Assembling of the "Amon Sul" Project:
I start this page with a picture of all the custom stones I made for this project. Although there are exactly 50 customs stones in this picture I ended
up using 36 of them within this project.
Although I could bring the number of stones back to a possible 30, it is still a large number of stones that make up at least 3 molds.
The first part I assembled was a half of the circle. I first built up the outside wall in two layers and started adding the stairway tiles to them and
the large floor tiles. I selected this half of the structure that felt like being the least complicated. I avoided the part that has this stairs in it
that leads from the large floor tile on to the inner square sideways.
Building up the structure upon the large floor tiles was done with a certain feeling. I do not have any guidance in this so I just went on building by
testing a small part, using loose stones, removing them and started to glue them on again.
I held in account the fact that the pillars would stand exactly on the middle of each large floor tile or exactly on the crack between each floor tile.
The reason why this differs within the project has to do with the location of the buttress walls.
Since my wife did take an action picture why working on this project in the garden (my favourite place to cast and sculpt) I simply had to add this one
too within this project.
While assembling the first pieces I also started to ruin some of the wall segments that had to be ruined for certain. As a test I also tried to
demolish the buttress wall a bit using pincers, screwdrivers and a large hammer. The tearing down of the walls is still done at a very modest way.
The real demolition stage still will come in a later stage.
Another detail within the structure is a large floor tile that looks like it is broken in an odd way. You could also imaging that there was a kind of
little canal in this tile that has worn out. What ever it was we will never know but we do know how we have to make this within the structure.
I split up a large floor tile. To suggest that the space underneath is solid I glued another tle there that I had to roughly cut to its desired size.
When adding some rubble in and around this large crack this part will look more natural.
Building the project up to the height of the arches:
Here are some impressions of the project so far. Working with a limited set of pictures there is one spot that was not visible in this photo’s.
At this spot I decided to make a stairway tat leads from outside the structure on to the outer platform of the structure. It looks natural since there is
no other place within the structure where you can actually enter it without climbing it.
The arced piece over the stairway in the second picture is a special handmade piece. I will get back on that a bit further on in this page.
Finishing the arches:
After building up the structure on to the height of the circled arches there was a need for the next series of stones. The arches on the outside round
wall needed another stone on top. Again this was a more difficult stone to make since in this stone the inward curved ceiling had to be continued and
besides that it had to fit on the arch stone perfectly.
The top of this stone ended up being 1.5” inch deep. In this way it creates a nice round platform on which there was a former walkway. It also connects
perfectly on to the stair section. This part of the project is again a variation on the original piece. To give the top side of the stone, that forms this
upper former walkway, its texture I made another thin floor tile especially for this section.
Within the picture there is another piece that is a remains of the large dome. I work my way to this piece next.
Within the structure, on the end of the buttress walls there are statues situated. These statues function as pillars on which the roof construction
partially leans. The six buttress walls carried a large dome once. This dome was supported by these walls and their large arches that were faced inwards
to the centre of the structure. There are still large segments of these arches visible. You can still also see some segments of the arched dome that once
was supported by these large arches.
Again I used the technique making these arches as I also did in making the other blocks in this structure. The arch is the largest piece of the structure
that I molded. This form is split up in half so after I made the first half I used its form by flipping it over to create its counterpart.
After that I split the piece up by carving un-deep cracks in the surface creating a piece that looks like it is made out of several blocks.
Making the rubble dome pieces:
On top of these arches there once was this dome. Now here I used a total different technique that is not consistent and perfect but very rewarding.
(If you manage to get it right)
In total I made 6 rubble pieces or remainings of this dome. Besides that I also made a special arched piece that goes over one of the stairway.
The dome piece is multi angled. The most important curve is the one that follows the upper curve of the large arch. To maintain such a curve I fixed a
large piece of silicone onto another silicone piece by pinning it down with needles. This piece has a chipped structure on it and will eventually form
the outside structure of this piece. On both sides of this piece I pinned silicone strips of ¼” thick. To close this temporary mold I placed another large
silicone piece opposite the fixed chipped stone textured one. This piece, that will form the inside of the dome structure has a small brick mold pattern
on it.
Once the temporary mold is fixed the hard part begins. I poor plaster in this mold. The plaster is a bit less fluid. (added more plaster in the mix)
When pouring a bit more firm plaster into this high and narrow mold, the plaster will not run that much thru possible openings within the temporary mold.
Now the mold is filled with plaster the mold starts to expend, pushing the sides outward.
Now the difficult part starts. I use two hands to push this mold back to its desired form and thus forcing the plaster to rise within this mold. After the
check that I have the right thickness of the piece in progress, I start bending the mold by hand. Remember the form that follows the arch is pinpointed
onto this surface so the horizontal curve is already determined and should not be altered by hand. I now am focussing to bend this mold in a vertical way
and thus creating a block that follows the line of the arch an also bends to the sides to create a form that suggest that it once was part of a large dome.
So now sit tight and count the minutes. Fortunately the type of plaster I use sets in about 5 minutes so after that I could gently let go of the mold.
Once the piece is ready I check the forms. Most important is the form that corresponds with the form of the large arch. Now all I have to do is to model
this piece in a way that it looks like a ruined piece of a large dome. Again pincers do the trick here.
The round inner floor:
Not the entire project is custom build. Within the structure I use an arched piece (10 times) that comes from the original Hirst Arts mold. (Gothic Dungeon)
I used these stones for standing stones for the statues and for making small arches for the small window in de wall and the archway above a door.
Besides that I used 47 chipped stone floor tiles of different sizes.
An at random pattern was laid out and the edges were trimmed with pincers.
With the entire structure built I now can actually start working on detail. The first thing I have to do is to start make the structure look old by ruin
the structure in a constructive way. In this case I had to tear down walls, arches floor tiles, edges and so forth in a way that this looks natural.
This part is difficult since this all a mater of taste. One might want to keep a structure tidy and clean while others want to make things really messy.
In this case I will try to make this ruined structure look real ruined. In doing so I first started to remove larger pieces using pincers and a large
screwdriver, hammering the plaster away. I also worked especially on edges of walls and steps of stairs, chipping them off.
On the next page I will show more of the way I make rubble and work my way to the final stages of this project.
The finished project (final page):
Preparing the blocks (first page):
Back to the Buildings page
Back to SHIFTINGLANDS
Back to the top
Another detail within the structure is a large floor tile that looks like it is broken in an odd way. You could also imaging that there was a kind of
little canal in this tile that has worn out. What ever it was we will never know but we do know how we have to make this within the structure.
Here are some impressions of the project so far. Working with a limited set of pictures there is one spot that was not visible in this photo’s.
At this spot I decided to make a stairway tat leads from outside the structure on to the outer platform of the structure. It looks natural since there is
no other place within the structure where you can actually enter it without climbing it.
Within the structure, on the end of the buttress walls there are statues situated. These statues function as pillars on which the roof construction
partially leans. The six buttress walls carried a large dome once. This dome was supported by these walls and their large arches that were faced inwards
to the centre of the structure. There are still large segments of these arches visible. You can still also see some segments of the arched dome that once
was supported by these large arches.
Not the entire project is custom build. Within the structure I use an arched piece (10 times) that comes from the original Hirst Arts mold. (Gothic Dungeon)
I used these stones for standing stones for the statues and for making small arches for the small window in de wall and the archway above a door.
Besides that I used 47 chipped stone floor tiles of different sizes.
An at random pattern was laid out and the edges were trimmed with pincers.
