Stone carved Chimney Topper

This semester my classmates and I are carving an eight piece chimney topper building arts house located in downtown Charleston. once completed the chimney topper will be roughly 5x5ft. This image shows the profile of the ovalo design for the topper.

After all four corners and four middle sections are out together a 5ftx5ft stone was created

Stone Carving

This is an example of basic stone carving and splitting with a tool finish

Creating a mold step 1:

The first step to creating a mold from existing plaster is stoping the paint. Here we are stripping the paint from a small section allowing us to create a mold that will go around the top of the new wall in this room.

Marmarino

Soaped the finished product with black soap. The black soap created a finish that will seal the plaster but still allow breathability. 

Recreating plaster corbels in Citadel Square Church

Chronological steps-

1: strip the existing paint

2: apply release agent to existing corbel

3: brush rubber model on to existing corbel

4: apply plaster to exterior of rubber mold to hold it in place

5: instal wooden structure to hold plaster mold in place

6: remove mold from existing corbel on wall

7: apply release agent

8: brush on multiple layers of plaster 

9: remove from mold

10: instal on wall of church

11: math the gold paint and paint it

Filling in with rock

Filling in joints with grout bags

Laying bricks without buttering the sides

Foundations at Dorchester

The process of pointing plaster

Pointing a corner

Studying decorative plaster and stone carving

Laying different brick patterns

Drawing and Drafting

Drawing and layout using string/ squares/ scribe:

Splitting the line: to find the center point of a line you use your compass. You put one end on the end of the line and the other end past the midpoint and make an arch. Then you do the same ting only on the other side of the line. Draw a line connecting to two intersecting points. Where that line intersects your original line is the midpoint.

slate laying and block laying

Description of laying brown stone block and slate

Slate Laying: when laying slate you must first lay out all of the slates before you put any of them in permanently. This is essential because most slates will need to be cut and fitted. When laying out and cutting the slate it is important to take into account to joints.

 

 

Block Laying:

When laying block it is important that it is straight. To assure that it is we use a string line. The way this works is you put one end of the string on each end of that wall this way when you are laying the stone you have something to reference, line the block up with the string.

 

 

 

Cutting stone and scribing block

When cutting stone you must use eye and ear protection, and wear a mask covering your mouth. There are different ways to cut stone. You can use a power tool, when cutting slate you can use a slate cutter, or you can use a hammer and pitch.

The cut of a stone dictates how you use it because you want the flat edges to go against another stone, and you want the uneven edges to face the outside. Most of the brownstones had only 1 uneven side, this side is what you will see when the wall is complete.

 

 

Before cutting a stone you must first evaluate the stone to make sure you are cutting off the side that is most useless. Then use a scribe to mark exactly where you want to cut. A scribe is a pointed edge that will scrape a visible line into a stone. Once the stone is marked and you have your safety equipment on you are ready to cut.

 

 

 

Mixing Mortarts and Ratios:

 

 

Mixing Mortars and Ratios:

Recommended use of mortar types m/n/s/o/:

Location Building Segment Recommended Mortar Alternative Mortar Exterior, above grade Load-bearing walls Non-load bearing walls Parapet walls N O N Sor M N or S S Exterior, at or below grade Foundation walls, retaining walls, manholes, sewers, pavements, walks and pations S M or N Interior Load-bearing walls Non-load bearing walls N O S or M N From ASTM C 270     Compressive strength: A compression failure in masonry made with weak mortars occurs as a tension failure in the bricks, as they seek to prevent the mortar from being pressed out of the joints. The expression is derived by assuming hydrostatic pressure in the mortar joints, which is the most unfavorable stress distribution with respect to tensile stresses in bricks. The expression is compared with the results of compression tests of masonry made with weak mortars.   Mixing mortars/ Addition of color:There are three primary ways to make mortar: 1.     Portland Cement, Hydrated Lime and Masonry Sand 2.     Masonry Cement and Masonry Sand 3.     Pre-mixed Mortar In class we mixed lime with sand to create the mortar we used for the joints on out brownstone wall. We used a ratio of 3:1 When adding the color it is important to keep track of exactly how much you are adding so that when you make another batch of mortar the color matches exactly. Add the color to the mortar after it is mixed.