ROTFL!!

Angie, I know you've said something funny 'cause you're witty, but I don't get it?...Help me out please?...I see soapstone so I see talc, but what does "teddy", and "dig", and "lock" mean? Are they song lyrics?... Are your showing off your new soapstone!?

Enduring, I'm not Angie, but I got it. It's a play. It was also a movie with Cary Grant and Peter Lorre, with one of the best tag lines ever. (Teddy, the crazy middle brother, thinks he's TRoosevelt, and is enacting the digging of the Panama canal in the basement, where he buries the yellow fever victims...See the movie. It's worth it.)

geesh - I've seen both play and movie and still didn't remember/get it! Now I do ... thanks for the reminders.

I second - enthusiastically - the suggestion to see it. One of the all-time bests. What a great movie ....

Thanks for the help you guys!

P and A: Thanks for the help while I was *gasp* away from GW ;-)

Enduring: Sorry, I guess I thought the play and movie were more well known than they are...

Are your showing off your new soapstone!?

You got it! This was step one. We (not that *I* was much help) moved the soapstone slabs from my driveway to 3 little platforms I made where I will be doing the fabrication. I looked at the tableau and thought it looked like I was burying bodies in the backyard!

We bought the slabs sight unseen, and they have been crated up since delivery, so this is the first time I have gotten to see them. They are "Python" from M. Teixeira. I like 'em!

There is some snow and dirt here, and the dark streaks are water (melted snow).

and a close-up:

Very Nice! You are going to have so much fun making up your counters. I loved working with this stuff. Can't wait to see the progress.

Tee hee! (nice stone BTW!)

Oh boy, Angie, are those *cool*. Don't show em to Beagles, she'll steal in some night and nab em. They're blue. ;)

oh, that stuff is cool. What is it (for real, I mean what would a geologist call it)? Where is it from? (I mean dug out from?)

Enduring: Thanks! You inspired me to go back and re-read your "small kitchen" thread. Nice work! (I had it bookmarked, but it was sometime since I had read it.)

Thanks, Cat_mom!

Aliris: Ooops, they are not really blue, like in that last photo. They are more gray, like in the first two. If beagles can lift them, she can have them!

The slabs are supposed to be soapstone. A geologist might call them steatite, I suppose, while a mineralogist may say talc. The darker inclusions are much harder, and I have no idea what they are. The slabs are "Python," and were quarried in India.

Usually the veins/spots (i.e., cross cut veins) are quartz.

I was enjoying your joke, but the slabs themselves are very pretty. :)

Here's an image I found yesterday while trying to figure this post out;) This comes from a Georgia cemetery I think.

Then, this is an interesting diagram for the use of these tombs, in the South East.

I hope no one takes offense that I posted these tombs. I thought Angie made a cute connection to a classic movie and her new SS. When I found actual images that supported her reference, I had to share.

Angie, thanks for the nice comment regarding my old post.

Oh, gosh, that is interesting. I must say I didn't know about tombs like that! I suppose these are for low-lying areas?

I have always wanted a simple pine box. (Or do you think it should be cream colored and glazed? Or is that out? ;-) Even better, I learned about "green burials" or natural burials. But if you saw the recent documentary "Happy: The Movie," you saw something that may be even better. Namely, in Okinawa, the residents are cremated, but the cremains are placed together in a communal vessel. That sound even better.

I went out yesterday and bought diamond blades for my circular saw and my jigsaw. I had been planning to use carbide, on some sort of silly "principle" (which is too nice a word for my obduracy), but decided to arm myself as best as I could.

Plllog, thanks for that info (and the compliment!) There are indeed white veins that look "quartzy." The dark spots may be that, too, or may be something else.

Angie, please post in detail the DIY soapstone process, as I really want to do this someday.

I can't wait to see these gorgeous slabs in your gorgeous new kitchen!

Mabel: Will do. I must confess that, after moving the slabs, I have become a bit daunted. Solely due to the weight. Two of my slabs weigh just over 400 lbs. I am going to have to find 4 or 6 strong men to move them into the kitchen, forfeiting a chunk of my savings! Oh well, keep calm and carry on!

Angie, keep your eye out for specials on beer and/or pizza. A lot of guys will work way harder for beer and/or pizza than they will for wages!

I second plllog's suggestion. I've mentioned before(and posted pics) that our big peninsula chunk of soapstone was moved into place by a half dozen guys for the cost of some ribeyes and a case of beer. And really they probably would have done it for just the beer, but I do like feeding people.

Love your slabs! Can't wait to see them in.

Angie, you impress me mightily. Wherever you want your remains, I say go girl, cream colored *and* glazed!!!

But ... maybe you shouldn't respond to the nag-o-grams with these particular pictures! Seems like there could be some misunderstanding ;)

I am just so blown away that you are tackling this soapstone. I am so proud of you! [and how ridiculous is that? All the same, I am. I can't even seem to get up the gumption to just seal our stone better].

We need pictures please of you working, in-progress with Angie behind the sander (masked will be fine!).

P and lax: Good ideas. I will keep my ears to the ground. I realize part of the problem is that most of my friends are old enough to be the wrong demographic to help! And the next generation is largely not around...

Aliris: That is so sweet -- you're making me blush. However, don't be proud of me until I actually accomplish something! Let's instead be proud of enduring and mamagoose and lax and macybaby and doggonegardener and oldhousegal -- they actually pulled this off! (Sorry if I missed anyone!) I hope to add my name to this list, but it is not there yet.

Angie, I agree with P and Lax, beer and pizza and the promise of an invitation to the reveal party will work wonders. I live in a little town and am part of a great group of friends who do this stuff all the time. It helps that we have a pickup truck, sure, but in general I think good friends want to help. Unless that's a rural American phenomenon. Anyway, you can do it!

Has there been a thread with all the DIY soapstone people showing their counters?

mabeldineldine, I don't think there has, but there are bunches of us who have done them. A good chunk of the soapstone DIYers are still around the kitchen forums, like Casey & macybaby, mostly because DIYers are constantly working on something.

"DIYers are constantly working on something"

LOL!!! Truer words were never spoken!

As the weather turned warmer, yellow fever grew more common and more deadly. Ignorant of the role of mosquitoes as the primary vector, Teddy tried to employ the antimicrobial properties of copper in a vain attempt to limit the spread of the disease.

What is Teddy up to?

LOL!!!

Someone has been at the fortified quinine.

Someone has been at the fortified quinine.

I wish! (Although I hate gin for some reason.) I am still at "work," as I am on PDT right now. (You can tell how successfully my "work" is going right now.)

What is Teddy up to?

You know how I keep saying that I will cover my appliances in patinaed copper? Well, I figgered, what better way to get patina than au naturel? That is just copper roofing flashing, rolled out to take a sunbath for two months. (I am sure my neighbors think I am crazy. Who am I to say they are wrong? ;-)

I didn't know about the copper clad appliances. I am excited to see how this project turns out.

I love copper patina. We have a nearby business in that is clad in copper. Its been several decades and I love the deep color, but it hasn't turned that lovely Verde yet.

Yeah, the appliance color choice went like this:

Beginning of color selection:

Hmmm, white, black, or stainless? We'll have a warm wood for cabinets, travertine floor... How about stainless? It is neutral.

I never really liked stainless. It will be out of date in 5 years. No, it probably won't be, it is now part of the canon. But I still don't like it.

White would work okay, but it looks sort of cheesy with the warm wood.

What about bisque?

Yeah, Bisque!! I don't care if it is out of style, we'll be contrarians. Let's do bisque. Okay, www.ajmadison.com, looking for bisque.... Hmmm, cannot get a french-door fridge in bisque. Only a couple of ranges and cheap DW in bisque. Okay, scratch bisque...

Okay, black then. Black goes with warm wood.
Okay, sounds good, a black range would look okay. Black DW sounds kinda classy, too. Black, 36" french-door fridge. Holy crap that is a big hunk of black!! Darth Vader indeed!

Hmmm, how about stainless? No, I really don't like stainless. What about white? Wait, didn't we cover this before?

OHHH, I KNOW!!! Paneled! We'll get a paneled DW and fridge and a black range! It'll look built it! Sounds good.

Ring riiing... "Hmmm, you want how much for wood panels for a fridge? And how much for the DW? Oh, okay, I guess we can swing that. Thank you... yes, we'll be placing our order soon."

Okay, here is a drawing of our non-built-in fridge with wooden panels. First of all, it looks kinda dumb -- it looks like you took a fridge and put wood on it; probably should get a true built-in. But they are like $7k. Second, what do I see? Between the cabs on the left, and the pantry on the right, I SEE A WALL OF WOOD. Birnam Wood has come to Dunsinane.

How about white?

No, what about bisque fridge, bisque DW and black range.

Don't you remember, there is no bisque fridge in a CD french door? Oh, yeah.

Wait, if we got a paneled fridge, could we cover it with something bisque?

That is genius!! We could get a sheet of metal and paint it bisque!

But why bisque?!?! We could cover it with anything? (How about stainless? No, that is stupid.)

LET'S COVER IT IN COPPER! Yay!

End of color selection.

As the months went by, Teddy waited patiently, but there were no new locks to be built. The time and heat took its toll not just on Teddy, who felt rather weak and feverish himself these days, but also on his once-shiny copper. It seemed to him that the copper had lost its luster, just as Panama had started to lose its luster for him.

GWTamara says we can now bump old posts. I just tried to bump this one less than two weeks ago. Let's see if it really works!

Good luck -I think the copper will be gorgeous. Hopefully the end product will be less expensive than the built-in!