Saturday, March 29, 2014

Top of the Spire



Though there's less to install it gets harder as the spire narrows.


End of day 9!

Halfway There

It's cold enough for jackets and scarves but at least it stopped raining, for a second...


The vertical stripes on the spire represent different medals of honor.

Halfway to the top!

Ellen is cleaning out mortar from areas that need fixing.

Chloe has joined the team and is starting to do the fixes.



Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Muddy Waters


There has been a lot of rain.

But the mosaic is looking good.

One of the pieces going up today.

Ellen cleaning buckets.

Working at an awkward level.



End of day 6!

It's Not Always Sunny in Florida


It might be a perfect color match but an m&m can't replace a missing piece of smalti.

It rained all night and Ferruccio is inspecting the spire... or daydreaming.

Ellen Driscoll has flown in to help with the installation.

Some of the pieces were damaged in the rain and the mesh has come off. Ellen is using a heat gun to reapply it.

The heat gun is also used on the concrete spire where it has become too saturated to install on.

End of day 5!

Sunday, March 23, 2014

The First Week

Our work site

We are starting with spire A

The spire is 20 feet high and needs 3 levels of scaffolding

Luckily we have some help building it




The crate is being moved closer to the spire for easier install

We had a visitor hang out with us today

Everything is ready to start the install

Ferruccio's back buttering station

The first piece is in





Another visitor found the best spot

End of the first week!