Sweet & Sly Snake, sly face
Sweet & Sly Snake, sweet face

Sweet & Sly Snake

5 – 13 August 2000

The size of the piece can be approximated from the image with me in it located on the “Comments” page. The head end was the most complicated form I've made. Plywood and curved metal all screwed and clamped together to give the shape with the least amount of volume. This complicated form gave me less to mix and less to remove. I chose not to put a piece of bent rebar in the piece because it would be difficult to know its position during the carve. After about five hours into the carve most of the work was done. I had left a small post of concrete under the chin for support until near the end of the carve. I removed it and continued. It wasn't long after I was doing some light scraping on the head and snapped it off. I was done for the day.

The second attempt had a piece of bent rebar in it. Carefull measurements were taken so after I started carving I would know where it was located. If the steel had been exposed it would have been ruined as it would have rusted over time and made a structurally weakening ulcer on the piece. Anytime I put rebar in a piece I clean up the surface with a wire wheel on a bench grinder and then paint a coat or two of Concrete Bonding Adhesive to seal the surface. The Snake head piece took six and a half hours to carve and the tail piece took five.

The concept and name for the piece came from it's inclusion in a fundraising event for the Atlanta Botanical Garden called "Serpents in the Garden".

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