10 Days to go til set-up

We start to pile the glass parts onto the stand.  It seems very unstable and lists forward due to the uneven distribution of weight toward the front where we “cheated” several layers of kernels with Styrofoam at the back. We decide we need a counterweight…. I weigh the faked sections – 4.25 pounds and 7 pounds respectively. Barry calculates we need only counter-balance the bottom section and we discover a steel wood-splitting wedge that weighs exactly 4.25 pounds. In it goes at the back of the styrofoam. I cringe at this kitchen sink solution, but desperate times require desperate measures!

​Next, Barry reinforces the plate on the stand with 3 copper pipes bent and soldered underneath. Much sturdier.

Lisa Haage, my friend from Sacred and Profane arrives with apple cake and some wiling hands to paint the interstitial areas of cob. I had tested acrylic paint, but wasn’t sure it would adhere to the cured Magic Sculpt, so we set up at the picnic table to use little pots of model lacquer to turn the grey parts green. Lisa and I chatted as we painted and Leon served up another nutritious lunch.  

At 4:30 Barry rushes off to meet patina artist Dan Romo to see if he has a better tool to cut the copper leaves than our metal sheers. He comes back with the 10x3’ copper sheet still intact because Dan figures the sheers on our test have done a neater job than his power tools would. We rush to gather Barry’s film lights and the watermelon I’d prepared and blast over to the Glenview Dance Center to host an impromptu gathering. Leon performed a 40-minute one-hander he’d adapted from a prose piece by William Blake called “An Island in the Moon”. What with the late notice and Hardly Strictly Bluegrass to compete with, there were just 5 of us in the audience – but it was fabulous!
 
In the night I wander the streets and our garden sure something is on fire. The smoke smell is everywhere. At 4 am I consult the Glenview neighbourhood site and read about a fire in Sonoma/Napa. Horrifying.