A piece begins with a specific block, not a generic material. Stone is chosen for size and for what is inside it, because a hidden crack or void can decide what a block can become or end a piece outright. Michael Tine prefers to work large: in a big block a broken corner is recoverable, where in a small one a hidden flaw can take the whole piece.
Each stone behaves differently under the same tools, and part of the craft is knowing what a given block will and will not do at a given scale. The pages below cover the stones he works, in plain terms: what each one is, how it handles, and where it comes from.
- Carrara Marble: the primary material, and the reason he came to Ventura.
- Travertine: banded, formed at mineral springs.
- Alabaster: soft and translucent.
- Limestone: even and forgiving.
- Soapstone: the softest of the set.
For the long view of marble itself, from geology to the carving tradition, see A History of Marble.