Journeyman Testing DSC KY

The day after - (Sunday 10/2/11) the competitions at the Shaker Village KY. I started my day off working on organizing all my stone. My wall section had to be taken apart for a walk throw.

Wall before I started.

 Foundation, the day before my test I was able to tear out my wall section. I was able to build my foundation and organize all my stones.  I place my packing stones in piles close to the wall but spaced a foot or more away from the wall. Not to get in my way. A clean space around the wall keeps you clear from tripping over stone.

Cap stones are pulled of the wall and placed furthers away from the wall see the chair. All the stones in front of the chair are my cap stones. I set up my lines to tie in to the wall to the left which was a new section from the competition. The wall to the right was a old section I had to tie into. The stones I've sorted out in sizes. Large, medium, packing and stones I deemed to be junk or hard to work with. The wall had more packing stones then I could imagine. The building stones on the other side of the wall was on a down hill. I was told that the stone laid out to this side would be the preferred. Because when you strip out your wall section by section you would lay it out layer by layer. Put every method is up to the builder. This lay out on each side worked best due to the hill I was working on.  

This is a picture of how the the winners of the the event lay out their stones. One big pile and yes they grab what they need and work with what they have at hand. You could say this is one very efficient system with no wasted energy.  It may take years before some of us will get to this level or should I say if we get to this. The key is to read the stones and build with what you have. 

A old timer showed up named Stanley. This guy has built more stone stuff then you could imagine. When I say that I truly mean this. WAIT AND SEE!!! He only lives 1 mile from Shaker Village. I will be sure to do a full blog and the Raw Video I have. Watch for more to come. The best time I spent was taking a break to learn and see some one else work. 

The next day Monday I started building me wall section for my timed DSC journeyman test.  I was off to a very slow start. Thinking way to much. I stopped only a few times to take a drink and take a photo. I was very pleased with my start. But what I realize was I was behind. By noon I was still thinking about my stones. At 2 pm I was at the tie level. I don't know what I was doing with all my time. But at this point I got a big boost. I put it into high gear kept my mind in the game with the key rules. But I had to stop thinking about every little stone. Cover my joints length in...ect ect place the stone in the wall. At no time I was at the top. Ready for my cope stones. Time was not on my side since I spent the the morning thinking about what I was doing. Instead of following my instincts. 

For my journeyman section I had to build this 10 ft wall section within the day. The Sunday was not great since I was so close to the ticket window for the Shaker village. My big hat must have made me look like part of the entertainment. Truly I didn't mind Sunday. But by Monday. My head phones did not help the walker bys from avoiding asking questions like are you rebuilding the full wall or whens the competition... I should have said Wee parlay voo francay... Sure I don't know how to spell any of those words but I would have asked something in French. ANY way nothing would have stopped the passer bys. I just had to say I'm testing right now- I have to have this wall done today. As you can see I'm behind. (Ok can we watch) I should have said yes put the cash in the hat. But instead I said yes. For the most part people were very cool. But please don't put me any were around the tourist. Of course I don't plan to test again for a long time. I'll finish out my other special features and keep building to get my speed and accuracy up. Learning with one stone at a time.

This is the other side of my wall. I'm still waiting to get my official paper work. I enjoyed my time. I meet some great people and look forward to getting some feedback soon on my wall build.  Until then back to work. Making walls that look better then this grey field lime stone. I can say I will not miss this stone. I forgot how much I don't like this stone. But maybe if I was a local I it would grow on me.  I do enjoy the quarried or river lime stone much better.