The block.
375 pounds of Mongolian Imperial Black Marble.
Clay maquette at lower left.
Blocking in the forms.
Roughing in the forms.
Refining the forms.
Completion of carving.
From this stage, the sculpture was refined further with the hand rasp (the last tool in carving and the first tool in finishing), the file, the jeweler's file (for fine detail,) sandpaper starting with 80 grit and ending with 2,000 grit. The final finishing stage was applying black rouge to the platypus only. Black rouge is tin oxide, wax and black pigment, applied with a felt bob and a rotary tool. This grinds and polishes the platypus to 10,000 grit--a brilliant high-polish shine, appropriate for a swimming platypus.
