't turn out so well. when i go back i'll take some better ones and tell you a funny story that goes with them.

17 comments:

Annie said...

I'm so glad you're sharing more of your work: it is both fascinating and beautiful.

rilera said...

Rick, I'm impressed! I'm so glad that you are sharing your work. I've been curious about your 'day job'. You are so talented. I love the mosaic, it's awesome.

cornbread hell said...

annie, i hope ya know that showing you and p my silly bus stop, and your appreciation of it, was the reason i felt emboldened enough to post this...

rilera - thanks. (and give your mom a hug for me. i follow your blog closely and think of you both often.)

~Betsy said...

Wow, Rick. You are a very talented guy! Very cool and very impressive!

Joanne said...

Very impressive work, Rick. If I ever decide to remodle, I know who to call for a beautiful job. :D

wendy said...

Good Lord, how beautiful! I too am very pleased that you're sharing this with us. I'm sure you have many stories to tell that we'd like to hear.

Annie said...

I sure wish you'd quit calling it silly. That bus stop is a work of art, and you should be darned proud of it. If you don't use the photos I sent and write a post about it, I will. And I'll do a crappy job, so you better hop to it!

cornbread hell said...

thanks, all. ((gawrsh, blush))

annie, you may have to do it...i think i'm all ego-ed out. besides, i'd like to hear your take on it - what you *got* of the history involved.

Annie said...

I was driving in rush hour downtown Dallas being traumatized by stupidly tall ramps, angry drivers who wouldn't let me in the lane I needed while you were explaining the history. I refuse to be held accountable for things I may have missed. Let your swollen head recede for a few days or a week, and then tell the story as only you can. Please.

cornbread hell said...

i'll work on that.

just picture this: 170 years ago, before there were any spaniards or french or texians around these parts, those stupidly tall ramps were once prairie - those rude drivers were once black bear, deer, massive herds of bison and a variety of 9 different, mostly peaceful, tribes of american indians passing through for trade and fair weather on well-worn footpaths.

the road map you used, to so gallantly maneuver your rent car over our present day city streets, is a direct descendant of that original, 170 year old survey map depicted in tile on that silly damn bus stop floor...yes, i said, "silly." it's still just a bus stop.

ok. i'll try, but at what point do i introduce the berlin wall?

Annie said...

I would have thought the stupidly tall ramps were the timberland part. The lone grove of trees in the prairie. Since you were guiding me, I guess that makes you one of the original homesteaders? If a married man got 640 acres, and a single man got 320, what did you get? And do you use the English method of a grid survey, or the Spanish method of using a natural landmark and measuring from there?
The Berlin wall means you are here. A good place to start?
I think your idea of the transparent overlay to show how closely the present day roads follow those footpaths is brilliant and DART should be ashamed for not doing it.
We can argue about this until the oxen pull up another wagonload of homesteaders and all their worldly possessions, it is not a silly bus stop floor! It is your first mosaic, and a public work of art commissioned by DART which just happens to be housed in a major transit station. Because you were there that day, a teenager looked at the floor in a new light and heard and recorded your explanation. Hell, you drew a crowd! Now, you silver-haired huisache, go tell the story! Don't make me come down there! No, wait, yes, make me come down there! Waaah!

cornbread hell said...

so i guess you Were listening. and i guess you already told the story so now i don't have to...hah!

wendy said...

Annie, how did you put up with such obstinance for however many days? ;)

Did you just call him the equivalent of a "tough, aggressive, invasive species that limits forage production and decreases the value of the wildlife habitat"? Or does huisache mean something else too?

josephine terese said...

my dad is pretty freakin cool, huh?

rainbowheart said...

I agree with Jospehine...you Dad is really freckin cool and talented. Rick, thank you for sharing this pics with us. You do wonderful work...

Anonymous said...

huisache? huisache? I once moved from Tennessee to live in San Antonio and heard that word, as a proper noun, but never knew what it meant. Anybody?

I didn't know from Spanish so by default simply pronounced Bexar County like it is spelled. I did this when answering the telephone at my place of work, the name of which included the name of the county! When callers corrected me, I corrected them. What a naive young person I was.

Signed, Cornbread Holy

Annie said...

Wendy, huisache is a tree that we saw at the Wildflower Center in bloom. Furry little yellow balls. I just like saying the word. Huisache!