Hello All:
 
I always wanted to try to paint a sundial on a wall and have just finished my first one. I painted a large colored vertical decliner for a client's home here in Tucson and I think it turned out quite well considering the harsh working environment. 
 
First let me say that painting a southern wall on a 10ft. scaffold on a rough textured stucco wall in Tucson in the summer is HARD!!!  Because of the heat, I could only paint from 5am-8am and 5pm-8pm.  Painting fine details by hand on textured stucco is a real pain and very difficult.   I could not use painters tape because of the bumps, so everything had to be painted free hand. I see now why the sundial artists in Europe often replaster a wall with a smooth texture before painting.  But the owners did not want a smooth surface. 
 
The rough texture is artistically very pleasing, but it does affect the sharpness of the shadow a tiny bit, but it's not bad. 
 
The sundial measures 44 x 92 inches (1.12m  x 2.33m), declines 4.53 degrees east of south, and has a gold-plated solid brass conical gnomon.  (Remember the discussion we had about cone gnomons?  Those experiments I did were for this dial).  We decided to employ Dave Gard of Aten Sundials to custom make the brass gnomon on his metal lathe since we wanted a cone gnomon that is wider than off-the-shelf plumbobs.  We wanted the shadow to be wider, like the hands of a clock.  The cone is 2 inches wide at the base and about 4" tall and is screwed to an anchor bolt on the wall on top of a gold-plated brass star.
 
I transferred the Delta Cad drawing to the wall like this:
1. I made a full size drawing of the sundial on Mylar plastic.
2. Then, using a leather awl (like a short icepick), I punched holes into the lines on the drawing.
3. Then I taped the drawing to the wall, and using Sharpee marker pens, I made dots on the wall through the hole in the drawing.
4. Then I removed the drawing and connected the dots on the wall.
 
I painted the colors first, then painted the lines and numeral on top in layers.
 
 
John L. Carmichael
Sundial Sculptures
925 E. Foothills Dr.
Tucson AZ 85718-4716
USA
Tel: 520-6961709
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 
Websites:
Sundial Sculptures: http://www.sundialsculptures.com
Stained Glass Sundials: http://www.stainedglasssundials.com
Sundial Cupolas, Towers & Turrets: http://StainedGlassSundials.com/CupolaSundial/index.html
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