Gydena and Hrefni Cosmic Stone

 Today I managed to finish off the very tricky 'Gydena and Hrefni Cosmic Stone', which features the solar goddess and the raven storm-god standing on the two cosmic beasts who beget all the animal species in Gyldland cosmogony.


 This was definitely the hardest one yet, given the relative size and the detail, and in the end I had to simplify a lot of it. It was also very hard to engrave as the surface wasn't smooth, but the shallowness of the line makes it look old and worn, which is helpful. I think this is the last one - five stones is probably enough unless I decide to render a fragment of something later on. I'll be on campus soon to look at the availability of glass-topped museum style display cases for the show, which will have to be discussed re: a) lighting conditions so the lights illuminate the engraved lines well enough but don't reflect off the top of the glass, and b) the ability of the case to support over 60kg of stone. So I may need two cases - or else consider displaying the large 'lunar stone' separately. Once the stones have been hauled into the studio (on the top floor of the school, of course) then I can start to sort out the final set-up. But as it stands, that's all the stone engraving done - which is lucky as my hands are really feeling the strain.

For the next adventure, I'll be taking a trip to the coastal caves around Arbroath and try to get some photos of an 'ancient cave painting' version of the Hrefni figure depicted here.

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