Weekend project, art, silliness

[Sunbeam56]

I finally got around to placing these three stones. I'm calling it "Homage to the Temple of the Winds in Atlantis" 

[Sunbeam56]

This one stone is really beautiful. 

[Mikey]

Those are some nice stones.....and I don't think any wind is going to blow them over....  Get a few more and you can have your very own Stonehenge and in 5,000 years archaeologists will be scratching their heads trying to figure out what they mean. 

[Sunbeam56]

So... Roark comes by to borrow his mower, which I have been using as a tug. And he says "That rock is backwards". 
And, he's right - he's always right - and this time I happen to agree.

So, he leaves with the mower.
After awhile, I go to the store for the usual - milk, onions, etc...
I come home and Roark's truck is in the driveway.
My tractor is missing.

I wander into the backyard - and there is Roark and his son, looking guilty.
They decided to flip the rock around, wanted me not to know, and were going to see if I noticed. 
SO, I'll take some more photos.
The rock is right side forward now. 

[Kat]

Those are some cool rocks 

[Esther]

I sure agree with Roark. It is backwards!!  Shocked that you hadn't noticed. LOL.

[Jerry]

Yes, your own Stonehenge.

How did you move those big boys?

[Sunbeam56]

Towing strap and a tractor. You hang them off the bucket.

Dig a hole just a little smaller than the rock, but deep, move the rock in place. It swings, and rotates, so its a little tricky. (And that's why the first rock was backwards - that's my story anyway). Lower it a micron at a time, so you can adjust as it goes down.

And of course, there's the inevitable "oopsie" when the rock slips out of the towing strap loop. And then you start over... 

[Sandye]

I like your rocks, Sav...regardless of whether Roark thinks one is backward.   

[Joyce]

I love weird rocks, especially in weird arrangements!

I have always wanted a smaller replica of Stone Henge somewhere in my gardens.
Now that we own, I may make one, something like 1/20th scale on a mossy plain in my woodland garden where the sun shines the most like a spotlight
So many leftover chunks and lengths on stones in the masonry yard at work, I could easily get it done in a weekend.
Now you've got me motivated Savannah! 

[Sunbeam56]

I keep hearing Stonehenge, but is more like suiseki.

The name of the arrangement is a giggle - because its in the direction of the prevailing SE winds from the breezeway and back door of the house.

Before I would try to recreate Stonehenge, I'd research it. Stonehenge is the most well known of the large rock monuments in England/Ireland - but there are a lot of them.
http://www.megaliths.net/
http://www.stonepages.com/
Newgrange is one of the most amazing places I have ever been.

Do a google on "megaliths" - see what you find. England/Ireland/Europe are littered with them. Too bad there are not written records that we can decipher - because the placement of large stone offerings was obviously important to early man in that area.

We have some megaliths in the USA - mostly New England - too. But they are dwarfed by the earthenworks. When you start being interested in the architecture of the stone age, its wonderful stuff.

[Mikey]

I don't have a tractor, or even room to get one into my yard to move about a large rock.  I'm thinking of making a very large hypertufa rock into which I want to plant succulents.  I'm toying with the idea of digging a trench/hole in the soil to the shape I want the rock and then pouring in my hypertufa.  I need to experiment to see if I want to line the trench with crinkled up aluminum foil to give the hypertufa that kind of texture.  I would mix in some polypropylene fiber into the hypertufa to give it strength and add a couple lengths of rebar as well.  The pockets for the succulents should be easy to carve if I make the mix right....

[Sunbeam56]

Mikey - that's very American of you... we can make it bigger, better, faster, stronger.... 

The suiseki ideal is to find something beautiful - the soul of the rock.
I gotta confess, I've seen a lot of soul-less rocks looking for a beauty.

A suiseki gem doesn't have to be large. Just special.

The japanese even decorate some of them with carefully braided ropes - all very symbolic. Of course, the japanese think all things have souls, too - I'm not sure even some of the people I know have souls. 

[Mikey]

The only thing I know of Japanese garden art is......KEEP OFF THE RAKED GRAVEL..... 

I made a hypertufa mill stone several years ago.  It was a heavy mix though and if I do the large stone it will be a light mix so that I can move the rascal and still have my intestines in place....  Here's my mold for the mill stone and the finished product in the cactus garden:

[Sunbeam56]

Very nice mill stone.

[Sunbeam56]

Its raining! 

I didn't think to, didn't have time to, grab the camera. But this is the first time its rained on the Homage.
The water ran where I thought it might. 

The rain came in from the backside - the SouthEast - and ran down the surfaces of the rock. As the water ran, the rock got darker.
The stream that ran down the crystal stream flashed when the lightning flashed across the sky.

I am VERY pleased with this work.