Leaving the Sculpture Attached to the Base - Throughout the project I have discussed progress and plans with my wife Pam during our morning coffee.  When I told her about removing the sculpture from its base in preparation for the move to the library she reminded me that the GYMC sculpture called Celebration had the arm cracked during an incident when removed it from the base.  To keep the Princess safe, it would be best to leave her attached to the upper base.  It would be heavy and awkward to move, but that was the best option.

Installing Slate Tiles - Since I have no experience installing slate tiles I referenced You Tube for guidance.  A quick trip to Canadian Tire was needed to buy some tools then I mixed the mortar, spread it over the wood base pieces and applied the slate tiles.


Sealing the Sculpture and the Slate Tiles - One of the tips I learned on You Tube was that slate was so porous that it needed to be sealed before grouting or it would suck the water out of the grout making it difficult to apply.  Using disposable paint brushes I painted sealer to the top of the crown then worked my way down the sculpture, over the hair, face, arms, bag, legs and feet.  Once satisfied that all runs and drips were fixed and all loose brush hairs plucked off the sculpture I sealed the slate tiles too.



Applying Grout - The next day I mixed some grout which was charcoal in colour and thought that this was a high risk activity, not a risk to the sculpture, but a risk to our house.  If I spilled the dark grout anywhere it would create a terrible mess and be very difficult to clean up.  Utmost care was needed and no accidents were allowed. Using a floating tool I pressed grout into the grooves between tiles and scrapped of any excess.  I wiped the tiles with a large wet sponge, wrung it out in a pail of water then repeated until the water in the pail was filthy.  Carefully I carried the pail from the studio which was upstairs in our home, down to the basement where I dumped it into the laundry tub, rinsed it out, refilled it with clean water then headed back upstairs.  It took about five trips of washing and dumping to wash the excess grout off the slate tiles.  The studio floor suffered a few charcoal splash drops but fortunately there was no spill crisis.  I ran out of grout when only two thirds of the grooves were filled.  I was tired and my back was fatigued and I knew that if I mixed another batch of grout there was a good chance of me spilling so I opted to wait and finish the following day.


One Last Polish - By rubbing an old cloth on the tiles I removed the faint residue of grout and made the slate shine again.  I thought about resealing the base to make the grout shiny too but decided that the contrasting sheens gave the base more texture.

I went over the entire sculpture a few final times touching up details.  Each time I discovered new defects and realized that this art project had entered the "Eternal Tinkering Phase" where I was at risk of being consumed by tiny issues that were not important and that could delay its completion.  I said to my self, "That's it.  Call it done and stop making adjustments."  In fact, I said it out loud so that I would hear myself.


The next day I approached the sculpture with a different attitude.  The sculpture was truly done in my mind and I could focus on finishing the base but first I wanted to make sure that the princess could be removed for transportation to the library.  I had to make sure that the threaded rods coming out of the princess' feet had not become stuck to the base by WInterstone.   Kneeling on the floor, I carefully dragged the upper base with the sculpture attached to the edge of the lower base, wriggled my fingers underneath and lifted up one side of the upper base.  The sculpture swung to an angle.  My heart skipped a beat.  I froze in place to evaluate the situation.  Carefully I tipped the base down slightly to find the balance point, slid my knee underneath then lowered the base to rest on my thigh.   With my left hand cradling the princess, my right hand picked up a wrench that I had placed on the floor nearby.  I moved my right hand and wrench under the base, found the threaded rods with my fingers and blindly put the wrench around a nut and gave it a gentle tug.  To my surprise the nut turned easily.  Wonderful.  I continued with the wrench until the nut turned freely then loosened the nut under the princess' other foot too.


Once the nuts and washers were off I sat the upper base down and stood up beside the princess.  Taking hold of the bag sides I lifted the sculpture, pulling the connecting rods out of the base.  Success.  She was safely in my arms. 


Before anything could go wrong, I reversed the steps and reattached the sculpture to the base, confident that it could be moved to the library when needed.