Before I carried on carving the remaining two spheres, I really needed to drill and stack the balls on top of each other to ensure the segments and angles resembled my idea! In order to make the sculpture safe I drilled into the bottom stone and inserted a pin into the studio floor. The second sphere was offered up using the 'Lewis pin' which made life so much easier. The Lewis pin is a split steel pin on a lifting eye that gets inserted into the drill hole. When the stone is lifted the weight of the stone forces the pin to lock inside the drill hole enabling it to be safely lifted, giving me a nice straight lift. This method enabled me to hoist the stone above the bottom stone and connect the two together with another stainless steel pin. As this was only temporary, the pins remained loose and there was no resin glue used. The third stone however was a little tricky! I could not use the Lewis pin in the top of the stone to lift it as this would have left a visible hole in the top! Instead I used the straps and gentley lifted the stone trying to ensure it was cradled and balanced at all times. The problem you always have when lifting a stone with no edges is the possibility of it slipping out of the straps. Encountering any lifting problems now is always good, as it's best to be prepared and have all the problem solving done before installation. Now that it's all together I can begin to draw onto the remaining two spheres and then disassemble...which should be fun!
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