u/neoBarr01

My local stonecutter guy just finished cutting these white-quartz bases for these two amazing statues I got recently and I’ve been working to restore properly.

Very pleased so far, very nice guy, he was kind enough to also provide proper adhesive and some practice stones made from the cuts he did for me. I’m still debating whether or not I will change anything further about the bases apart from a sanding and polishing the edges and drilling a couple holes to attach the bronze statues. I won’t be repainting the patina, it’s great as is.

Also! I found this amazing antique drafting table with the glass a few months ago but the light box was completely dead and unworkable so I took it apart, removed only the wiring and lights and spray-painted the previously-white interior the metallic-copper tone that you see and I personally did an acrylic pour on the base panel to do the pretty blue color.

The LED lights are not attached or glued to anything inside, they don’t need to be to serve their function and can easily be removed and I have a remote to change the color settings. I’m also a somewhat experienced artist and I bought this thing cuz I wanted the antique aesthetic but also I wanted the glass with a light for any tracing needs I may have and that is a rare combo in my experience. Finally found this one and fixed it so it works like I wanted.

Sadly I may have to let it go cuz I had some unexpected expenses recently. But in total I spent 90 on the desk, the two statues were 15, the material and labor for the bases was 50, I gave him 70 cuz we gotta support local artists right now. I tried to listen to what you all told me last time when you said it’s okay to update or replace things but do your best to not cause any permanent damage on the existing antique parts. So I used restore and finish on the wood, and for the metal box interior.. eh well personally I think it was worth painting the old white something new. If someone really wanted they could sandblast that paint off the metal to restore to previous look and I still have the busted wiring so I hope I’m doing alright and on the right track here.

Cheers!

I turned away certain labels to keep it viewable for all.

One difference I want to add tho after looking at it a while which braggadociosly—kind of brilliant in its simplicity and it completely changes the context of the piece. Felt kinda weird with woman having her a hands against the wall and kinda vulnerable, so you can see in the profile drawing I added a big circular window that would go right between her hands on the wall and that shifts the tone entirely. It goes from work/labor and slightly uncomfortable to voluntary curiosity looking out or looking at your books on the shelf. And you would be able to look through and see her face directly which is not really possible in the original. And you could line them up facing each other and they could look at each other or it would be a “mirror self” and maybe it’s dumb but I just think it it’s a very simple change that would work better in multiple ways I hope. Thoughts? Yeah someone will say wall of glory I get it but hey that’s another way someone could interpret it I guess. Oh and I was thinking a lighter very neutral ivory grey stone would work best to make the color pop.