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DESCRIPTION OF BUSINESS COLORADO ALABASTER SUPPLY - SCULPTURE STONE SUPPLIER - page 1 The alabaster that we quarry is used by professional sculptors as well as students in Universities and schools across the United States and Canada. We use a front end loader to bulldoze the stone out of the quarry. We do not blast out the stone because that would ruin the stone for sculpting purposes. The stone is loaded onto dump trucks by the loader and hauled down to our rock sheds. We usually quarry 2-4 days, in which we haul down an entire years supply, after which we cover aver the exposed alabaster to protect it from the weather. The alabaster is stored in sheds to protect it also. Alabaster cannot be used for outdoor purposes because it weathers away. Any alabaster left out in the weather is also unusable for sculpture because of the cracking and chalking of the stone. The pieces of alabaster brought down from the quarry can range in weight up to several tons. The alabaster also varies in color. We have what is called a salmon- ledge which consists of the "Pink" alabaster that Colorado is known far, into a white. The salmon pink is very translucent and the white is more opaque and milky in color. We also have a gray which is also rather opaque in color. All colors have varying degrees of veining and coloration. To prepare the stone for shipment to the buyers, we must eliminate all natural faults from each stone that would hamper the artist in his/her working of the stone. This is accomplished by first chiseling off the mud and hard clay from the surface of each boulder. Natural fault lines are then located and split open by use of sledge haic¢ner and wedges. The larger pieces too heavy to move with our equipment are sawn into large slabs, which are again ermined for flaws and broken down along any natural fault lines. From this point the process continues in this manner until good solid, sculptural pieces remain. To be considered sculptural quality, pieces must be free of soft or loose areas of the stone, cracks, mud, or other inconsistancies such as selanite crystal formations. A "good, sculptural piece of alabaster will ring when struck with a hananer. Long or flat pieces will ring with a loud bell-like sound, whereas the small, bulky pieces have a quiet, high pitched ring. Pieces in sizes and shakoes between these extremes have varying sounds when struck. Flaws deaden the sound and must be eliminated. Thus flaws are located not only thru visual but audio indica- tions as well. Each piece of stone we ship passes these tests for quality. In recent years we have hauled in 15-18 truckloads of raw stone and have hauled away 6-8 truck- loads of unusable scrap. The stone is worked down with air-hammers and small hatchets.