Missing the Terrible Two...

NO. I don't miss them... They are missing.  As soon as I start doing stone work... They disappear...

So. I didn't expect their company today... Yesterday afternoon, I made the mistake of telling them that I was going to finish the stone work today if I could.

I am doing pretty good, but I don't think that I will get much more than the tower finished.

 The two of them didn't even come in and say "Good morning" today.  I haven't seen hide nor hair of either of them.

Anyway, it was to be expected.  They do NOT like stone work.

Anyway, I have never gone through all of the steps for good stonework.  So I will just go through it photo by photo.

The first photo shows me measuring to cut another strip to finish a row.

The second photo shows the curve that I make in the pieces if they are going on something circular as in a tower. I simply bend the piece to a bit steeper curve than the wall. Then I lay it against the wall to see if it is going to lay right on the wall.

The third step is to start cutting the pieces and put them on, one at a time.

I do NOT spare on the glue.  I put on a good coat. It is going to have to hold for years!

Then I fit it into the next piece that I just laid.

The row with the blue tape is one that I just finished.  The one above it is just getting started.

That one will now have a piece of tape started to hold the stones in that row.

Usually one strip of masking tape will hold the tiles in place until they are dry.

I let them dry at least 24 hours before I start painting and shading the stones. 

I will continue with that part when I finish getting all of the stones glued and dry.

It may be a few days until we get to the next step.  Without the help of the Terrible Two, I may be able to finish a little faster.

I do think that it will take a few more days.  If they were coming along for the ride, it would be more like a week... or two.

Back to work.  See you tomorrow.