Volterra – Alabaster
We spent the afternoon and evening in Volterra, another hill town and I think one of the 12 original original Etruscan cities. The organized part of the visit was an interesting demonstration by Roberto Chiti, owner of alab’ Art. He talked about how practical and decorative items have been carved from chunks of alabaster mined from the steep rock upon which Volterra is built and then started with a chalk-like chunk, attached it to what looked like a lathe with warmed resin, and quickly shaped it into a lovely translucent bowl using woodworking tools such as rasps and chisels. Because alabaster is relatively soft, it took only 10 min or so. He smoothed and polished the bowl with sponge sanding block (the dried, very rough skin of a shark-like fish was used traditionally). Cheaper, “fake” alabaster is made with alabaster power held together with resins and formed in molds. It is still alabaster, sort of, but doesn’t have the beautiful gradations in shading or translucence. I bought a tiny bowl made with four different shades of alabaster.
We spent the afternoon and evening in Volterra, another hill town and I think one of the 12 original original Etruscan cities. The organized part of the visit was an interesting demonstration by Roberto Chiti, owner of alab’ Art. He talked about how practical and decorative items have been carved from chunks of alabaster mined from the steep rock upon which Volterra is built and then started with a chalk-like chunk, attached it to what looked like a lathe with warmed resin, and quickly shaped it into a lovely translucent bowl using woodworking tools such as rasps and chisels. Because alabaster is relatively soft, it took only 10 min or so. He smoothed and polished the bowl with sponge sanding block (the dried, very rough skin of a shark-like fish was used traditionally). Cheaper, “fake” alabaster is made with alabaster power held together with resins and formed in molds. It is still alabaster, sort of, but doesn’t have the beautiful gradations in shading or translucence. I bought a tiny bowl made with four different shades of alabaster.
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