Lions of Bath – project progress 10
I spent some very long hours finishing my lion at the end of this week. A 12 hour shift on Tuesday completing the face, followed by a further 10 hours on Wednesday grouting and a final 6 hours cleaning remaining grout and bloom.
The grouting was extremely hard work. I used an epoxy grout which is a two part mixture. It is very thick and sticky and I worked it into the mosaic crevices like a deranged masseuse! Getting it off the surface of the tiles was equally hard. I worked up a good sweat, so at least I got some exercise!
At last finished, I invited some friends around to see him. Impressed, and wanting it for their garden, we discussed what animal could be next in Bath. We think dragons would be a great idea – the Somerset dragon.
Thursday evening, I cleared out the back of the car and my partner, and son and me lifted him in for the journey to Bath on Friday.
My daughter helped me make him comfy with cushions and a duvet (also to stop him rolling around) and I had a funny thought. What if the police stopped me on the way and saw the duvet with something under it. They can’t see what it is, as he is completely covered up, but it looks suspicious. They ask “would you like to show us what is under the cover” . I am imagining they are on the look out for a serial killer and they have visions of dead bodies or something equally morbid under the duvet. So I say “of course officer” and I take off the cover. I am sure they wouldn’t expect to see a mosaiced lion!
Well the funny thing is I did get stopped! On approaching Bath, there were about 10 police officers stopping cars and one of them pulled me in. This is it I thought, it is really happening! Unfortunately he had no interest in what I was carrying, as they were doing a drink and drive check and handing out leaflets. He asked me if I had had a drink this morning, to which I answered “only a cup of tea officer” so he let me go.
My lion is in the den now and will be installed sometime next week. Then I will post the final stop motion animation. If anyone can guess what his name is leave a comment. The clue begins with the initials of the the sponsors name!
