Figurative Sculpture by Borsheim

"Lips"

Henna Limestone
One of a Kind
12" h x 23" w x 6" d
© 2002
Kelly Borsheim

Private Collection
(Texas)

(More photos below)

More Views of the Stone Carving "Lips":

[lips of stone]

Back side (on left) and side view:
[lips of stone]

Big Mouth

In the photo right, I am applying Akemi stone polish to the sculpture "Lips". I included this image here for 2 reasons: to give you a relative size of the stone sculpture and to show you how the Akemi polish not only seals the limestone to protect it, but also gives the stone "the wet look" that helps to bring out the colors in the stone. (The dry, untreated portions are the lighter, "pasty" color -- such as the area under the upper lip on your left.)

The Henna limestone used in this sculpture is a brick red with yellow fossils -- definitely a one-of-a-kind piece. This stone carving weighs about 46 pounds and may be displayed indoors or out.

Inspiration

As with all of my stone carvings to date, the number one inspiration is the personality and look of the stone itself. This stone has a busy pattern, so a simple shape was in order. The dominant red color, plus my love of the human form led me to sculpt the lips. "My kid" (he's not mine, nor is he a kid any longer) Rudy laughed when he saw this sculpture and said, "Those must be your lips -- they're big and fat! Ah ha." While embellished with some artistic license, if you will, he was in fact correct.

[lips of stone]

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Prior to Carving the Stone Lips

I met a wonderfully enthusiastic man in Colorado who happened to work at a place that does spectral analysis. At his invitation, I sent him a piece of the leftover rock from the carving of Lips. He called me back and said that the stone is considered to be Arkose Sandstone.

So I did a Web search and discovered that the "sand" in "sandstone" refers to the grain size. Arkose means that at least 25% of the rock is feldspar (and not often more than 50%). The rest of the stone is mainly quartz. The cement is usually calcite or iron oxides. My guess is the latter for my stone sculpture because of the red color. I am also not sure about the quartz either because this stone was relatively soft to carve. One site said that fossils in the stone are rare. Most sites I saw listed arkose sandstone to be from the Cretaceous Age -- 144-66 million years ago.

[carving stone] [stone carving]

[shaping stone]

[Borsheim Arts Studio]

Kelly Borsheim
Borsheim Arts Studio
www.borsheimarts.com
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