Ever more ambitious, the challenge of a snake sculpture was inevitable and unavoidable. This was the first time my trusty angle grinder was not able to remove all the unwanted marble. The central sections were drilled out and the bits between the holes chipped away using a conventional hammer and chisel, final grinding was completed with an electric drill and various small grinding burrs.

The marble is 'oatmeal-like' in texture [perhaps Travertine] with small fissures and holes and would have been unsuitable for a piece with small detail. Beige snake is anything but fragile with fairly hefty cross-section throughout its length, just the tip of the tail was vulnerable.

Fortunately marble is to varying degrees quite porous and the application of superglue to parts that are quite small strengthens the marble significantly, and the softer the marble the more readily the superglue soaks in becoming quite invisible in the finished piece.

Progress Pictures

Original Pebble

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Completed Sculpture

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