Marble Hand Sculpture
Introduction: Marble Hand Sculpture
This instructable is made because I have a bunch of scrap marble pieces left from my house construction and also happens because in my last marble and stainless-steel lamps build I only able to build only three lamps and I required 4 of them for my four pillars and this hand lamps is going to full fill that needs. The work is absolutely difficult to lead as the stone is hard material especially when you use granite as your material. I would say most of the carving builds are mostly depend upon the person's vision and everybody uses his own way to make the work easier and in this build, I just simply took reference of my hand and a little bit of imagination and a whole lot of material removal. I think I am a bit new in this line because I mainly do fabrication kind of work but I think it's looking ok. So I am going to share with you some steps which I used and hopefully it helped you in making A marble hand like this. If you have tips then don't forget to share them as I am a complete newbie to this.
Supplies
Material and tools used.
For the material following are the things that have been used.
1. Scrap marble pieces
2. ½" thick acrylic pieces
3. RGB Led bulb
4. Wire for connections
5. Bulb holder
6. Epoxy for gluing marble pieces together
Tools used
1. Angel grinder
2. Marble cutter
3. Diamond blade
4. Core drill
5. Orbital sander
6. Dremel
7. Diamond burrs
8. Diamond polishing pads
Step 1: ​Material Cutting
Since I am making a 1-1 ratio of my hand so I have reference pretty much ready on the spot. 776
The material I am using is marble and granite flat pieces so the first thing I did is measured the length of my forearm and then according to that, I cut down the pieces because I am going to stack them one over the other to make the forearm area. Since I wanted to use this as a lamp so onto the wrist area I decided to use some acrylic pieces. To cut down those pieces I use a cutting blade as a reference and then draw the outline. Once the outline has been drawn out with the help of a marble cutting saw I roughly chop them into manageable pieces. At first, I was using an angle grinder but later on chose the marble cutting saw because it gives perpendicular cuts.
Step 2: Rounding the Pieces
Once the rough cut has been made I switch the tool and attach a diamond grinding wheel to the angle grinder and start following those circles which I traced earlier. Although in the end, our object isn't round in shape but this will allow us to have a good reference. Later on, with the help of a blade, I took the center mark and drill the hole with a hole saw. This hole actually going to be used to feed the wire inside the wrist area. For the wrist area, I used acrylic pieces and glued them together because they are triangular in shape. I cut the circular shape onto the scroll saw and then they are ready for the gluing process but I glued it temporarily because later on, we need to put lighting stuff inside it. One thing that is absolutely important is that you need to use water to cool down your tools when you are using diamond tools for longer life.
Step 3: ​Gluing the Round Pieces Together
Once the pieces have come to the final size and holes have been drilled I glued the pieces together with two-part epoxy and making sure that the glue didn't trap inside the wire hole. At first, I stack them by making a batch of 3 or 4 so that they didn't slip over one another if I put a bunch of them over one another. Once the epoxy is dried they are ready for the carving process.
Step 4: ​Rough Carving the Forearms.
To do the rough carving I made a paper modal but later on, I found that it's not worthy enough. To start the carving I first draw the basic layout onto the stone and then step by step started grinding out them. During this period I also took reference from my hand because that's a live example of that how this needs to look like. The process is a lot messy and dusty so always make sure to wear proper protection on your face to avoid dust. The process took some time and if I would say in a nutshell then you just need to taper down the hand up to the wrist area. It would be good if you use an outside caliper and constantly checking the dimensions with which you are taking your reference. Once it's done I move onto the wrist area.
Step 5: ​Cutting Material for Palm and Fingers
Once the forearm has been roughly carved I started the work onto the wrist area. The construction is almost the same as the forearm. 220