Stone Art Blog

Once upon a fairytale garden

2012-01-02T12:47:00.000Z

So it is a new year, and for many people 2012 is looking pretty bleak indeed. That is why I am re-posting this old post I did last year. This story can help remind us that even from the ashes of devastation and despair, life and prosperity will once again flourish.

Wishing everyone a very happy new year, and I hope 2012 brings you all good health, wealth, and happiness.

Once upon a time in the hills of the great dividing range of Victoria on the edge of a town called Marysville there was a magical garden. In this magical garden mermaids rested on the sun baked rocks on the edge of cool stream’s while fairy’s and pixies danced in-between the trees as wise old men sat at the base of wise old trees.

Unfortunately for Bruno Torfs and the rest of us this is where the fairy tail ended as on the 7th of February 2009 a bushfire raged through the township, decimating everything in its path without mercy and sadly claimed the lives of many people. Bruno was extremely lucky to survive and the rest of the family are safe and well.

Bruno's home and art gallery were unfortunately completely destroyed in the blaze. The main attraction, the sculpture garden, was also damaged, but around sixty percent of the sculptures have survived.

The pictures of the aftermath show a very eerie looking place. The ghostly looking remains of sculptures look almost shell-shocked and traumatised, as from a seen from a town devastated by war.

Bruno has chosen to stay in Marysville to rebuild his home and restore the gardens. His passion to share his love of art and the story of life with the world has not been damaged by the fires, in fact you would almost say it has been forged anew by the flames that nearly took it all away.

But as with all good fairytales, this story two has a happy ending.
Bruno has been working tirelessly to restore the sculptures and the gardens to their former glory and after months of hard work he declared the gardens reopen on the 29th of November 2009.

Bruno's words: "The bushfires deeply touched us all in many ways. It allowed me to see that people had a heart for each other, that when things really got dark, the best in us comes out. We have lost a lot, but life also provides us opportunities to gain a new vision, lots of new friends and a blank canvas to play. In the meantime, nature is already regenerating itself. The green is slowly returning and the rivers are flowing, finding new ways".

All photos are from Bruno Torfs website

Newgrange and the winter solstice.

2011-12-18T14:38:00.000Z

One of the exterior walls of Newgrange

As the winter solstice is coming up, I thought it would be an appropriate time to talk about one of Ireland's oldest and most impressive stone structures.
I am talking of course about Newgrange in County Meath. (County Meath is well known as Ireland’s Heritage Capital)
According to the most reliable Carbon 14 dates available from archaeology, it is believed that Newgrange (or Sí an Bhrú as it is know in Irish) was constructed over 5,000 years ago, around 3200BC. This makes it more than 600 years older than the Giza Pyramids in Egypt, and 1,000 years more ancient than Stonehenge in the UK. It was built during the Neolithic or New Stone Age by a farming community that prospered on the rich lands of the Boyne Valley. Knowth and Dowth are similar mounds nearby that together with Newgrange have been designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

Archaeologists classified Newgrange as a passage tomb, however it is now recognised to be much more than a passage tomb. Ancient Temple is a more fitting classification, a place of astrological, spiritual, religious and ceremonial importance, much as present day cathedrals are places of prestige and worship where dignitaries may be laid to rest. The Mound or Cairn at Newgrange is about 300 feet in diameter covering an area of over one acre, and has 97 Kerbstones at the base of the cairn, some of which are richly decorated with megalithic art. The 19 metre long inner passage leads to a cruciform chamber with a corbelled roof. The amount of time and labour invested in construction of Newgrange suggests a well-organised society with specialised groups responsible for different aspects of construction.

Newgrange through one of the native Hawthorn hedges that surround the site

The entrance into Newgrange with the famous entrance stone, kerbstone 1

To gain entry to the tomb, it would have been necessary to climb over the highly decorated kerb stone and then slide the heavy stone door that closed the entrance to the passage (now visible bolted to the right of the entrance.)

Newgrange is an incredibly popular tourist attraction, and is a particularly popular place to visit at this time of the year because of its alignment with the winter solstice.

Immediately above the entrance to the passage is a small opening known as a roof-box, which is in alignment with the Sun at the winter solstice and allows the Suns rays to penetrate the tomb and light up the central chamber during this period (December 19th to 23rd).

Short National Geographic Video about Newgrange

The inner passage of Newgrange (image from Wikipedia)

Looking down the inner passage (photo from Boyne Valley Tours)

Inside the chamber of Newgrange (photo by OPW)

Megalithic art carved on the roof stone of the east recess off the main chamber inside the mound at Newgrange. (photo from Boyne Valley Tours)

Building Newgrange

The white quartz facade of Newgrange

As a stonemason what I find most fascinating about Newgrange is its construction.
Many of these stone slabs, 550 in number, were collected from where they had been lying in the landscape. Because many of the stones were found to be weathered, it is believed they were not quarried, so there would have been a huge logistical task in finding suitable boulders dotted throughout the landscape.

Some of the large kerbstones at the rear of the structure

Great effort and time was needed for the planning, gathering of materials and construction of these monuments. This is clearly evident from the vast distances the builders travelled to acquire the particular stone types. The majority of structural stones in the Boyne Valley tombs are greywacke. This stone type was quarried in the Clogherhead area, north of Drogheda, and shipped along sea and river, then finally log-rolled from a docking point on the Boyne up to the construction area at Newgrange.

The white quartz facade of Newgrange

The facade at Newgrange consists of white quartz, which has its origins in the Wicklow Mountains to the South of the site.
The interspersed granite boulders were collected from the North shore of Dundalk Bay. The long distances involved suggest a similar sea-faring route may have been a more practical choice than travelling across land. The majority of the cairn consists of a river rolled stone acquired from the banks and terraces of the river Boyne around 1km below the monument. It is estimated that some 200,000 tonnes of material are present in the cairn. It is not known for certain the exact building practices used by this Neolithic Culture. Archaeologists have suggested various theories. It is most likely that log-rolling, the erection of wooden scaffolding and earthen ramps were employed to shift the large boulders.
Michael J. O'Kelly, who excavated Newgrange, felt that the workforce involved in building Newgrange would have been divided up into about six gangs or teams, each with its own set of tasks and area of expertise.

Kerbstone 52 on the North-western side of the mound

There is no doubt that the people in charge of Newgrange's construction, from the master builder and architect down to the team foremen, were "intelligent and experienced", according to O'Kelly.

The corbelled roof from inside the main chamber of Newgrange (photo from Boyne Valley Tours)

The passage and chamber orthostats (large stones set upright) would have been put in place before construction of the cairn itself actually began, and it is probable the kerb would have been marked out at this stage too. The addition of grooves onto the top surface of the passage roof stones shows that the builders were aware of the need to redirect water seepage from the cairn, and therefore keep the passage water-proofed.
The corbelled vault of the chamber is one of the finest of its kind in Western Europe today, standing intact without conservation or repair of any kind exactly as it did when first erected 5000 years ago. All of the orthostats (standing stones) in the chamber are used to support the corbelled roof. Some have leaned inwards over time due to the weight of the cairn material pressing down on the chamber. The tomb builders filled the gaps between the roof stones in the passage with sea sand and burned soil to keep the passage dry. The corbelled roof was constructed of horizontally laid courses of large slabs, each course partly resting on the one below it and partly oversailing it so that with each course the diameter of the roof diminished, until finally the vault was closed by a single capstone six metres above the floor. The outer ends of the corbels were buried in the cairn and were tilted slightly downward; this served to throw off the rainwater percolating through the cairn. It was a most effective weather-proofing and kept the chamber dry even in prolonged bad weather except in a few spots, now cured.

It is known that the white quartz, which was found on the ground in front of Newgrange during excavations, was not originally placed there by the builders. Some of the kerbstones which had fallen forward some time after the construction of the monument were found to be directly in contact with the subsoil, with no quartz beneath them. The reconstructed façade of Newgrange is controversial - many people feel that it is only an educated guess as to what the original tomb looked like. The reconstruction also cut away some of the mound so that visitors can walk around the carved kerbstone, rather than having to climb over it.
Professor Frank Mitchell suggested that the monument could have been built within a space of five years, basing his estimation upon the likely number of local inhabitants during the Neolithic and the amount of time they would have devoted to building it rather than farming. This estimate was however criticised by M.J. O’Kelly and his archaeological team, who believed that it would have taken thirty years to build at the very least.

Stonehenge buit 1000 years after Newgrang
e (photo by Gareth Wiscombe)

In the later centuries following the initial construction and use of the passage toumb at Newgrange, ritual practices changed but the site remained an important ritual focus. As elsewhere in Ireland and Britain, rituals shifted from the enclosed spaces of megalithic tombs to large open air enclosures called ‘henges’. Henges derived their name from the ultimate henge – Stonehenge – but were more typically formed from circular earthen banks, circles of pits, circles of upright timbers, or circles of upright stones (without the famous horizontal lintels that Stonehenge possesses.)

The entrance to Newgrange as it looked when it was redescovered

The passage tomb was rediscovered in 1699 when material was being taken for a road building project, a local landowner, Charles Campbell, ordered some of his farm labourers to dig up a part of Newgrange, which then had the appearance of a large mound of earth, so that he could collect stone from within it. The labourers soon discovered the entrance to the tomb within the mound.

I must admit, I have been living in Dublin for over two years now, and I have only recently made the 45minute trip by car to Newgrange. I would definitely recommended making the trip if you are in the area, or even just visiting Dublin.

Admission to the chamber of Newgrange for the Winter Solstice sunrise is by lottery. Application forms are available at the reception desk in the Brú na Bóinne Visitor Centre, where there is a special post box for completed application forms. There were 31,531 applications submitted for the 2011 Winter Solstice Draw. Application forms are now available for the 2012 Solstice Lottery Draw which will take place on September 28th 2012.

For more information on tours check out http://www.boynevalleytours.com/
For more informtion on Newgrange check out http://www.newgrange.com/

Thanks to Michael Fox from Boyne Vally Tours for the use of the photos from his website for this post.

Landscape Designer Mary Reynolds

2011-11-16T19:17:00.001Z

Mary's Gold winning Garden at Chelsea 2002, Tearmann sí – A celtic sanctuary

So this post is a first for Stone Art's Blog: throughout the past two years or so that I have been writing this blog I have highlighted many artisans and stonemasons. However this post is the first time I have highlighted a landscape designer. And who better to begin with than one of my favourite Irish designers, award winning landscape designer Mary Reynolds.

Landscape Designer Mary Reynolds

Mary Reynolds, the first Irish winner of a Chelsea Flower Show Gold Medal for garden design, started her landscape design company in 1997, where she began her professional career designing gardens in and around Dublin city. However over time she began to feel that city life was suppressing her creativity so she moved out of the city to the “wild west “of the Wicklow Mountains. As soon as she got back into the wilderness, not only did she feel inspired for the first time, but she aslo knew where it was that she wanted to bring her skills.

Mary felt the gardens she had been designing in the city were lacking, because they did not have that depth of soul that exists everywhere in wild places. Being once again surrounded by wilderness, Mary realized that this beautiful natural wilderness that is of such great inspiration to her as well as others was disappearing fast because people had become disconnected from it and had forgotten the importance of that connection, so she took it upon herself to create gardens that would bring this connection back into peoples lives.

Tearmann sí – A celtic sanctuary

In 2002 at just 28 years of age, Mary entered the RHS Chelsea Flower Show with her garden ‘Tearmann sí – A Celtic Sanctuary’. Inspired by the Wicklow countryside and her love for Irish mythology, Mary’s garden consisted of a circular stone moon gate lead over a stone path to the inner circle, where the elements of earth, air, fire and water combine. Surrounding the central circle was a grass mound carpeted with bluebell, inspired by Tara Hill in County Meath. Hawthorn and elder, two trees that feature in Celtic lore, formed a protective circle around the very edge of the garden. Enclosing the garden was a traditional dry stone wall, planted with native Irish plants, such as yarrow, thrift, hart's tongue, maidenhair and spleenwort.

Mary's Garden at Kew Gardens

As a result of her Chelsea victory in 2002, the British Government commissioned Mary to design a garden for the world-famous Botanical Gardens at Kew in London.
The garden is based on the imagery and atmosphere of the poem "The Stolen Child" by Irish poet W.B. Yeats.

Mary's Garden at Kew Gardens

Mary was also commissioned to design Brigit’s Gardens in Galway. Brigit’s gardens consists of four interlinked gardens, based on the Celtic festivals of Samhain, Imbolc, Bealtaine and Lughnasa that provide beautiful and tranquil reflective places and are a celebration of nature and the cycle of life.

Imbolc Spring Garden at Brigit's Garden

She had started on the project before her Chelsea win and completed the design later in 2002.

Samhain Winter Garden at Brigit's Gardens

I visited these wonderful gardens a few months ago, but there is so much going on at these gardens I am going to write a separate post about them at a later stage, so that I can write about this magical place in more detail now.

Bealtaine Summer Garden at Brigit's Garden

Lughnasa Autumn Garden at Brigit's Garden

Some Mary’s favourite materials and structures to incorporate in her designs include stone, sculpted earth shapes, mosaic, living willow structures and cob structures. She also likes to incorporate native planting and Irish mythology. It is all these qualities that make her one of my favourite Irish designers. I also love that she often includes stone seats. As well as being one of my favourite things to build from stone I have also written about stone seats and their importance in Irish folklore on a number of occasions.

Here are a few other gardens by Mary that I find inspiering.

The Glenstal garden

Stone seating in The Glenstal garden

Cornwall seaside garden

Photographs courtesy of Mary’s website with her kind permission. Be sure to check out her website for more information and photos of her work on http://www.maryreynoldsdesigns.com/

Drystone Walling on Inis Oírr Island

2011-09-29T20:10:00.004+01:00

A section of the 'feidín wall' built during the workshop.

Last weekend I attended my first dry stone walling workshop on Inis Oírr Island. And I am already looking forward to going back next year. For those of you who don't know where Inis Oírr (Inisheer) is, it is the smallest of the three islands that make up the Aran Islands in Galway Bay.

Walls of Inis Oírr

As a location for a dry stone walling workshop, I could not imagine a better place, as Inis Oírr has some of the finest examples of drystone walls in the country. Altogether the Aran Islands have roughly 1,500 kilometers of drystone walls over an area of just over 11000 acres (just under 18 square miles)

Group photo of 2011 workshop. photo by Paddy Crowe

The workshop is an action of Galway County Heritage plan and is run by the country's most knowledgeable and experienced drystone waller Patrick McAfee. Pat has also written a number of books on Irish stone walling and restoration and is also a dry stone walling instructor in Dublin.

This years workshop also saw guest instructors and speakers Nick Aitken and Gavin Rose. Nick is a member of the Dry Stone Walling Association of Great Britain and is a qualified Master Craftsman instructor and examiner. Gavin Rose is a drystone waller and trail builder working in the stunning Lake District National Park in England.

The dry stone workshop on Inis Oírr has been running since 2006. It is attended by a wide range of people, experienced wallers, stonemasons, archaeologists, geologists, self builders and anyone with an interest in heritage and stone. This year saw the largest amount of participants to date, and I suspect it will grow by next year. One of the positives I have seen to emerge from the recession we are in is that more and more people are taking an interest in our heritage and looking to learn more about the many traditional skills and crafts that the people depended heavily on back in rural impoverished Ireland, skills that are sadly being lost.

A 'feidín wall' built during the 2009 dry stone walling workshop

One of the most unusual and beautiful walls to be found on the island is a type of wall known as a 'feidín wall' (same type of wall we built during the workshop this year). What is unusual about this type of wall is that unlike most other dry stone walls, a 'feidín wall' has the smaller stones on the bottom with the big stones on top. This type of wall is made up of a double sided wall on the bottom with a large single stone wall on top. The double sided wall at the bottom is made up of a series of large upright stones called mother stones, that run the full depth of the wall. The space between them is built up with smaller stones known as daughter stones. The upper part of the wall is then built using large stones only a single stone wide. The result is a extremely strong wall with a dense base to shelter animals and protect the soil from the strong prevailing winds, while the cracks and holes in the top of the wall let wind filter through. The light that shines through the cracks makes the wall look unstable, deterring animals from jumping on it.

Single stone, lace style wall

Lots more photos of the 2011 Workshop in the slide show below

Slide show of 2011 Inis Oírr Dry Stone Walling Workshop

'Aran gap' or 'Bearna'

Another walling feature I was very taken by is what is known as an 'Aran gap' or 'Bearna'. There are not a lot of roads around the island so much of the access to the fields is through other fields. However you will quickly notice that there do not seem to be any gates in the walls. This is because gaps are left in the wall where a single lace type wall is stacked in the gap, which can then be easily stacked up and taken down as needed for access for animals.

'Aran gap' or 'Bearna'

Inis Oírr as an island is quite a spectacular place. This year was not only my first time at the workshop, but it was also my first time visiting the island, and I must say I really was taken by the place. The island is an Irish speaking community with a population of about 250 people. And from what I can tell all 250 of them are about the warmest, friendliest people you will ever meet.

Some of the other friendly locals on the island

The limestone pavement exposed in one of the fields after the soil has been taken by the strong winds.

Inis Oírr island is basically an extension of the Burren landscape . The large limestone pavements that make up the land are made up of crisscrossing cracks known as 'grikes', that leave isolated rocks called 'clints'. The limestone dates from the Visean period, formed as sediments in a tropical sea approximately 350 million years ago, and compressed into horizontal strata with fossil corals, crinoids, sea urchins and ammonites. Glaciation following the Namurian phase facilitated greater denudation. The result is that Inis Oírr is one of the finest examples of a Glacio-Karst landscape in the world.

It is an amazing feat of determination and triumph over hardship, how the locals turned this once unusable limestone pavement landscape into an island of lush green fields. They did this by removing the rough stone to fill the cracks or 'grikes' in the limestone pavement, leaving a flat surface. They also used the rough stone to build the walls that would later protect the fields from the wind. They then drew sand and seaweed up from the beach to create the soil, from which they would then be able to grow crops to feed their families, and grass to graze their animals.

St.Gobnait church 'Cill Ghobnait'

For such a small island there are also many spectacular buildings and historical sites to visit as well (and I don't just mean the great pubs) You could spend days just wandering around the island looking at them. The island also has a famous shipwreck, better known from the opening credits of the TV series Father Ted.

The Plassy wreck, thrown up on Finnish rock in 1960 during a wild storm. No lives were lost as the islanders saved all on board from harm.

There are many more amazing things to discover on the island, but as this is just a blog post and not a book, I will leave it at that. I would recommend everyone, both in Ireland and abroad to take a trip to Inis Oírr. I would also recommend that anyone with an interest in stone do one of the Dry Stone Walling Workshops out there. There are also other great ways of experiencing life on the island, as Inis Oírr also host some great Irish language courses, where you can learn the language by working and living on the island. They also have an arts center with an 'artist in residence' program where artists can take up residence and work on the island for a period of just a few weeks right up to three months.

There are lots more photos of the wonderful stone walls and landscape of Inis Oírr in the slide show below.

Slide show of the walls and landscape of Inis Oírr

If you are interested in going to next years workshop, keep an eye out on my facebook page as I will keep you all updated from there when the dates for next years event are confirmed.

If you are interested in finding out more about the stone walls of Ireland, I would recomend checking out Patrick McAfee's book 'Irish Stone Walls' This is a great little book full of information, useful for both amateur and expert stoneworkers.

If you are a stone waller or a stonemason in Ireland I recommend checking out and joining the Dry Stone Wall Association of Ireland http://dswaireland.ning.com/

I would also recommend to anyone involved with stone to check out and become a member of the international Stone Foundation http://www.stonefoundation.org/

For more information on the Aran Islands checkout http://www.aranisland.info/

Dry Arch construction at Drimnagh Castle for National Heritage Week

2011-08-23T14:57:00.006+01:00

Patrick McAfee demonstrating arch construction

Just a very quick post to promote some very interesting things happening this week. This week is Heritage Week 2011 from 20th to the 28th of August. Coordinated by The Heritage Council, Heritage Week is part of European Heritage Days in which over 40 countries participate each year.

Drimnagh Castle

I was down at the lovely Drimnagh Castle today in the heart of Dublin City, where renowned stonemason, teacher and author Patrick McAfee held an arch building demonstration. This hour long demonstration was a very interesting look into the crafts of stonemasons and stone cutters, and you only need to tilt your head to the left to see many of these beautiful structures built centuries ago in various parts of the castle.

Patrick McAfee will be back for one last demonstration tomorow from 11-12 so if you are in the area I highly recommend popping in for a look. Admission is free and if you're lucky you might also get to have a free look around the fabulous castle.

This is just one of a number of events going on around the country this week, celebrating some of Ireland wonderful heritage and promoting many of the sadly lost and dying crafts that have built much of this country.
Be sure to check out what's happening in your area this week by logging onto the Heritage Week website http://www.heritageweek.ie/

Making a mosaic

2011-07-21T18:07:00.001+01:00

Click here to see a video of the building of this project

Here is a picture of a project I recently finished for an artist in West Cork. The mosaic in the center was actually a bit of an afterthought. The seating area was initially designed to have a fire pit in the center but later the client decided against the fire pit. I still wanted to have some sort of central feature, so I decided to put in a mosaic instead.

I have been getting a lot of reaction to the mosaic I made for the center, I also have been getting some feedback from readers saying that they would like to see some more DIY projects posted on the blog. So I thought, why not show how I made this mosaic so people can give it a go themselves.

Natural stone mosaic

I am in fact going to show two different ways of making mosaics. The first is made the more traditional way, using floor tiles of the same thickness, and the second way (which was a bit of an experiment) involved making a sort of upside-down mosaic cake!

Mosaics are relatively easy to do and are a great project to get the whole family involved in. They make great features in a garden patio, on a wall or in a summerhouse. Anyone who has been to Gaudi’s, Park Güell, in Barcelona, Spain will know the endless creative possibilities with mosaic art.

The first mosaic I will demonstrate is the more conventional tile mosaic. This type of mosaic can be pre-made and slid into place later. This method is great because this means that it can be made on the kitchen table where the whole family can get around and be involved, it also means that it can be completed over a period of time.

This is in fact a mosaic I did for my parents some years back, I was finishing up a tiling job when I realised we were going to be short of tiles, the tiles were relatively cheap so the boxes came with many broken tiles. So I thought why not put the broken tiles to good use and make a mosaic (and save a trip to the tile store in the process).

So here are a few things you will need if you are going to give this a go!

A piece of plywood (or something similar) large enough to fit your mosaic on.
A sheet of mosaic tile mesh (available from craft store or online)
Plastic wrap.
PVA Glue
Broken tiles, or mosaic tiles (available from craft store or online)
Paint Brush
Marker
Tile glue
Tile grout

The first step is to decide on your design, in my case it was a yin yang symbol, but be as creative as you like. Or if you are lacking inspiration, you can also find many mosaic designs and templates on the internet.

When you have decided on a design, transfer the design onto your sheet of plywood to the scale you desire.

Next stretch plastic wrap over the board (this will prevent the mosaic from sticking to the board). Then lay your tile mesh on the board. Use some tape or tacks to keep the mesh in place. If you are finding it difficult to see the design you may want to retrace the design onto the mesh.

If you are using old tiles try and use tiles of the same thickness as it will give you a more even finish. Also take care when breaking up the tiles as the tile fragments can be sharp, be sure to wear gloves and eye protection. It is also advisable to lay an old towel over the tiles as you break them to prevent the fragments from flying around the place.

Now you are ready to start laying the tiles. Using your paint brush put a blob of PVA glue on the back of each piece of tile as you position it on the mesh. (you want to be using enough glue to get a good bond with the mesh without getting to much excess glue squeezing out the sides and through the mesh)

It can be quite tedious getting all the pieces to fit together like a big puzzle, but try not too worry about the gaps between the pieces as once they have been grouted you won't notice the gaps.

To fix the mosaic in place, get some tile glue either premixed or in powder form (just be sure that the glue is suitable for exteriors if the mosaic is outdoors, rapid set is also preferable). Using a tiling trowel spared an even layer of glue on the surface where the mosaic will sit, then carefully slide the mosaic into place. Lightly press down on the mosaic so that the glue starts to push through the mesh but try not to get it coming to the surface. Wipe off excess glue and leave to set. Once the glue is set to the manufactures specifications, mix up your grout (again make sure the grout is suitable for outdoors) and squeeze into the gaps with a squeegee and remove residue with a sponge when it starts to set (usually only takes a few minutes). And there you have it, one finished mosaic!

So now I will show you the process I used to make the spiral mosaic for this seating area below.

Click here to see a video of the building of this project

So this mosaic was a bit of an experiment because I needed to make it off site, but I could not make it the conventional way (as above) either as I would be using natural stone which would be of variable thickness resulting in a very uneven finish so I decided I would try and make it similar to an upside down cake, that way the finished mosaic would be perfectly smooth and even.

Hole left in paving for mosaic

There are probably better ways of doing this, but I will now demonstrate the process I used to make this mosaic, using the materials I had to hand in my little garden shed.

So first of all, I knew I wanted to make a spiral and that it had to be a circular shape just under 80cm in diameter as this was the size of the hole I left in the paving for it.

I also wanted to use the same stone I used to create the surrounding paving, so before leaving the site I collected a number of pieces of stone averaging a thickness of about 1cm. In order to get a clear design I only selected pieces that were either light grey or dark brown, to maximize the contrast. I then took my measurements and my stone home with me to work on over the weekend.

So my first step was to come up with a design, I opted to go with a fairly simple spiral design as a very complex design would be very difficult to achieve using natural stone. I then transferred the design onto two large sheets of paper to get it to full scale. Remember if you are planning on trying one of these upside down type mosaics your template drawing should be back to front ( this is important if you have any lettering in your mosaic. Mine is just a spiral so it was not an issue)

I then attached the template onto a piece of plywood (approx 1m² in size) and drew a box around the outside of the circle. At the four points where the box and the circle meet, I attached pieces of 2”x2” timber onto the plywood, then using some strips of hardboard (nice and flexible) that I had laying in the shed, I created the circular mould that would contain the mosaic, by connecting the hardboard strips to the 2”x2” timbers I connected to the plywood.

I was now ready to start laying. (It is important to remember when laying the stone to put the side with the highest contrast facing down so that you end up with a better contrasting design when you're finished)

Laying completed

The picture above shows all the stones placed, however the contrast between the two coloured stones does not seem great. This is of course because we are looking at the underneath of the mosaic and I have the most contrasting sides of the stone facing away.

Next I got a large piece of plastic mesh and cut it to size (the mesh will help keep the mosaic in one piece and prevent it from cracking into little pieces when it comes to laying it later)

I then mixed up a half bag of cement fondue I had in the shed with some sand and water in a bucket into a creamy mixture (not too wet mind you) that would seep into the cracks (a bag of quick drying cement should work fine as well) I then poured half the mixture on to the mosaic and spread it out, careful not to move any of the stones.

I then added the plastic mesh and poured the rest of the mixture on top so that the mesh was sandwiched in the middle.

I then left it for a few hours to set. I waited till it was set long enough that it was hard but still soft enough that I could scratch the surface, the reason for this I will explain in a second. So the next task was to flip the mosaic over, to see if the experiment worked at to see if there was enough of a contrast between the two stones to show up the spiral properly.

To do this I put another sheet of plywood on top of the mosaic and screwed it into the 2”x2” timbers below, sandwiching the mosaic which allowed me to flip the mosaic over safely without damaging it. Then sliding the mosaic to the edge of the table I was able to take the screws back out and reveal my creation.

All that was left to do now was scrape any excess cement from between the cracks using a pointed tool (I used a pointed screwdriver and a nail) and brush clean. Because the cement was not completely set yet I was easily able to remove the excess glue.

From here the only thing left to do was transport the mosaic back to site and slide it into the hole on a bed of cement and grout it with a grey grout using the same technique mentioned earlier.

So I hope this has inspired some of you to give mosaicing a go, and hopefully some of the information here will help you along the way. If you do give it a go, please post a photo of your mosaic creations (or indeed any of your other garden stone art creations) on my stone art facebook page so I can have a look. As for the rest of you who don't already know my facebook page do pop in and give us a 'like', I update the facebook page every few days with lots more interesting things as well as mini post, photos and more.

The Bottle Houses, Prince Edward Island

2011-07-04T18:41:00.000+01:00

The use of glass in the landscape is something that has interested me for some time, and is something I hope to incorporate into one of my stone projects at some stage. It is buildings like these bottle houses below that make me want to try it out for myself. What an amazing place it is. And as with all inspiring places lies a compelling story of a innovative mind with a creative dream.

The Bottle Houses are located at Cap-Egmont, Prince Edward Island, on the gorgeous east coast of Canada. They were built by the late Édouard T. Arsenault.

In 1979 Édouard received a postcard from his daughter of a glass bottle castle she had visited on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, he was so captivated by it, that he was instantly inspired to make his own glass bottle creation.

Édouard T. Arsenault

That same summer, he started collecting bottles from his community, from a local restaurant, community dance halls, friends, relatives and neighbours. He spent the winter in the basement of his home, cleaning bottles, removing labels and dreaming of his project. In the spring of 1980, at the age of 66, he began construction of his pet project, not quite sure where it was going to take him. As his six-gabled structure was taking form, visitors started coming in. Impressed by his work, they encouraged him to continue and to advertise it as a tourist attraction. And so, in 1981, the first Bottle House was open to the public.

From 1980 to the spring of 1984, he cleverly cemented over 25,000 bottles of various shapes, sizes and colours, into three fantasy-like buildings.

Six Gabled House

The first bottle house was built in 1980 out of approximately 12,000 bottles, measuring 20 feet x 14 feet with three main sections. Its six gables and the patterns produced by the careful choosing of colours and sizes of bottles truly makes this a unique building. Mr. Arsenault would cement between 300 and 400 bottles per row, using a total of approximately 85 bags of cement over a six month period.

The Round Tavern

In 1982, Édouard decided to try his luck at a second building, using approximately 8,000 bottles this time. This tavern-like hexagonal structure was originally used to house the attraction's souvenirs and handcrafted items made by his wife Rosina. Today the tavern houses a large selection of interesting bottles collected by Edouard. Whenever he came across a bottle that had a special feature, he preferred to keep it for display rather than using it in the construction.

The Chapel

The third building constructed by the late Édouard Arsenault is truly a work of art. Approximately 10,000 bottles were transformed in 1983 to become a magnificent little chapel, complete with pews and altar. At the time of his sudden death at the age of 70, in the spring of 1984, Mr. Arsenault still had a bit of work to do, he intended to make the steeples higher and the front pew was not quite completed. At sunset, a symphony of light and colours streams in from behind the altar.

Rebuilding Works

Unfortunately, Prince Edward Island’s winters are not very gentle. The railway ties used as foundations did not withstand the effects of the bad winter frosts. Over the years, the buildings deteriorated to the point that they had to be rebuilt.

Between 1992 to 1998, the original buildings were photographed from all angles, carefully measured and then brought down by hand, recovering the glass bottles from the mortar. Four foot foundations were then laid before local bricklayers carefully reconstructed the buildings, using the same bottles as in the original structures and following the same basic designs. The roof and the central cylinder of the second building are the only components that were maintained in their original form.

Altogether over 25 000 recycled bottles were ingeniously cemented together to create the Bottle Houses. The houses are nestled in a number of mature gardens originally created by Édouard. He built the stonework and developed the flower gardens surrounding the buildings at the beginning of his retirement years in 1974.

Étienne Gallant at work
on the large bottle

The stones were picked locally by him and put together to create a peaceful setting for the gardens surrounding the houses that were to be built later. A keen gardener, he also planted all the trees on the property and enjoyed growing a wide variety of perennials and annuals. The present owner, his daughter Réjeanne, also enjoys this task from year to year, with the help of her son Étienne Gallant who also designed and built a large bottle near the road. This new thirteen feet high structure required 2,000 bottles.

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I still have much to discuss on the topic of recycled glass in the garden, but this is a post for another day. If you would like to see more bottle houses check out this link http://www.agilitynut.com/h/otherbh.html lots more wacky bottle creations to be found there. The photos for this post are from the bottle house website (used with their kind permission of course) Be sure to check out their website for more information and photos. http://www.bottlehouses.com/

Stargazing in the garden

2011-06-22T17:55:00.001+01:00

I have always been fascinated by the night sky, and can happily sit in the garden staring into the vastness of space till the crick in my neck becomes unbearable. I am also a sucker for all those National Geographic specials on all the amazing things happening around us in space. The expansion of space, the exploration of planets, the inevitable extinction of our own planet, all these things float around in my head as I stare up into the night sky.

Garden Telescope by Telescopes of Vermont

So you can image that when I came across these beautifully hand crafted garden telescopes by Telescopes of Vermont , I have been dreaming about having one ever since. What a wonderful addition this would make to a garden!

I also really like the story behind these amazing telescopes and the little family business that reproduces them.

Russell W Porter and his telescope

The garden telescope was the brainchild of a man called Russell W. Porter, also known as the father of amateur astronomy in America, and founder of the Springfield Telescope Makers and instructor at MIT. He designed the garden telescope in the 1920s. Little did he realise that his innovations in design would later also apply to the 200 inch Hale Telescope at the Palomar Mountain Observatory, an observatory he helped to design.

The Porter Garden Telescope was conceived as both a superb optical instrument and a beautiful example of Art Nouveau Design. It is the clever and artistic reconfiguration of a reflecting telescope more familiarly housed in a tube with an eyepiece projecting from the top.

In the case of the Porter Garden Telescope, the tube has become a bronze ginger leaf which holds the exposed optics in place. The optics lift out in seconds, leaving a graceful installation which can reside outdoors permanently as a distinctive centrepiece to a garden.

With the optics removed, it is also a clever and unusual sundial. When the blade is pointed at the sun, the correct time is indicated on the hour ring. It is also a wonderful educational tool for demonstrating the relationship of time and solar position.

This masterpiece of design may easily have been forgotten about, as its designs sat for almost eighty years collecting dust in the attic of The Smithsonian Museum, only to be rediscovered by fellow Vermonter Fred Schleipman.

Fred Schleipman

Thirty-five years ago Fred Schleipman, engineer and avid amateur astronomer, photographed a solar eclipse in Mauritania with an expedition of like minded individuals. There he befriended Bert Willard, an optical engineer, fellow stargazing enthusiast and member of the venerable Springfield Telescope Makers of Springfield, Vermont. Prior to joining the club, Schleipman visited their museum where he saw their collection of antique telescopes and rare documents. Among the treasures was an original Porter Garden Telescope. Schleipman was instantly smitten, and so began the dream to reintroduce, from obscurity, a historic and beautiful instrument.

His crusade held many hurdles, the first of which was to find an original, from less than twenty, which he could borrow for patterning. The Springfield Telescope Makers had been approached in that regard many times, but staunchly non commercial, and covetous of Porter’s reputation and their own, had many times declined the request. They finally reversed that stance, convinced that with Schleipman came the assurance that an instrument worthy of their endorsement would result. An original procured; the more daunting technological hurdles loomed: engineering, patterning, casting and machining.

Schleipman commented that working with the castings, though they are new, is a bit like restoring a Rembrandt. He is reverential of the craftsmanship reflected in the bronze pieces, and is thankful to have found skilled artisans capable of such delicate work in an age when this calibre of artistry is disappearing.

The Porter Garden Telescope - featured on CBS

Currently there are twenty five of these telescopes in the world. An original resides in the Smithsonian Institution.
For now I will continue dreaming about having number twenty six.

In the meantime while I wait for my lottery winnings, I may take a leaf from Dan Snows book and build myself something like this little project he made for a client recently. He was asked to build a place where his clients could take their sheep skins and lie out and stargaze in their garden. Check out Dan’s post about this little project here.

Thanks to Russ Schleipman for sending me on the information and photographs for this post (may your business thrive, so you can continue to produce these masterpieces for generations to come.) Thanks also to Dan Snow for giving me permission to use the photos of his ‘sky watch’ bench.

Garden Designers Roundtable: Stone

2011-05-23T21:47:00.003+01:00

I have kindly been invited to participate as a guest writer at the Garden Designers Roundtable to discuss the topic of stone. Being both a landscaper and a stonemason I think it is a fair assessment to say I have a passion for this subject.
So here is my contribution to the decision.

STONE

Neolithic stone circle close to my family home in West Cork

Throughout the ages stone has been utilised by man for a variety of uses, ranging from the spiritual to the practical. It is one of mans oldest building materials, and yet its methods of construction have changed very little over time.
Here in Ireland, as in many countries, we have a rich history with stone. Even as far back as Neolithic times (4,000-2,300 BC) there is evidence that man was creating amazing stone structures that were not only built for practicality and strength, but also to be something of beauty. Newgrange (just a mere 45min drive from where I am living) is a fantastic example of this.

The entrance to Newgrange.

Newgrange was constructed over 5,000 years ago, around 3,200 B.C. (That’s over 500 years older than the Great Pyramids of Egypt.)

This is one of the things I love about stone, it is permanent. A stone structure, whether it is an ancient building or your little garden wall, has the potential to be there to be admired for generations to come.
For archaeologists the great stone structures have been a great aid in mapping out our history, and although more modern stonework is of less importance (historically speaking) it still has a certain ancient presence to it, and defiantly sparks the imagination when encountered along a garden path.

One of the many old stone features I came across in St Ann’s Park in Dublin

Stone plays a role in most gardens in some form, whether it is a winding stepping stone path, inviting you to a tucked away part of the garden, a paved patio, or a simple rock lovingly dragged from your morning walk and placed in your garden bed (I’m sure most people who have a garden know what I am talking about).

Garden bed feature stone surrounded by Geranium lucidum (Shining Crane's-bill)

Here are a few of my favourite stone features to include in garden designs.

Stone paths

Stepping stones in a lawn

Curving cobblestone path in a driveway

Stone paths are a great way to lead the eye through the garden, and invite you to explore hidden or tucked away parts of the garden.

Stone seats and benches.

Limestone seat

I love including stone seats in gardens for a number of reasons. Firstly I think it is very important to have a spot in your garden where you can sit and take in all your gardening achievements, a place to just get lost in thought. Stone seats are great for this as besides looking like they have been there forever, they are also an inviting place to rest. I also love the folklore associated with stone seats here in Ireland (I have written about this in the past here)

A sneak peek at a stone seating area I am working on at the moment

Stone Archways

Stone Arch

Stone archways make a great focal point in a garden. They can create a sense of mystery, inviting you to explore what is beyond. They are also an exciting structure to build. One of the most fascinating things about stone arches is the physics behind them, and the fact that the procedure to build them has hardly changed since Roman times back in the 10th century, a procedure so primitive and simple in fact, that you sometimes feel you could be back in Roman times while you are building them.

The exciting part, of course, is when it comes time to remove the arch support.

The first large arch I built. It was an exciting moment when this arch was finished, as it came to pulling out the support. In your mind you know it is not going anywhere, but it doesn't seem to make you any more relaxed when it comes to taking it out!

Another thing you may not have considered about introducing stone into your garden is that you are also providing an additional habitat for rock lovers like moss and lichens.

Crustose lichens on limestone

I find lichens to be fascinating, they are in fact dual organisms, a fungus and one or more algae in a stable, mutually beneficial (symbiotic) partnership. The fungus provides structural form and protects the algae from extremes of light and temperature. Algae are capable of photosynthesis and some of the sugars produced provide the fungus with energy for growth and reproduction. Some lichens can live for many hundreds of years, and being sensitive to pollution levels they are important environmental indicators.

So that’s my lot, To see what see what fellow guest blogger Deborah Silver and esteemed members of the Garden Designers Roundtable have to say on this topic, please follow the links to their posts below.
(Please note this discussion begins on Tuesday 24th of May. I have posted a little early due to time restrictions so other links may not yet be updated if you are reading this before that time)

Deborah Silver of Deborah Silver and Co.

Debbie Roberts : A Garden of Possibilities : Stamford, CT

Douglas Owens-Pike : Energyscapes : Minneapolis, MN

Ivette Soler, Los Angeles, CA

Jenny Petersen : J Petersen Garden Design : Austin TX

Rochelle Greayer : Studio “G” : Boston, MA

Scott Hokunson : Blue Heron Landscapes : Granby, CT

Susan Cohan : Miss Rumphius’ Rules : Chatham, NJ

Tara Dillard : Vanishing Threshold : Atlanta, GA

More on Stone Benches

2011-05-08T18:27:00.000+01:00

So I have talked about stone benches on a number of occasions, and now I am going to talk about them some more.
I just had a lady asking me for more information on some of my stone benches, and while compiling the information for her I thought, why not kill two birds with one stone and write a blog post about it.
So here it is!

Stone Benches.
Enrich your garden with one of Stone Arts trademark stone benches. Each one of these immensely popular benches is completely unique and can create a completely new feel to any area of your garden. As they are built to look natural, the design of each bench is largely dictated by the style and shape of the stone used, as well as the location of the seat.
Each bench has been carefully constructed so that they are not only pleasing to look at, but are also comfortable to sit in.
Stone benches not only make great garden features, but they can also make beautifully unique memorials that can be appreciated for generations. They can also be engraved with any text or symbols on request.
Ireland has a rich history of stone seats throughout its history, click here if you would like to know more about Ireland's ancient stone chairs.
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Here is some more information on a few of the benches I have made to-date.

The Weedle Bench, Co. Kildare.

This stone seating area was built using quarried sandstone. It roughly measures 2.8 meters deep by 2.4 meters wide. It will comfortably seat 8+ people. Both the risers and the fill between the back rests are dry stacked stone.

The Weedle Bench

Back Rest Detail, The Weedle Bench

The Weedle Bench

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O' Donovans Seat, Co. Cork

This seat was built as part of a adults chill-out area. A place for the adults to escape the family and quietly sit in their own space, taking in the spectacular views over Bantry Bay, to the sound of the water feature beside them.
This seat was built from Kerry Limestone, rich in quartz. It comfortably seats two persons, complete with rustic arm-rests to rest your glass of wine on.

O' Donovans Seat

As the planting matures, the seating area will become hidden from the house, to become a little hidden treasure to be discovered.

O' Donovans Seat

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Hagal's Bench, Co. Cork

This bench also seats two people. It was built from local field stone. The bench is on a slight gradient and snakes along the garden, bringing shape into the garden. It has been positioned to get full benefit of the sun as well as the stunning views over the valley and distant sea.

Hagal's Bench

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O' Sullivans Bench (Salmons Rest) Co. Cork

This seating area was built along a salmon fishing river over looking Carriganass Castle. The owner wanted a quite spot to sit and have his morning cup of coffee. It was also a spot where he could fish from, the quiet pool of water where the benches are located sits just above a waterfall, the salmon come and rest in the pool after climbing the waterfall (giving it its other name 'Salmon's rest seating area')

O' Sullivans Bench

This seating area is made up of two stone benches opposite each other. They are about 2.4 meters in length and will seat three people each. Being built from stone these benches can also withstand the fury of the river during the winter rains (and summer rains)

O' Sullivans Bench

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The Butterfly Bench, Co. Cork

This bench was built into an old garden ditch where the ditch had partially come away, rather than simply rebuilding the ditch, I recycled some of the stones to build this bench. The back was build from a piece of local quarried stone I butterflied to make a symmetrical back. This is also a two seater bench.

To see these and more of our stone benches on our website click here

Dewdrops and a photo competition.

2011-04-18T18:26:00.000+01:00

As those of you who follow my facebook page probably already know, I have entered a photo competition.

Checking out the Dewy Drumstick primula

These photos here are part of a series of photos of 19 photos, all in this theme I entered into the competition, which is all about self portraits. You can see the rest of the series here http://sunny.see.me/aw2011 Please rate the portfolio by clicking on the stars giving it a rating of 1-5 :)

Admiring the Water feature Drop

I particularly love the concept of having an image within an image. In the past two months I have been experimenting and discovering my new found passion for photography, as I just bought myself my first DSLR camera. Wandering around in some of my favourite places in the world (some lush green gardens) I have been snapping shots of all the lush spring colour that has just sprung into life.

One of the nicest times to be out in the garden is in the morning when the sun is shining and the dew makes all the plants glisten. One such morning when I returned home after experimenting with some photos of dew drops on plants, I turned to the Internet to find somewhere to share some of my days treasures. While searching I came across this competition, and I thought 'wouldn't it be fantastic to put myself into these photos that I love so much'.
Taking inspiration from works by some of my favourite artists like Escher and Jan van Eyck, I set out to create a self portrait of an image (me) within an image (the dew drops on the garden plants). I love the concept of capturing myself in the scene of something I do on a regular basis but in a way that I envisage Escher or Van Eyck would do it. In my case it is me going on one of my garden walks, feasting on the sight of the glistening plants in the dew, and becoming captivated by all the wonders in the garden.

Don't forget to check out the rest of the series here http://sunny.see.me/aw2011 and rate the portfolio.

Checking out the budding flowers in the dew

Oh and while I'm on the topics of self promotion and my new found passion for photography, for anyone who is interested, you can follow my creative photography adventure on my new blog http://mynikond90adventure.blogspot.com/.

Thanking ye all in advance, Sunny

Irish hills on fire with Molinia caerulea 'Purple Moor-grass'

2011-04-15T09:40:00.001+01:00

Driving down to the home place in West Cork is always a treat, especially if I haven’t been home in a while. Living in the city of Dublin now when I drive out the country roads I appreciate all the scenery more.

On my last trip down the back roads to Hagal Farm the hills looked on fire with the amazing golden glow of the Molinia caerulea commonly known as Purple Moor-grass (or uncommonly known by its Irish name ‘Fionnán’)

It’s spent seed heads and browned off blades gleaming gold in the spring sunlight look like flames.

This Irish native is quite widespread and locally abundant on permanently or seasonally wet ground as well as marshes and wet heaths and moors.

It was nice to stop and take it in as probably by the time I drive down to West Cork again it will all have transformed in to the lush green rolling hills that Ireland is so well known for.

On a more mundane note, this grass is also partially responsible for the rapped spread of hill fires that plague the country around this time of year. (In this case, the hills quite aptly ‘on fire with Molinia caerulea 'Purple Moor-grass')

Ulex-europaeus 'Gorse'

Many of these fires are started by farmers burning off Ulex europaeus ‘Gorse’ or by it Irish name Aiteann gallda. Unfortunately too often these fires spared out of control, overwhelming entire mountains and destroying wildlife and property in its wake. Worryingly, fire officers believe up to a quarter of these fires are set by arsonists.
According to a recent post in the Irish Examiner, last year, was one of the worst on record for such fires in Ireland, with Irish forestry’s ‘Coillte’ reporting damage to thousands of acres of forestry last year, three times in excess of the annual average.

Gorse fire near Baltimore
[picture from The Southren Star]

The annual burning season runs from February to May, even though it is against the law to start these fires between March 1 and August 31, may fires continue to be lit. In the wake of last years record high fires, new measures have been put in place. Issued jointly by the Department of Agriculture, An Garda Síochána, Teagasc, the Forest Service and the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association, a notice says severe penalties may be imposed on farmers who break the law, including loss of their Single Farm Payment. They can also be liable to fines of €1,900, or imprisonment, and county councils can charge property owners for fire brigade call-outs.

Oh look how nicely my post started out, hope I didn’t end up bumming you out. On the plus side, hopefully these new measures will see increased beauty and wildlife throughout these parts at this stunning time of the year.

scorce http://www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/donal-hickey/illegal-gorse-fires-still-burning-issue-151009.html

The amazing flowing stonework of Michael Eckerman

2011-03-31T21:29:00.000+01:00

Safebreak Wave Wall, Santa Cruz Mountains

It’s not very difficult to see why Michael Eckerman and his stonework is loved by the surfing community, building stone features for many of the great surfers, and even getting featured in The Surfer's Journal back in 2007.

Bored with traditional stonework, Micheal’s creative nature has led him away from traditional design. Attracted by the flowing aspects of tectonic upheavals of lava flows that he observed in his travels, he began forming his own signature style of stonework, a style heavily influenced by these lava flows, as well as the movement of wind and water.

Safebreak Wave Wall, Santa Cruz Mountains

Hailing from Santa Cruz, California, Michael Eckerman has been forming his own signature style of stonework since the 1970’s.

Forty years of building with stone has allowed him to expand his imagination and develop the free flowing type of stonework that he is known for today.

Michael Eckerman

Like many ‘stonies’ Michael isn’t quite sure how he got into stonemasonry. There was no apprenticeship as such, although he learned much about what makes stonework strong and the principles of structural integrity while collaborating with an influential builder from the ’60s and ’70s, called Ken Kern.

He also recalls one of his first building ventures being a cabin he built with a friend in Quebec back in 69.

Even from the magical entrance to Michael’s home (a fantastic combination of stone and driftwood that seems to flow so naturally and playfully), it is clear that this is a home that lives and breathes art. And not only by Michael’s hand, for here creativity is a family business. Micheal’s wife Karen is an arborist, while his younger son Wes explores his creativity through photography and his older son Ea Eckerman expresses his creativity through both graphic art as well as sculpture.

Pine Arch with Drift Wood

In the article by The Surfer's Journal, Michael tells a bit about the creative process of his work.

M. Eckerman beside his piece ‘Ledbury Tree’
"Each project is different, but the forms come through with a similar telegraphing message: flowing harmony. The stone suggests its form, he says. There’s not a lot of planning in his projects, no detailed drawings, maybe some chalk lines sketched on a wall. A flagstone forms a bench in a barrel. A helix has two platforms on opposite sides of the spiral—one for you, another for your sweetie.
The rock calls for touch. Natural, somehow, that stone should represent water. There’s good workmanship in all of it too: steps built to code, walls built to stand for centuries, ascending fireplaces around which the houses rise. Michael works with materials from the region he’s building in, whether it’s granite in the Sierra or lava rock in Hawaii. “If you knock it around in the surf for a thousand years,” he says of lava rock, “it gets interesting—very smooth, blue in color.”" [From article 'Natural Fit' in The Surfers Journal 2007]

Lebury Arch

In addition to stone, Michael accents much of his work with other materials, like brick, tile, glass, ceramics and metal.

Ceramic & Stone arch wall

Those of you who read my blog regularly will know my passion for creating stone benches. Well, Michael too has built some stone benches, but probably not in the way to which you may be accustomed. Check out this art project he did for the city of Menlo Park, California. Titled ‘Convertibles’

Convertibles

Micheal is currently working on a series of stone dog sculptures. It is interesting to see him use these same flowing stonemasonry techniques in a new more miniature and intricate way.

Valcor- stone dog w:stacked driftwood


Guard Dog

Michael has a vast and fantastic portfolio of work, so I suggest you check out his website www.eckermanstudios.com/ if you would like to see more. I have not even mentioned his absolutely stunning fireplaces and chimney stacks, so impressive in fact that they justify a blog post of their very own, which I will post later on in the year.

Safebreak Wave Wall, Santa Cruz Mountains

A big thanks to Michael for taking the time to send me the photos and information for this post. If you are interested in seeing the the article 'Natural Fit' from The Surfers Journal, you can purchase a download-able copy of the article from their website here

Sources

2010 Artist Bio written by Michael's daughter Rosie.

http://www.eckermanstudios.com/

The Surfers Journal 2007 article 'Natural Fit'

This year for National Tree Week, why not let the trees do some art!!!

2011-03-11T23:17:00.004Z

So it's National Tree Week again here in Ireland! Last year in my post Grow our own chairs for national tree week, I instructed ye all to go and create some art by growing a chair out of trees. (I have yet to hear from ye how that went). So this year, why not let the trees themselves make some art!

Picture from last years post 'Grow our own chairs for national tree week'

This is precisely what British artist Tim Knowles did back in 2005 when he started his series of art pieces, simply called ‘Tree Drawings’ Tim’s idea was to create a series of drawings produced using drawing implements attached to the tips of tree branches, the wind’s effects on the tree is then recorded on paper. Like signatures, each drawing reveals the different qualities and characteristics of each tree.

All of his works rely on the logic of cause and effect, as a map of time and a record of actions governed entirely by chance.

Tree Drawing - Weeping Willow on circular panel [100 pen] 2005

Above, 100 pens attached to the branches of a Weeping Willow tree draw onto a circular disc 5.1 metres in diameter and made up of 10 segments.

Larch on Easel #1 2006

Scots Pine on Easel #1 2006

Similar projects by Knowles include his Vehicle Motion Drawings, where he constructed an apparatus to capture the motion of a car being driven, all the turns, stops, and starts of the vehicle move the pen over the paper. Another is his postal projects, which capture the motion of packages sent through the postal system, using both drawings and photography.

Greek Pine on easel #1 2005

I think my favorite work of his is titled ‘Nightwalk - Valley of Rocks’.

Nightwalks are a series of illuminated walks that Knowles created in the countryside during a new moon (to ensure complete darkness).

One of Tim Knowles contraptions

Over the period of an hour, the artist walked away from the camera while carrying three wide-beam torches fitted with diffusers. The lights are connected to a 12volt battery in a backpack to prolong their life. His path, along a precarious rocky ridge in the darkness, was illuminated and captured using a long-exposure, large-format photograph. The direction in many of his walks are also dictated by the wind by using various contraptions that plot the direction of the wind.

Nightwalk - Valley of Rocks 2008

Photos and info from Tim Knowles website. Be sure to check it out to see more of his amazing work
http://www.timknowles.co.uk

So it's still National Tree Week for a few days and there are still a number of events on this weekend right around the country. To find out what in happening in your area, follow the tree council of Ireland link http://treecouncil.ie/

2011 also happens to be the International Year Of The Forest. You can find out more about this here http://www.un.org/en/events/iyof2011/

Snowdrops, Labyrinths and their effects on Alzheimer's

2011-03-04T18:09:00.003Z

The other day I was talking about snowdrops and their link to the treatment of Alzheimer's. The little snowdrop has been linked to an important medicine that could help in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. Galantamine, a medicine used today to treat Alzheimer's disease, occurs naturally in several members of the amaryllis family (snowdrop; narcissus; daffodil). This important medicine was first discovered in the innocent Snowdrop.

Snowdrops

Talking about this made me think of the living labyrinth in my parents' garden at Hagal Farm down in West Cork. (You may remember my post about this labyrinth last year.)

Labyrinth at Hagal Farm

So why did snowdrops make me think of labyrinths, you ask?

More and more hospitals and wellness centres are using labyrinths in the treatment and care of Alzheimer's sufferers. The beauty of a labyrinth (often confused with a maze, which has many paths and dead ends) is that a labyrinth is a single winding path that leads from the entrance to the centre and back out again. All labyrinths are unicursal, meaning they only have one path, which makes them a perfect place for an Alzheimer sufferer to ‘get lost in’. (for more information about labyrinths, check out my previous post about them http://tinyurl.com/gardenlabyrinth)

Labyrinth at Marianjoy Rehabilitation Hospital in Wheaton, Illinois

With Alzheimer’s, the mind begins to short circuit. Performing tasks that once were as natural as breathing becomes a source of frustration. Confusion begins to crush hope. The caregivers for early- to mid-stage Alzheimer's residents know that these misfires aren't going to go away.

Back at home in West Cork a dear friend of our family has been suffering from Alzheimer’s for a number of years now, so I can begin to understand the heart wrenching, problems and difficulties of those who suffer from Alzheimer’s and the family and carers who lovingly look after them. It also gives me huge respect for those who live with Alzheimer's, as well as for their family and carers.

While reading up about this subject I came across a very interesting blog by a man called Chuck Donofrio. Chuck’s blog is called ‘Early onset Alzheimer’s Adventure’

Chuck suffers from Alzheimer’s but as he states on his blog ‘Early onset Alzheimer’s diagnosis doesn't stop this "sufferer" from blogging about his day to day observations and feelings.

In one of his posts he writes the following about wanting a labyrinth “One of the most profound meditative experiences available to the lay person, or any other soul desiring a respite from the banality and meaninglessness of our daily round, can be found as near as the closest Labyrinth. The ancient practice of walking the "maze" has captured many a soul, most probably because the physical action of its twists and turns, coinciding with the step and breath of the human in motion, excites, even as it calms.”

The spiritual discipline of the labyrinth involves a "walking meditation" and is a metaphor for the soul's spiritual journey. It quiets the mind and opens the soul to a sense of wholeness and wellness. The tradition of labyrinth walks was recovered in the United States in the early '90s at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco and, in recent years, the labyrinth has come to be recognized as an instrument of holistic healing. The Rev. Canon Lauren Artress of Grace Cathedral has used labyrinth walks with groups of children with ADD/ADHD (attention deficit disorder/attention deficit hyperactive disorder) and has discovered that it helps focus and quiet them in a way that cognitive therapies fail to do.

Since many of the labyrinth projects are still new, they haven't completed any long-term studies. But many places have noticed that this ritual provides benefits such as short-term calming, relaxation, and relief from agitation and anxiety in otherwise fragmented lives. The restorative and calming value of the walk can last from two to three hours, or longer.

I also read of another touching story of a couple that walked, hand in hand, through the labyrinth almost daily. He was suffering from Alzheimer’s, and she was struggling with the confinement, stress, and isolation of being a caregiver. She noticed that after a few weeks of their routine, he began to regain small skills.

Another labyrinth that is very appropriate to mention here is this one made from seasonal bulbs (many of them from the amaryllis family that make Galantamine) at Cornell University, New York. I also like the idea of how at the end of the flowering season it just turns back to a lawn, only to reappear the following year.

Bulb Labyrinth Cornell University

See more about this labyrinth here.

Bulb Labyrinth Cornell University

Labyrinths are a fantastic place for anyone to go and relax and I highly recommend finding one and trying it out for yourself. To help you find the closest one to you check out the global labyrinth locator http://labyrinthlocator.com/.

For a list of Labyrinths at Hospitals, Health Care Facilities, Spas and Wellness Centers go to http://www.labyrinthproject.com/hospitals.html

Scorces

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3830/is_10_50/ai_79355490/pg_2/

http://www.thecabinpath.com/labrynth.html

http://www.medicinenet.com/galantamine/article.htm

Theater in the garden

2011-02-12T15:58:00.000Z

Garden Theatres

Although there are many grand Garden Theatres and huge impressive amphitheatres out there in the world, they are not something you find very often in normal residential garden design. They are however, something I like very much. So I will leave the many grand garden theatres and the huge impressive amphitheatres for another post for another day.

Today I am going to talk about the intimate and sometimes modest (but just as effective) garden theatre.

Bonfire Garden, Hagal Farm

Growing up on my parents farm in West Cork, we had a garden stage, but as you can seen in the picture across, it is now quite overgrown and a little neglected (although this in itself gives it a certain charm)

The stage made up part of a bonfire garden and back in the day, there was many a party held here.

West Cork is well known for being full of fine food and culture, so back then there was no shortage of fine musicians to prop up on the stage (these would often overflow onto the simple timber seating that surround the fire pit). To the left of the stage was a round concrete pad reserved for dancing.

At night the garden would take on a very different atmosphere, as you went from being in an open outdoor garden into what seemed like an intimate enclosed space. One got this sense of enclosure as the light from the fire illuminated the trees that surrounded and arched over the entire area, hiding all that lay beyond.

A lovely garden theater at the Everglades Gardens, Leura, Australia.

I also love this garden theatre I came across in the Everglades Gardens in Leura, set in the amazing surroundings of the Blue Mountains in Australia.

The golden pyrmont sandstone arch which forms the dramatic backdrop to the stage was originally the recessed entrance to the London Chartered Bank of Australia on Sydney’s George Street. The arch is flanked by tall hedges clipped formally to form the wings of the stage.

Author Shawna Lee Coronado's Garden Stage

Another one I like for its sheer simplicity and functionality is this one by author Shawna Coronado. On her blog ‘The Casual Gardener’ she wrote about how the answer to her garden dilemma was resolved by creating this lovely little garden stage.

It is also a great example of how you can create an interesting garden feature on a small budget.

When having a rainwater collection system installed in her garden, she was left with a huge mound of soil from when they dug the hole for the tank, and of course this soil had to go somewhere! She did not want it to go to landfill so she decided to make a feature out of it. Even on a tight budget she managed to create a lovely little feature out of it. The four large tiles make up the stage, which regularly features her 10 year old daughter performing her latest stage show. It is also a spot where a musician might perform during a garden party. You can see her post about this here http://thecasualgardener.blogspot.com/2010/12/how-i-transformed-mound-of-dirt-into.html

Mainly because of my passion for stone, one of my favourites is this here, at Dick Schwab’s Celebration Barn near Solon in Iowa.
This amazing amphitheatre has an impressive dry stone arch, built with Anamosa Limestone from near Stone City, and has an impressive internal radius of 16ft (4.8m) weighing in at about 65 tons.

The celebration barn often hosts weddings, the ceremonies often held underneath the mighty arch.

The stone arch and amphitheater at the Celebration Barn, Solon, Iowa. Photo by Eric Whittlesey

The arch and amphitheatre were built by ‘Country Stone Masons’. Fellow Stone Foundation member Eric Whittlesey who works for ‘Country Stone Masons’ told me a bit about the construction process, and was nice enough to share these photos as well.

Photo by Eric Whittlesey

The curved seating of the ampitheatre itself is also made with Anamosa Limestone, each stone meticulously chiselled to fit tightly to its neighbour. The area can seat over 300 people.

Photo by Eric Whittlesey

All 68 stones that make up the arch, some weighing as much as 1.5tons, had to be painstakingly carved into the angle of the arch.

On of the most fascinating thing about stone arches is the physics behind them, and the fact that the procedure to build them has hardly changed since Roman times back in the 10^th century.

The shear downward force of weight (all 65 tons of it) combined with the angles of the wedge shaped stones or ‘voussoirs’ means that the stones are almost welded together, evenly spreading the weight down both sides.

For these reasons the arch does not require any mortar to hold it together, however for peace of mind the stones were pinned together so that the masons could sleep soundly without having any nightmares about brides tragically being crushed by stones on their wedding day!

Completed arch with form still in place. Photo by Eric Whittlesey

For the form that supported the arch as they built it, they used massive cotton wood timbers, which were stacked on top of each other as the build progressed. Then when the key stone was set in place, the most anticipated part of the build could be performed, this of course being the removal of the support form. I remember removing the form from the first large arch I built. As I was pulling it out, my brain kept telling me 'Of course it will stay up, there is absolutely nowhere it can go’ however its still a nerve-racking moment!

The stone arch and amphitheater at the Celebration Barn, Solon, Iowa. Photo by Eric Whittlesey

Artist Liu Bolin's disappearance into the landscape.

2011-01-30T15:43:00.000Z

Hiding in the City No. 94- In the Woods, 2010

Came across this amazing guy the other day. 37-year-old artist Liu Bolin, from Shandong, China camouflages himself into the environment.
Hiding in the City No. 14- Er Guo White Wine Factory, 2006

Hiding in the City No. 91- Great Wall, 2010

The talented Liu Bolin says his art is a protest against the actions of the Government, who shut down his art studio in 2005 and persecutes artists. It’s about not fitting into modern society. The government had stipulated that it didn't want artists gathering and working together. Despite these problems with the authorities, Liu’s works are appreciated internationally.

Liu said he wanted to show how city surroundings affected people living in them.

He added that the inspiration behind his work was a sense of not fitting in to modern society and was a silent protest against the persecution of artists.

Hiding in the City No. 71- Bulldozer, 2008

Hiding in the City - Dragon Series, No. 4 of 10 panels, 2010

Hiding in the City No. 31- Holding Democratic Elections By Law, 2006

In an interview with the Daily Mail he said: 'Some people call me the invisible man, but for me it's what is not seen in a picture which is really what tells the story.

'After graduating from school I couldn't find suitable work and I felt there was no place for me in society.

'I experienced the dark side of society, without social relations, and had a feeling that no one cared about me, I felt myself unnecessary in this world.

'From that time, my attitude turned from dependence into revolting against the system.'

Liu said he was further pushed on with his work when the Chinese authorities shut down his art studio in Beijing in 2005.

He said: 'At that time, contemporary art was in quick development in Beijing, but the government decided it did not want artists like us to gather and live together.

'Also many exhibitions were forced to close.

'The situation for artists in China is very difficult and the forced removal of the artist's studio is in fact my direct inspiration of this series of photographs, Hiding In The City.'

Hiding in the City No. 16 & 17 People's Policeman, 2006

Teatro alla Scala, 2010

Hiding in the City No. 93- Supermarket No. 2, 2010

Liu begins by choosing the background location. Then he stands in position as the blank canvas for up to 10 hours as his helpers, armed with paintbrushes make him disappear into the surrounding landscape.

'There are many people who like my work I think because my work has a quiet strength, in the photographs.
'I am standing, but there is a silent protest, the protest against the environment for the survival, the protest against the state.
'I wanted to photograph the reality of scenes of China's development today.
'My work is a kind of reminder, to remind people what the community we live in really looks like, and what kind of problems exist.'

Hiding in the City No. 85, 2009

Liu Bolin has a huge portfolio of amazing work, in fact I had difficulty in limiting the amount of photos in this post to ten. If you would like to see the full portfolio of his work, you can find it here. www.elikleinfineart.com

Check out the video to see how the photo above was created.

Scorces

http://www.arttherapyblog.com/artwork/top-12-liu-bolin-invisible-man-artist-paintings/
http://www.elikleinfineart.com/html/artistresults.asp?artist=82&artistname=Liu Bolin
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1201398/Liu-Bolin-The-Chinese-artist-turns-Invisible-Man.html#ixzz1CWbWkRuS

Stone Woman, Thea Alvin

2011-01-07T12:30:00.000Z

Stone Artisan Thea Alvin

A while back while visiting Jan Johnsen landscape gardening blog 'Serenity In The Garden' (a blog I highly recommend checking out if you don't know it already) I saw this photo (derectally above ↑) and at first glance, thought it was a piece by Andy Goldsworthy. I quickly discovered that this fabulous piece of stone art was not the work of Goldsworthy but of Vermont Stonemason/ Artist Thea Alvin.

Thea has been a professional stone mason for 25 years, and uses the dry stone stacking techniques learned from master masons around the world to create sculptures and natural landscape installations. She admits to always being a bit of a 'tomboy', apparently (in her own words) "When other little girls were playing with dolls... I was eating my 15 pounds of dirt."

Thea wants to travel the world, leaving works of stone art behind her, and to date, she is doing a pretty good job of that. Besides creating works of art all over North America, she as also created works in England, France, Italy, Canada and while cycling around China she managed to find the time to build ten arches from bricks, tiles, slate and marble.

I believe that my hands are smarter than I am, and that they operate on their own, and bring me along for the adventure, and to take notes about what we did together while we were there.

Besides creating works of stone art, Thea is also an instructor at the Yestermorrow Design/Build School in Warren, Vermont, where she is running courses in 'The Art of Stone' and 'Masonry Restoration'. She is also in the process of writing a book.
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In my last post I talked about 'Stone Balancing' above is Thea's take on the art of stone balancing.

Thea Alvin has a huge and impressive portfolio of work, check out the rest of her work on her website www.myearthwork.com.

All photos in this post are from Thea's website, A big thanks to her for her kind permission to use them for this post.

The art of Stone Balancing

2010-11-29T13:38:00.001Z

Real or Photoshopped?

Photo and Sculpture by Bill Dan©

The first time I saw this photo I really didn't know. I came across this photo a while back, it was posted on the web somewhere by someone, and a lot of the comments underneath it branded it a fake and put it down to photoshop trickery, as surely balancing stones like this is impossible?

Well I wanted to believe it was real, but also needed some convincing. It was only after finding the creator of the photo Bill Dan and saw one of his You tube videos of him at work that it all became clear.

Photo and Sculpture by Bill Dan©

Bill Dan spends much of his time on the waterfront shoreline of San Francisco Bay, which offers ample opportunities for rock balancing. Large quantities of erosion control material called "stone riprap" have been placed to prevent storm and tidal damage. The perfect place for Bill to practice and demonstrate the amazing possibilities in the interactions between rock and gravity.
It is here that Bill developed, practiced, and continues to share the delightful, astonishing, and even inspirational sculptures he constructs with the varied forms and shapes available to him at the water's edge.

Bill Dan at work

Photo and Sculpture by Bill Dan©

Check out this video of Bill at work to see it for yourself

A little closer to home, artist Adrian Gray practices the art of stone balancing along one of the most famous and beautiful coastlines in the UK, the Jurasssic Coastline of Dorset.
Adrian also combines the art of stone balancing with the art of photography, creating enchanting photo prints for people to purchase from his website.

Photo by Adrian Gray © (prints available from his website)

As if the stone sculptures were not amazing enough, Adrian also brings various moods in his prints, by incorporating things like movement and lighting.

Photo by Adrian Gray © (prints available from his website)

All the stones in these pictures are balanced, strictly without the aid of adhesive, pins or computer manipulation. They remain in place through the natural force of gravity and friction. ‘Nature’s glue’ sustains them in these seemingly impossible positions and it is the capricious natural forces of wind or waves that returns them to obscurity amongst their fellow boulders.

Adrian Gray

Photo by Adrian Gray © (prints available from his website)

Check out the video below to see Adrian talk about his work

Thanks to both Bill Dan and Adrian Gray for their kind permission to use their photos and videos for this post.

Stone River, by Landscape Architect and Stonemason Jon Piasecki

2010-10-09T12:02:00.001+01:00

Stone River is a project by award wining landscape architect and stonemason, Jon Piasecki.

Jon Piasecki is a graduate of Harvard University (with a Masters in Landscape Architecture in 1995), and Cornell University (with a B.S. in forest ecology in 1989). In 2004, he received the Prince Charitable Trust Rome Prize awarded by the American Academy in Rome, and was in residence at the Academy in 2005.

Photos By John Dolan, 2009

For this project Jon was commissioned by prominent landscape architect Michael Van Valkenburgh to build a series of paths through the woods. For many people this task would be done using practicality and functionality, but for Jon, there is much more to it than that.

Jon at work, on Stone River

Jon Piasecki is a very interesting and philosophical man, with a strong personal and professional interest in ecology, and the cultural importance of the land.

In an interview with Orion Magazine, Jon tells of how his aim for this project was to ‘catch people’ coming into the woods, and by way of the stone paths, show them how to slow down a take in all the magic and beauty in the woods, something that many people, living life at 60mph ‘married to the materialistic world’ fail to see or do.

The stones in the path are almost fused together by Jon’s fantastic skill and passion for the project. He would spend hours meticulously shaping each stone until there is just a hairline crack between them.

I highly recommend checking out this fantastic video by Orion Magazine, in which you can see Jon Piasecki working on the project, and listen to him talk about nature, the woods, and his multi-year stone works project in New York State — Stone River.

All Ireland Scarecrow Championship, Durrow, Co. Laois.

2010-09-25T12:29:00.001+01:00

Back during the August bank holiday weekend, we arranged to visit some old friends near in County Waterford. Heading down the motorway, our GPS tells us to turn off the motorway prematurely, but as I was unfamiliar with the area we were going to I did what I was told and left the motorway. By doing this, we were taken through the recently bypassed town of Durrow. But this was not the same Durrow I remembered form the times before the bypass where it was constantly chocked up with traffic, this time it was teeming with festive fun.

Unaware what was going on when entering the town, we spotted a funny looking fellow propped up by the road, who turned out to be a scarecrow, this seemed to be a little odd place for a scarecrow, but ‘hay’ whatever! Then there was another one! Now it was getting a little weird. It was only as we passed a picnic table of scarecrows dining and drinking pints so stout, that we knew something was going on.

'Walking the Owner is a Woof Job' by Adrian Sheppard Winner of Best Overall Scarecrow and Best Street Residence Scarecrow.

This was, as we later discovered the All Ireland Scarecrow Championship, part of Durrow’s annual ‘Howya’ Festival.

With over one hundred and fifty entries there was a lot to see. For those who wish to see the scarecrows in style, there was a Jarvey tour of the scarecrows where adults and children were taken on a tour of the highways and byways of the village on one of the beautifully presented horse and carriage rigs.

Unfortunately for us we did not have time to stop and have a good look around, as we were already running late, so all we could manage is a slow drive through the village, but thanks to Andy Walsh for letting me use some of his photos for this post to give you a taste of what it was like. Here are a few of my favourite entries.

White Lady Rescue' by The Durrow Fire & Rescue Service. Winner of Best Business/Club/ Organisation.

'Status Crow' by Michael Smith, Winner of Best Visiting Scarecrow.

'Lord & Lady Ashbrook' by Kay Downey

'CSI Crow Scene Investigation' by Joe Murphy, John Lappin, Robert Freeman & Thomas McCann, some of the winners of Best Youth/Student Scarecrow (under 16)

So be sure to add this to your list of events for next year, it runs every August bank holiday weekend. If you wish to enter next years competition, you can download a entry form from Durrow’s website http://www.durrowvillage.com/.

There are also lots more photos by Andy Walsh of the festival to see on his photo album http://s801.photobucket.com/albums/yy291/JonathanWalsh/Scarecrows/

Interestingly as we left Durrow our GPS sent us back onto the motorway to continue our trip to County Waterford, this is the first time ever I wasn’t giving out to the GPS for taking us on one of its bizarre detours.

The ancient salt mines of Wieliczka, a blog post from Poland

2010-09-04T18:32:00.236+01:00

A few weeks ago, my wife had to go to Krakow for a conference, so we decided to make a city break out of it as neither of us had been to Poland before. Krakow is a fantastic city, which I would highly recommend a visit to, and which I have added to my list of best city breaks ever. One of the highlights of the trip was a visit to the salt mines at Wieliczka just outside of Krakow. This is probably the most fascinating place I have ever visited, and is about as close as you can get to being in the mines of Moria from the Lord of the Rings. So it comes as no surprise that 1.2 million people visit the Wieliczka Salt Mine annually.

The salt mine in Wieliczka is a unique development in the history of mining, because the rock salt deposits were mined here without interruption from the early 13th century to the end of the 20th century. The scale of excavation in this mine is very large, with corridors, galleries, chambers, underground lakes, as well as minor and major shafts, which are located over nine levels and extend for the total of about 300 kilometres, reaching a depth of 327 metres

The largest collection of original tools and mining equipment illustrating the development of mining technology from the Middle Ages to modern times have also been preserved here.

The mine also features a 3.5-km touring route for visitors (less than 1% of the length of the mine's passages) that includes historic statues and mythical figures. The oldest sculptures were carved out of rock salt by miners, and more recent figures have been fashioned by contemporary artists.

The Daniłowicz Shaft

Our tour began by descending 378 steps down the wooden staircase in the Daniłowicz Shaft into the mine on Level I at 64 meters below.

As you enter the chambers, timber beams prop-up parts of the chambers, over time these timber beams have soaked up so much salt that they have become rock solid themselves. The salty air that preserves the wood down in the mines is free of bacteria and allergens, which is also beneficial to asthma sufferers, and for this reason the mines also include an Underground Rehabilitation and Treatment Centre, that operates as a non-public healthcare centre. The Centre is the world leader in providing innovative rehabilitation and treatment of respiratory system diseases basing on the best practices of contemporary medicine, while profiting from the natural micro-climate of underground salt excavations which cannot be recreated on the surface of the earth.

The Mikołaj Kopernik Chamber

We then ventured on to the next chamber, which was named after Nicolaus Copernicus, who was one of the first tourists to visit Wieliczka Mine. On the 500th anniversary of the famous astronomer’s birth, this salt rock carving ‘Copernicus’ by sculptor Władysław Hapek was added to the chamber. This was the second time that day I discovered a famous historical person to be polish (the other being the great Chopin)

An old doorway off one of the chambers

Saint Anthony’s Chapel

From here we went on to the first of many chapels carved out by the miners. This one being oldest fully preserved chapel in the mine, is the 17th century Baroque Saint Anthony’s Chapel. Most of the photos here were taken be me, but unfortunately as it is a mine, it is dark and cramped, my amateur photography skills along with my holiday snap digital camera meant I was unable to properly capture parts of the mines, so I have added a few pictures from the mines website.

The Janowice Chamber

The life-sized salt statues by the sculptor Mieczysław Kluzek illustrate one of the oldest and the most beautiful legends of the Wieliczka Mine. When the Hungarian Princess Kinga married the Polish Prince Boleslaus the Chaste, she received as dowry one of the salt mines in the Marmaros region, she cast her engagement ring into the mine. The ring miraculously travelled to Wieliczka together with the salt deposits, and was found in the first block of white gold dug in Wieliczka.

The rock salt is naturally grey in various shades, so the carvings resemble unpolished granite rather than the white or crystalline look that many visitors expect.

The Casimir the Great Chamber

In the Casimir the Great Chamber is a carving of King Casimir the Great, who organised and set in the form of a statute the law regulating the management of the salt mines. Back in medieval times salt used to be one of the world's biggest and most profitable industrial establishments, commercially a medieval equivalent of today's oil.

The Pieskowa Skała Chamber

The Holy Cross Chapel

As we travel through one fantastic chamber after another passing many rock carvings and cordoned off corridors that make up part of the 300 kilometres of tunnels and climbing deeper and deeper into the ground, at 101 meters down, we arrive the most spectacular chambers of the entire mines, the Saint Kinga’s Chapel.

The Saint Kinga’s Chapel

The Saint Kinga’s Chapel is the most impressive and opulent of underground temples. The chamber, carved in a block of salt, has been a place of worship since 1896. The chapel ornamentation has been created over a period of more than a hundred years. From late 19th century until 1963, the sculpting was conducted by self-taught miners-sculptors, Józef and Tomasz Markowski and Antoni Wyrodek. Their work is continued by the new generation of miners, who create new sculpting projects.

Saint Kinga’s Chapel

The bas-reliefs and sculptures which decorate the chapel walls are scenes from the New Testament

bas-reliefs carved into the salt rock of various scenes from the bible

Alter, Saint Kinga’s Chapel

If you fancy getting married here, they do occasionally have weddings and church services down here.

Tiles carved into the floor of Saint Kinga’s Chapel

The floors of the chapel are craved to look like tiles.

various bas-reliefs from around the chapel

Chandeliers made from salt

Even the crystals of the chandeliers are made from rock salt that has been dissolved and reconstituted to achieve a clear, glass-like appearance.

The Erazm Barącz Chamber

From here we pass one of the underground lakes in the The Erazm Barącz Chamber. This chamber owes it allure to a small salt lake, 9 m in depth, filled with brine, a saturated solution of salt. The wooden gallery around the highest part of the chamber gallery is used to monitor the condition of the salt walls. Of particular interest is also the salt pillar, which is a natural way of securing the excavated chambers.

The Drozdowice Chamber

Farther along at a depth of 110.6 m, we come to the Drozdowice Chamber, where a salt rock carving depicts two carpenters, a testament to all the skilled carpenters which constructed all the amazing timber structures that hold up large portions in the mines. The chamber itself was created as a result of excavating a vertical block of green salt in the early 20th century, the chamber was protected by constructing a casing as and a two-level wooden construction connected by platforms and galleries. In 2000, after renovation works which lasted for ten years, the chamber was reincorporated as part of the Tourist Route. At present, the chamber is a venue where exhibitions, concerts and banquets are held.

The Weimar Chamber

Another fascinating chamber was the Weimar Chamber. It was created in the early 20th century, after a block of green salt was excavated by machines. In the 1960s the bottom of the chamber was flooded with brine, and a lake was created.

The Józef Piłsudski Chamber

After descending down more timber staircases to 130.9 m underground, we came to another one of the underground lakes, in the Józef Piłsudski Chamber.

The chamber was created by combining the excavations of two adjacent blocks of green salt. In the 1830s, the Austrians linked the twin chambers with a 10-m tunnel when setting up the first tourist route. They also built wooden stairs and a platform, and filled the bottom of the chamber with brine. A special tourist attraction was provided by raft crossing through the tunnel to the accompaniment of fireworks and music played by the mine orchestra. Of particular interest is also the 19th-century figure of Saint John Nepomucene, the patron saint of the drowning. Despite the saint’s presence in the chamber, there was a case of mutable drownings here. Apparently back during the Nazi occupation of Poland, the Germans used the salt mines as a base, one evening a group of intoxicated German solders decided to go out for a boat ride, which resulted in the raft capsizing, and in all onboard drowning

The Warszawa Chamber

After passing through many more fascinating chambers, and even a stop for a nice cold polish beer, in the bar and restaurant at 132m down, we passed another large more modern chamber, named the Warszawa Chamber. The chamber was excavated in the 19th century by digging a total of 20,000 tons of salt. Due to its impressive size and the décor, the chamber is used for various events, such as conferences, training sessions and banquets.

There are many fantastic chambers to see (20 in total) over the 3 hour tour of the Wieliczka salt mines, too many in fact to talk about as this blog post is already becoming epic. The last chamber I will mention is the last chapel you pass before being transported back to the surface by a four-level dark old mining lift from a depth of 135.6 m.

The Saint John’s Chapel

The Saint John Chapel (also known as the Holy Cross Chapel) is considered to be the mine’s most beautiful wooden chapel. The polychrome barrel-vault ceiling of the chapel holds an altar with crucifix set against a multi-coloured panorama of Jerusalem. On the ceiling, a painting of the Holy Trinity against a setting of a blue sky is placed. The most precious object in the chapel is an 18th-century figure of Christ Crucified.

Well I could continue to waffle on about this fantastic place, just as I could continue to wander around it, but as I am righting a blog post and not a book I will leave it at that. I would only recommend to you that you visit Krackow and the salt mines at Wieliczka, as it is one of the most amazing places you are likely to see. As one travelled Frenchman observed in the 18th century, Krakow's Wieliczka salt mine is no less magnificent than the Egyptian pyramids.

For more great information on this place check out there website http://www.kopalnia.pl/

Fuchsia magellanica, West Cork's adopted alien.

2010-08-23T10:34:00.001+01:00

During the summertime it is particularly a pleasure to drive down to the homestead down in West Cork. After spending many hours in the car, travelling on the wide motorways from Dublin, the narrow winding, pothole infested roads of the countryside are a welcome sight. The roads are about half the width they normally are in the winter as all the plant life competes for space. Although the roads are narrower, they do look fantastic as the glow with colour. And none glows with as much dominance as the fantastic Fuchsia.

We have a lot of aliens down in West Cork, they all seem to love the mild moist climate that we have thanks to the North Atlantic drift. Now before you send Mulder and Scully down here, let me clarify, I am of course not talking about the bright green kind that fly around in space craft, I am talking about plants that are not native to this country.

Red Fuchsia hedges with the orange glow another much loved and plentefull alien to Ireland Montbretia 'Crocosmia x crocosmiiflora'

Fuchsia magellanica 'Riccartonii', or more commonly known as the Humming bird fuchsia or lady’s eardrops is an icon of West Cork. Anyone who has visited West Cork in the summer time will have seen this amazing deciduous shrub illuminate the hedge groves all over the countryside. It is so iconic of west cork it image is used by many local companies and organizations.

A native of Chilli, it was identified by Charles Plumier in the seventeenth century. Plumier named it after the German botanist, Leonhart Fuchs (1501-1566)

Fuchsia bark

This deciduous shrub will reach from about 1.5m to 2.5m high, and will favour coastal locations and rocky ground. Its flowers colour the hedgerows from July to October with their rich hues. The flowers (2cm long) are bell-shaped and have four violet petals which are surrounded by four large, pointed red sepals, rather like a ballerina with a crimson skirt, purple petticoat and long, slightly uneven, legs. The grey/green leaves are ovate and toothed and the fruits are black, fleshy berries in autumn. It should be noted that the black, fleshy berries of the Fuchsia are NOT edible. The branches of the fuchsia turn a pale, golden brown with age and its bark gets a lovely papery quality to it.

Fuchs ia magellanica 'Riccartonii'on frouunt of the White variaty, Fuchsia magellanica var. molinae (F. magellanica 'Alba')

If you would like to plant Fuchsia as an informal hedge, plant them 45cm (1.5 ft) apart in the spring. I mild areas like here in West Cork, Fuchsia magellanica can be grown quite easily through propagation, simply by taking cuttings from a mature plant in late autumn when the stalks are bare, and sticking them about 15cm into the ground.

Fuchsia flowers best on new wood so prune hard in spring, leaving just 15cm to 30cm (6in to 12in) of stem, from which new growth will shoot. Plants grown as hedges should be less severely pruned, although a portion of any old that may have been killed by frosted should always be removed.

The Drive up to Hagal Farm

Here in Ireland we all are accustomed to a few dreary summer days, and even though it was one of these kinds of days when I was out taking these photos, the vibrant colours of the Fuchsia still keep the place looking hot and summery.

Throughout the summer, the Fuchsia continues to make new flowers, while the older flowers fall to the ground leavening just the small berry behind. As a result of this, by this time of the year you begin to see these lovely red carpets at the base of the plants.

This Fuchsia is also popular with kids, as the flowers contain a pouch of sweet nectar. As kids we would often have purple and red lips as a result of drinking the nectar. The process you use to do this is, when you pick the flower, pull off the purple petals and stalks, hold the part where the petals were, up to your lips and squeeze the back of the flower to release the nectar.

Fuchsia high up in the hills, with the faint silhouette of O'Donovan castle in the distance.

M. C. Escher and the Chand Baori stepwell in India.

2010-08-14T14:25:00.003+01:00

Hand with Reflecting Sphere by M. C. Escher 1935

Ever since my art teacher in school handed me a book depicting this picture by M. C. Escher, and a mirror ball, and told me to get busy, I have been a huge fan of his work. He is by far my favourite graphic artist of all time.

Relativity by M. C. Escher 1953

Ascending and Descending by M. C. Escher 1960

Cycle by M. C. Escher 1938

Recently I came across these pictures on the net, of a stepwell situated in the village Abhaneri near Jaipur in Indian state of Rajasthan.

I was absolutely gob smacked and was instantly reminded of Escher’s work

This is one of the deepest and largest stepwells in India. It was built in 9th century, has 3500 narrow steps and is 13 storeys and 100 feet deep.

I wonder if Escher knew of this place.

Apparently the arid climate forced the locals to dig deep for a dependable water source, one that would last throughout an entire year.

As amazing as this structure is, I wouldn't be too enthusiastic about drinking out of that well.

Still from the 2006 film The Fall

Photos of the Chand Baori well from http://www.moolf.com/interesting/the-deepest-step-well-in-the-world.html

Stone seats, the building process.

2010-07-31T09:42:00.004+01:00

A few months back I wrote a post 'Stone Chairs. Some ancient some not so ancient…Yet….' in which I mentioned that one of my favorite things to build are stone seats. Well here is a stone seating area I have just completed and the process I used to create it.

So recently a lady in down in Co. Kildare asked me if I could transform this old area of her garden into one of my stone seating areas, so of course I was only too happy to oblige.

My delivery of stone.

So when the old material has been removed, the risers are built up.

For the top of the seats I often use big chunky slabs of stone like this (if I can get them). Depending on their weight, sometimes I need to get a mini digger to move them into place. However as there was a little movement in these ones, I decided to move them into place the old fashioned way, by using round timber stakes and leverage. It is hard going, but there is something very satisfying about doing it all by hand.

So when the seat tops are finished it is time to make the backs of the seats. This is the part that truly makes each seat unique.

When possible, I will actually go to the stone quarry and walk around and pick out the stone myself for a project. Unfortunately it has become increasingly difficult to find quarries that will let you loose in the quarry to go around picking out stone, as they are worried about getting sued.

So in this case I was unable to pick the stone myself, so I had to give a very detailed shopping list of exactly what I needed. This brought its own challenges, as you have to work with what you are given.

I try not to alter the stone too much, as I like to keep the natural edges of the stone. This way you keep all the stone's imperfections, keeping the whole thing looking more organic.

Laying the stone out on the ground I work out the layout for the backs of the seats.

It is good to do this beforehand as once you get the stone in place, you really don't want to be moving it again.

Over the years you do learn some clever ways of moving large pieces of stone around without breaking your back. With pieces like this I walk them into place by rotating them on one corner, then doing the same with the other, slowly edging forward.

When all the main backing stones are in place, the smaller stones can be built up in between as can the stone around the back of the larger slabs.

And that's it, piece of cake really!

Well maybe not, it is hard work but it is also very rewarding work. Creating something unique and artistic like this can totally transform a garden and can be enjoyed for centuries to come!

The Plant Kingdom, a source for inspiration for sculptor Ruth Moilliet

2010-07-11T12:11:00.000+01:00

The plant kingdom is a source of inspiration for all plant and garden lovers, and for UK artist Ruth Moilliet this is also very much the case, as it is very evident in her sculptures.

Eryngium

The beauty of Ruth’s sculptures is that they highlight the amazing floral architecture that excises all around us, which is so too often over looked.

Alliums

In Ruth’s personal statement she describes how “In my work I reflect a childhood dream to be able to shrink in size, like ‘Alice’, to enable me to enter a plant’s elaborate structure and explore the floral architecture. The enlarged scale that I use indicates this desire, to be at one with the object of my study, to be engulfed in a flower.”

Dandelion Parachute

She also explains why the plant kingdom is such an inspiration for her,

“An initial response to a flower is that it is a delicate and beautiful object, something that can be picked or crushed. This may be true of an individual bloom but a plants continued cycle and relentless growth makes them the longest surviving organism on the planet.”

Passiflora

She studies and works with the forms that she finds within a particular plant or flower, examining a specimen in detail, even dissecting it if necessary. By doing this she discovers what is often overlooked in the everyday, the remarkable forms and intricacies of plant life.

Allium Scubertii

Echinop

Cardoon Parachutes

Spanish moss

Seedheads

Photos and information from Ruth Moilliet website www.ruthmoilliet.com/ check it out to see more fantastic examples of her work.

Art inspired landscape art. Sculptures by J. Seward Johnson

2010-06-28T10:29:00.000+01:00

Between work, the fantastic summer were having so far and of course the world cup, I have had very little time for blogging in resent weeks. So this again will be a quick little post of something that caught my interest recently.

When flicking through a book recently I came across this first picture, and for a split second I thought that there was something a bit funny about this famous painting by Edouard Manet. I quickly realised that this was of course not Manet’s ‘Déjeuner sur l’herbe’ but in fact a sculpture by American artist J. Seward Johnson.

‘Dejeuner Déjà vu’ by J. Seward Johnson

‘Déjeuner sur l’herbe’ (1863) by Édouard Manet.

To be quite honest, my history of art is not quite as good as it should be as much of my time in art college was spent drinking large quantities of alcohol, and perusing women, however one era of art that did really stand out to me was the impressionist era, and it is quite obvious that this era has also had an effect on Seward Johnson, as much of his works are inspired by many impressionist artists.

Here are more examples of a large series of works he made titled ‘Beyond the frame’, most of which are recreations of some of the most famous paintings from the impressionist era. Most of these works can be found in the sculpture park founded by J. Seward Johnson in 1992 ‘Grounds for Sculpture’. This 35-acre public sculpture park is located in Hamilton, New Jersey.

‘On Poppied Hill’ by J. Seward Johnson

‘Woman with a Parasol, Madame Monet with her Son’ (1875) by Claude Monet.

‘Were you invited?’ by J. Seward Johnson

‘Le déjeuner des canotiers’ (1881) by Pierre-Auguste Renoir.

‘If it were time’ by J. Seward Johnson

‘Terrasse à Sainte-Adresse’ (1867) by Claude Monet

‘Sailing the seine’ by J. Seward Johnson

‘Argenteuil’ (1874) by Édouard Manet.

‘God Bless America’ by J. Seward Johnson

‘American Gothic’ (1930) by Grant Wood.

You call that a Rock house....This is a ROCK HOUSE

2010-06-10T18:55:00.000+01:00

You may be forgiven for thinking that this is a scene from a remake of the Flintstones by Tim Burton., but believe it or not, it is a real house in the rural settings of the Fafe mountains in northern Portugal.

A Casa do Penedo, or "the House of Stone," was built between four large boulders found on the site.

The house was built in 1974 as a family's rural retreat, but in recent years it has attracted the attention of tourists and architecture enthusiasts alike. Some come to marvel at how this unique house is so perfectly integrated into its natural surroundings, while others just want to come see the 'Flintstones' house (as it has been called by many). Interest in the stone house has grown to the point that the current owner, Vitor Rodrigues, has had to move to find solace from the curious visitors, and has had to install bullet-proof windows and a steel door to prevent the robbery attempts and vandalism it has incurred in recent years.

Although the house lacks electricity and running water, it does surprisingly house an array of amenities, which include a fireplace, a sofa made of cement and the stem of eucalyptus, and a swimming pool carved out of one of the large rocks.

I was unable to find any photos of the interior, however I did take these stills from an interview by the Portuguese media with Vitor Rodrigues.

For those who are interested in seeing the video interview, it can be found here, but be warned it is in Portuguese and of poor quality.

The guy who built this was not the only person to think of building a house in between huge rocks. Another example I came across is this more formal looking house near Plougrescant, Bretagne, France.

Castel Meur

Photos of 'Casa do Penedo' by talented Portuguese photographer Jsome1.

Bloom 2010, Ireland’s largest gardening, food and family event.

2010-06-04T13:58:00.002+01:00

Here are a few photos of my visit yesterday to the Bloom gardening event , in the the Phoenix Park Dublin.

installation by Hortisculptures

I think my actual overall favourite was the display by Hortisculptures at the main entrance.

A close second was this garden by West Cork designer Anne Hamilton

ISLANDS by Anne Hamilton

Felicia amelloides 'Reads Blue' and Liscannor dry stone walling

More lovely Gardens

CHINA GARDEN by Frazer McDonogh

ECLIPSE 2010 by Paul Doyle

FLORESTA AMAZÔNICA by Amazon Garden Design

G & T by Doylescapes

PATTERNS OF CHANGE...A WINDOW TO THE FUTURE, by Ronnie Nevin & The Landscape and Garden design students from Senior College Dun Laoghaire

THE RAIN GARDEN, by Jane McCorkell

I'm an alien I'm a legal alien, I'm a Gunnera in West Cork

2010-05-26T17:34:00.006+01:00

Well without trying to upset anybody, I have to admit that Gunnera is one of my favourite perennial plants. This might be upsetting for some as there are people out there with a very strong opinion about them, but I will talk about that later on in the post. First I want to talk about the plant itself.

Gunnera is believed by some to be poisons, I even remember hearing this when I was young. So far I can not find anything to back that up, and it is not listed in the RHS toxic plant list.
Gunnera is a common sight in Ireland, however it is in fact an alien species and is actually a native to Chile and Argentina. There are two main varieties in Ireland Gunnera tinctoria and Gunnera manicata. It is important not to confuse them, Gunnera manicata is the most common one sold in garden centres where as Gunnera tinctoria is the one often found in the wild and has become very invasive and is hated and feared by many in the west of Ireland.

The one I have photographed here is the Gunnera manicata also known as Giant Rhubarb or Dinosaur Food.

This impressive deciduous perennial will eventually produce huge displays of massive dark green lobed foliage, so you need plenty of space! The architectural leaves grow up to 6 feet across. They are rounded and deeply toothed, and sit atop prickly stalks that extend to 10 feet tall and form giant clumps. Gunnera manicata produces large, bottle-brush spikes of tiny reddish-green florets in the spring. It looks best planted near water in an informal semi natural setting.

An established Gunnera manicata can grow amazingly quickly in the spring as the shoots appear from the crown, this is one reason why they need to grow in a moist soil full or organic matter to supply a steady supply of water to fuel such a high rate of growth. On a warm spring day you can watch the amazing growth of a Gunnera over just a few hours as the leaves unfold and the stems extend and its gigantic green leaves spared out, creating fantastic solar collectors. The leaves’ undersides are also covered with spikes, as are the leaf stalks. The upper surface of each leaf is heavily textured, and the leaf’s contoured shape serves to catch and channel water to the plant’s roots.

At the macro-/microscopic level, when growing in nitrogen deficient soil, Gunnera manicata plants develop stem glands. The plants then form a symbiotic relationship with a nitrogen-fixing Cyanobacteria (Nostoc punctiforme). The bacteria enter the plant through these stem glands found at the bases of leaf stalks and then trigger an intracellular symbiosis, giving the plant fixed nitrogen in return for taking some of its fixed carbon for the bacteria’s metabolism. This “in-between-plant-cells interaction” is unique in higher plants, and may help plant scientists initiate novel symbioses between crop plants and cyanobacteria—allowing specific plants to grow in areas lacking fixed nitrogen in the soil. At present, Gunnera is the only genus of angiosperms (flowering plants) known to host Cyanobacteria (formerly called Blue-Green Algae)

The Alien Invasion

So the other day when on an Irish gardeners forum, I came across a question posted by a user on When is the best time to cut the leaves off a Gunnera to place over the crown to protect from frost? (Best just to fold the dead leaves over the crown, if you are wondering)

What amazed me was some of the replies he got. He was told by one user that Gunnera is an invasive species and that he should remove and destroy the plants he has immediately. Another person wanted to know why the Dept. of Agriculture does not demand licences for having them on a premises. Well I could give you some more examples, but I think it is safe to say that there are some strong opinions out there. So before people start declaring all out war on the Gunnera, it needs to be said that it is the Gunnera tinctoria that is the invasive variety and not the larger Gunnera manicata.

This is of course an easy mistake to make when you see pictures like this.

The Gunnera tinctoria is however becoming a serious problem for many people in the milder west cost of Ireland and there are some people who believe that As soon as the average temperature goes up just 1 degree, Gunnera will take off right over Ireland, and that we will be beating them back to get in our front door.

Gunnera tinctoria outside Kildavnet Tower on Achill Island, County Mayo

Here is my (slightly dramatised) depiction of what a global invasion my look like.

On a more serious note,
In New Zealand, where it is also invasive, there have been experiments with several herbicides for a number of years and aerial spraying over large areas has been conducted. The New Zealand Department of Conservation (DoC) have reported their suggestions on the control of Gunnera tinctoria.

Letterfrack area of Co. Galway.

Mayo County Council, the Heritage Council, National Parks and Wildlife Services, the Biodiversity Fund and UCD have jointly funded a project to carry out experiments on the development of measures for the control of G. tinctoria.
Alongside the experiments a mapping project of Achill Island is being conducted. The mapping will provide a baseline for future projects to monitor its spread and the success of control. It will provide an insight into the habitats at risk of invasion, its means of spread and where prevention could be introduced as a means of control.

So hopefully I don’t get any angry emails form anyone for mentioning Gunneras or that I have ruined Sting’s ‘Englishman in New York’ song. Apologies in advance, I am not saying that everyone should run to there garden centres and get themselves a Gunnera plant, or that the global Gunnera invasion will or won’t happen. All I’m saying is good or bad, I think that the Gunnera manicata is a beautiful plant to admire.