Re: The J. Carmichael stone technique...

[DMBsundial]

I rarely use the stuck-on paper technique (using wallpaper adhesive), and never on slate (which is easy to 'draw' on accurately with a light scribe and whose marks are easily rubbed off at later stages). However, two examples spring to mind. The first was on sandstone for an analemmatic dial for the sea-front at Minehead, Somerset, UK, when I had to incorporate the names of 40 or so Parish Councils around the perimeter of the 6m diameter dial. By printing out the names full size (letter x-height about 5 cm) I could be sure that I was going to get consistency in letterform and that all the letters would fit into the very resticted space avialable as well as meet up exactly at the end of the circle. It was also a hugely time-saving technique. The other occasion is one that is still in progress. It's on a cuboctahedron of Portland stone (a fine, hard limestone), based on a 22cm (9") cube. There are 4 dials (direct south,east,west and an analemmatic dial on top) with an equation of time curve on the north face. the other 8 smaller triangular faces have carved motifs of some releveance to the recipient. The reason for using the paper technique was to save time having to draw out all the details again, having already drawn them full-size in the preparation/design stage. The big snag that I now find is that the drawing-paper thickness is comparable with the width of some of the details on the dials, and as a consequence, the paper has to be cut away before the stone can be got at to carve the detail, resulting in time lost that I had previously gained! How it will all turn out after colouring in enamel paint remains to be seen, because part of the purpose in keeping the papar in place is that it will act as a mask when I do the colouring. I may even attempt in-filling the incisions with epoxy resin. We shall see. Pics available if anyone's interested. David Brown David Brown Sundials, Somerton, Somerset, UK