Hi guys,
I am ready to get started on this, looking forward to meeting and working with all of you. Except for having been in a couple of shows with Melinda (Hi Melinda!), you are all new to me.
As you probably saw in the Whos Who section I work with a variety of materials, but stone is chief among them. That said, I don't know if I'll use stone in all the versions I work upon, but for the one I am preparing to begin I shall use stone. I am thinking of Indiana limestone as the primary element, possibly with another type of stone fitted to it. Haven't chosen the specific piece of limestone as yet, but (if a freestanding/pedestal work) it will probably be in the 100-120 lbs. range (Indiana limestone weighs 150 lbs. per cubic foot), and have several straight-sawn sides plus an irregular naturally-broken surface from the quarry.
What do you all think about wall pieces vs. freestanding or pedestal pieces? I ask this because about half my output is wall pieces, and I'd be interested in including that format in at least one of the eight we work upon. If the group is OK with that, then perhaps my first installment will be a wall piece.
Technical aspects of wall pieces in stone:
Usually for wall pieces I attach either a metal or plywood backer to the stone, cutting or routing a pair of keyhole-type slots on the reverse for hanging over two protruding screw heads from the wall. But another option which would allow for support of heavier attachments would be a johnson cleat in either wood or metal, with a matching cleat to be installed on the wall. Stone — by nature of the material — must needs be kept fairly tight and compact in terms of compositional space. In practical terms, if the wall piece is to be larger than a couple of feet square then additional (separate) elements must be used to increase the scale rather than using a larger chunk of stone.
With those basic precepts described, if I begin with a wall piece I would still probably use Indiana limestone, though the weight of the piece used would be less than fifty lbs., — probably much less — and the overall size of my element(s) would be no more than a couple of square feet in surface area.
Let me know if you have any thoughts pro or con about working this scale on a wall piece.
Ready to go . . .
Don
Don Dougan
www.dondougan.com 
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