28/01/2023
FLASHBACK: Check out huge 600 lb jade before it was cut! You can see Bob, Roger, Dad and I manhandling this stone in Colorado getting it ready to cut. It took 3.5 days to get it into 7 or 8 pieces!Ok now back to January 2023! Jose finished the carving just in time and got it back to me in North Carolina. As it turns out, the metal shop I drive by when I’m in town was home to someone who is TV famous. Go check out the Halloween episode of Forged in Fire to see Jeremy Jackson in action! Jeremy owns Night Owl Iron Works in Rutherfordton, NC. When I stopped in his shop a few months ago to tell him of my idea he immediately took it to another level. You see, I originally asked him if he could build a metal base with clamps or something to just hold it upright. When I showed him the stone before it was cut and explained to him my idea, he said, “Why don’t I just make the metal be the back of his head/neck and shoulders like a bust?”I was blown away! Seeing the sculpture and it’s completed form now, I know it wouldn’t have been nearly as incredible without Jeremy’s imagination and talent with metal. What more, he completed the task in less than a week, just days before I left for Tucson! We literally pulled this one off with just a couple of days to spare. Haha. Great work, fellas!