Marmolina: from a Rock to a Fish

I have always liked working with my hands but never really had the chance to work in sculpture. When we arrived in Limay, I was so excited to get started working in marmolina! When Oscar asked me to think of a design, I had some trouble deciding what would be the right thing to make. After a little while of preliminary sketches, I decided that a fish would be both easy and a really good gift for my mom. Oscar found me the perfect rock and helped me figure out where to start. I went to town hacking my rock with a machete. It was therapeutic and a lot of fun. I had no idea that I was falling in love with the technique. It didn't take me long to have majority of the rock carved away and a beautiful fish forming.
I moved on from the machete and began smoothing out my fish with a different tool. This is when I really could see my design forming in front of me. With some more guidance from Oscar, I carved a fin into both sides of the fish's body and some eyes as well. I was almost finished and so was our time at Oscar's for that day. I dipped my fish into a bucket of water to get the dust off and saw what a beautiful color my rock was going to be. I placed my fish on the workshop shelf to dry overnight and left for dinner with my host family.

When I returned the next day, eager to finish, Oscar gave me a wooden base to sit my fish on. He told me that I would have to polish it when I polished my fish. I was more than ready to finish. With the help of another artist at the workshop, I began learning how to polish the marmolina stone and my new wooden base. It was a lot of work, constant scrubbing with sandpaper and lots and lots of water to keep things running smooth. But in about an hour or so, my fish and base were the smoothest thing I'd ever felt! From there I added some shoe polish to make my fish shine. I couldn't believe the transformation that happened before my eyes. I took a rock and turned it into a fish, in less than 6 hours!  Oscar and some of the other artists made comments about how quick of a learner I am and I couldn't help my thank them. It was a once in a lifetime chance to work side by side with some amazing marmolina sculptors and I'm so glad I did it!