I arrived here in the Tvedahlen quarry in mid April 2015. And now, after 3 months of relentless work, wind, rain, glaring sun, and endless skies, the sculpture is finished.
It has been an incredible journey, with 2 blokes turning up in 2 cars full of tools, and transforming a 30 ton block of granite into this. Right now, I feel strangely emotional, so I leave you with the suggestion to have a look how it was done:

http://bankedcurvescupture.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/morning-we-started-with-carving-work.html

And my next stop will be Carrara, Italy, where I will beginn with the work on the marble plinths for this sculpture.

Today is a sad day, as it marks the end of Raphael Beils' involvement in the making of "thoughts in a bent curve".
Raphael has been truly great, unstoppable in his pursuit to perfection, hard working and simply a great buddy to spend 3 month in a quarry with. His knowledge of the material, relentless work ethic and attention to detail has been instrumental in the success of producing this piece and I will be ever grateful for that, and certainly hope, that it will not be the last time we will work together in this most beautiful stretch of the world.

This was the preparation to the final , very difficult lift, where we placed the sculpture on the transport frame.
Here, Raphael and our great driver Tony discuss on the 1:5 model, how to perform the lift and subsequent placing of the work. These were nervous moments, but it all went very well, and it was the first time, I saw my sculpture in its' final position!

This is a time laps of putting the sculpture into an up right position and placing it onto the transport frame. The whole procedure took about an hour.

Most of the week we then spent working the last deep channel and honing the top, as ever, under an endless Norwegian sky...

Let's start with a song, here , Raphael Beil with another rendition of an ACDC (?) song... 

There is reason to celebrate, as we have reached an important milestone: we finished all work in this horizontal position, after working relentlessly since mid April. So, let's celebrate, even if it is with an ACDC song...

 The last 2 weeks in June, we spent with grinding and honing the front surface of the sculpture. The weather has finally turned to summer, and we had glorious days, where we worked under endless skies, with the sun hardly ever setting.
It never reached the dizzy heights as in central Europe, which was experiencing a heatwave, here, we reached 20 celsius, almost too hot , if one has to work on a job like this one....

 

This is the base of the sculpture, with the stainless steel in sets, that will connect with the plinths. This is the proof that we even polished areas , one will never see again once installed...
This is me champfering and polishing the edges. And yes, I definitely prefer the warm summer days

And finally, our man Tony drops off the newly commissioned frame, prepares the ground and we try to get our head around how to best place the sculpture on the frame in the coming week. 

A finishing wash and a visit from a horse fly....

Stig Johansson's poem ( in Larvik)  sounds translated like this: 

all these days came and went , I did not know that they were life

Another week, and it feels we have been living in the quarry forever. We have been working relentlessly , and now head for a short break to recover, rest and catch up with business in London and Berlin respectively.

The sea near Stavern

 

 This is how the work has progressed in recent weeks, and we passed an important milestone, as the last part of bulk material was removed on this side.

A regular visitor to our little huts is our "diamond dealer" Sjur, of Diamond Board. We use large quantities  of granite diamond blades and drills, and he not only supplies us with he equipment, but also gives us tips and tricks, and is generally a good egg to "chew the fat with..."

This week, I also inserted the stainless steel sockets into the base ( here drilling the hole with a diamond core drill)

Raphael worked "the channel" , another one of those hard as nail jobs, and sometimes, one has to be inventive to reach the far corners of this sculpture, and it worked a treat..

To get a sense of scale of the work, notice the Toyota Landcruiser next to it...

The summer has finally arrived here in the fjord, and this is us enjoying the  late evening sunshine Friday night.

Work has progressed incredibly well, come the weekend, "there is nothing left in the tank".

Raphael Beil managed to cut the large flowing form out in a single cutting session over 2 days, using a small 5inch angle grinder.  What looks like just some messy work is decades of cutting experience, and in my view is on par with brain surgery, it is really that difficult to do.

This side has 2 large cut outs, and it is very difficult to reach the deeper parts with any kind of tools.
I call it valley of pain and dirt...

Wind and rain has given way to wind and sun, and most of the week we were working under an incredible sky. We are , in a way, back to square one, as we are back to the hard and heavy work, mainly removing large lumps of granite. But  evidently, we have learned from the previous side, and are much more effective as well as dividing the work in what suits us both best.

Raphael Beil, with his long arms, has great reach and works on the large flows from the outside, whereas I refer to myself as the "Welsh miner", sitting on top of the block digging trenches...
It works a treat, and we are making good progress, under an umbrella of blue sky and, at times, almost comical clouds.

It was a big week, where we managed to finish the first stage finish on the front side of the sculpture, prepare for the turning of the block, and finally revolve the block by 180 degrees with the help of the very skilled Tony and his truck.

On this post, all images are taken by Raphael Beils' partner Katja Riemann.

 

sourcing large chunks of timber down at the harbour

Discussing the lift with the driver Tony and Raphael Beil

time laps taken of turning of the sculpture