tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57985588783851812612012-02-16T22:23:21.060ZNeolithic humans had a thousand years. We have our office lunchbreakAlan Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03057473257605783968noreply@blogger.comBlogger441100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5798558878385181261.post-60600895631319371622007-08-16T12:56:00.000Z2007-08-16T12:25:03.375Z

Well - we are all done now, so it is time to say goodbye. Thank you all for watching! In particular: Brian and Lizzie Sanders for increasing the amount of human happiness in the worldeveryone who has commented on Cardhenge, either on the blog or in person, especially unkle e for commenting beyond the call of dutyEnglish Heritage for selling the model to us in the first place and for deciding to

Alan Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03057473257605783968noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5798558878385181261.post-50582771078246598342007-08-16T11:23:00.000Z2007-08-16T14:56:34.494Z

Here we see Cardhenge by night. An eerie silence has descended over the ancient site and it will not be long before equinox returns and the stones are cloaked in mist (well, dust actually). The lego men are safely tucked up in their beds but we hope to see them for the final time very soon.

Soo Martin ...http://www.blogger.com/profile/13587855403991407477noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5798558878385181261.post-91750871434861649442007-08-14T13:27:00.000Z2007-08-15T16:04:02.421Z

Hello! We have now made the Heel Stone and Slaughter Stone, and have positioned them at the correct scale distance from the centre circle. (This meant printing out lots and lots of extra grass and sticking it to the back of an old exhibition display board.) The completed Cardhenge is now almost as impressive as the real shebang.What has proven to be well tricky is photographing a fake sunrise

Alan Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03057473257605783968noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5798558878385181261.post-19151735894107732342007-08-09T13:15:00.000Z2007-08-09T12:23:23.850Z

Almost there... I'm halfway through making the Heel Stone and Soo has almost completed the Slaughter Stone. These two stones aren't in the normal pack but were sent to us separately by Cardhenge's creators. They have even sent some grass to put them on!The Slaughter Stone is a fallen sarsen, one of three originally guarding the northwest portal, while the Heel Stone is even further out, by the

Alan Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03057473257605783968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5798558878385181261.post-27413727785827958762007-08-06T14:30:00.000Z2007-08-16T15:01:02.742Z

It was Alan's birthday on Friday and one of our colleagues (another Sue) thought that it would be a great idea if we could make a Stonehenge cake. Also, this seems to have coincided nicely with the completion of the offical Cardboard Stonehenge pack. Here are two pictures: one of me struggling to keep the trilithons upright whilst making Cakehenge and one of the finished edible monument. The cake

Soo Martin ...http://www.blogger.com/profile/13587855403991407477noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5798558878385181261.post-57826124327473876052007-08-06T13:22:00.000Z2007-08-06T14:16:37.449Z

Today Soo and I added stones 43 and 31 which are the two last stones in the packet. So officially we have now finished! It is beautifully sunny here in the UK, so we carried Cardhenge out onto the verdant lawn in front of our offices to take the formal photographs. Here's a shot looking across the lawn. And here's one looking the other way, back towards where we work:The outdoors summer daylight

Alan Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03057473257605783968noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5798558878385181261.post-42297858900073658692007-08-02T11:01:00.000Z2007-08-02T11:07:00.072Z

Inded if it wasn't for work and leave we would probably have finished Cardhenge this week. We only have three of the pack's stones to do (31, 43 and 47) plus our two extra-special additional stones, so unless there's some urgent workload crisis next week, we're on the final run...Yesterday Soo made stone 62, while I spent the day in Derbyshire looking at some of the real stone circles in the Peak

Alan Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03057473257605783968noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5798558878385181261.post-67144466436599801162007-07-30T13:04:00.000Z2007-07-30T12:30:59.417Z

Two more bluestones get made today, 61 and 68. Analysis of the real stone 68 at the beginning of the 20th century showed that it had been set into the rubble which supports stone 56 in its own hole, thereby proving that the large sarsen trilithons were put in place before the smaller bluestones.Brian and Lizzie Sanders have explained the answer to the riddles of the antlerless deer and the

Alan Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03057473257605783968noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5798558878385181261.post-56579447638964338972007-07-26T13:25:00.000Z2007-07-26T13:32:18.741Z

Woooh, this is a genuine result - English Heritage have resumed selling this awesome model from their shop at Stonehenge, and you can buy it online from them too. You really must buy this model... Soo and I both think that Cardhenge is easily the best thing we have bought all year.

Alan Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03057473257605783968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5798558878385181261.post-18018149685981804622007-07-25T13:06:00.000Z2007-07-25T16:21:33.232Z

Our most loyal reader, Unkle E in Australia whom we have never met, has asked some questions which really deserve answering in the main blog, his first one being how close we are to finishing the circle... well we have done about 70-ish stones, and only have six to go from the official packet, although we also have two special additional stones which we are saving to the end - you'll hear more

Alan Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03057473257605783968noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5798558878385181261.post-12755864613101068132007-07-23T13:47:00.000Z2007-07-23T12:52:44.616Z

Soo and I have cut, scored, folded and glued stones 33, 49 and 129 during our lunchtime today... they are all fairly wee stones but in fact these little ones are very atmospheric. The large trilithons form the recognisably iconic part of the structure, but the scattered and broken remnants add to the feelings of remoteness and mystery.

Alan Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03057473257605783968noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5798558878385181261.post-56478074900551166452007-07-20T13:10:00.000Z2007-07-20T13:19:13.231Z

Soo has just finished stone 38 - "ah, sweet" she says - and I have just placed stone 130 onto its uprights. There hasn't been much time this week to do very much as we have had some major deadlines to meet on work projects. Roll on next week!

Alan Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03057473257605783968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5798558878385181261.post-66864216811643763922007-07-17T13:27:00.000Z2007-07-17T12:59:03.338Z

The renegade firefighter heads underground only to crash in the subway next to the English Heritage souvenir shop. And so the chase comes to an end.The underground access to the real Stonehenge has received much criticism over the years since it was built in 1968, but in my mind it has a great deal of symbolic significance. The modern entrances to many heritage buildings are too simplistic: they

Alan Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03057473257605783968noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5798558878385181261.post-24439938608417762712007-07-17T12:56:00.000Z2007-08-16T15:03:38.097Z

Here is stone 58, Alan's favourite stone, as seen from two different angles. It's getting quite tricky to photograph the stones of the inner circle now that the outer circle is more or less complete. This sarsen trilithon had to be hewn from not one or two but three pieces of card. A herculean effort on Alan's part I think you will agree.

Soo Martin ...http://www.blogger.com/profile/13587855403991407477noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5798558878385181261.post-88641796846475916042007-07-13T13:53:00.000Z2007-07-27T14:34:40.778Z

The impact of the real Stonehenge is enhanced by the presence of the A344 trunk road linking Amesbury and Devizes. The road gives European juggernaut drivers a chance to appreciate the silence and sprituality of the circle, as they thunder past with their cargoes of magazines and beauty products.So we have modelled the road.Here you can see our brave Lego police motorcyclist on the trail of a

Alan Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03057473257605783968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5798558878385181261.post-67823517384054143882007-07-11T13:02:00.000Z2007-07-15T13:52:28.583Z

... is stone 58, one of the inner sarsen trilithons. This has been very satisfying to make. It's a very masculine stone somehow, all rugged and chipped and gnarled, whereas Soo's favourite has been stone 56, a much smoother stone, with graceful and subtle curves.Now that we've made 58 we have also been able to remove stone 158 from its glacial agony, and install it on top.

Alan Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03057473257605783968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5798558878385181261.post-39551221011257080382007-07-09T13:09:00.000Z2007-07-15T13:53:12.421Z

One unexplained puzzle about the real Stonehenge is how the bluestones managed to get all the way from the mountains of Wales to Salisbury plain. Many scientists think that the stones could only have arrived there naturally, by prehistoric glaciers: the stones were carried by the glacial action as far as Salisbury, at which time the climate warmed, the glaciers melted, and the bluestones were

Alan Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03057473257605783968noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5798558878385181261.post-53986116971657823782007-07-06T12:58:00.000Z2007-07-15T13:53:43.581Z

Indeed we have. In 1909 astronomer Sir Norman Lockyer claimed to have discovered alignments between Stonehenge and other ancient monuments in the area; he was followed by Alfred Watkins and various successors who asserted the existence of "leys," straight lines crossing the English landscape.We thought we would check to see whether our unfinished Cardhenge ties in with similar leys. So we wheeled

Alan Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03057473257605783968noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5798558878385181261.post-11958062547077472432007-07-05T13:02:00.000Z2007-07-15T13:54:09.058Z

Not much free time to do very much today: Soo is at her lunchtime watercolours course, and I need to go into town to get my motorbike fixed.Time enough, though, to add stone 15, which is one of the shattered fragments of the largest trilithon in the inner sarsen circle. Originally this trilithon would have stood 24 feet high. Today only one upright remains, this being the 'nipple stone' which we

Alan Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03057473257605783968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5798558878385181261.post-64393364436807893002007-07-04T13:26:00.000Z2007-07-15T13:54:46.465Z

Today stone 14 has joined its companions. More importantly, however, Britain has been flooded over the past few weeks, and our cardboard Stonehenge is no exception. Here you can see a quick snapshot Soo has taken of the rain pouring down on Cardhenge. The Lego men have had to find refuge next to a mountain of files, where it is dry. Let's hope the site dries out by tomorrow.

Alan Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03057473257605783968noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5798558878385181261.post-58311070147952815322007-07-03T13:22:00.000Z2007-07-15T13:55:06.584Z

Brian and Lizzie Sanders, who are the original artists behind this awesome model, have contacted us to say that cardboard Stonehenge is available from Moduni in Germany, Book Ends in London, and directly from themselves. We've added links to Moduni and Sanders-Art in the links bit on the right. Isn't the web great?

Alan Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03057473257605783968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5798558878385181261.post-80147128872619336662007-07-02T13:21:00.000Z2007-07-15T13:55:44.215Z

Stones 122 and 154 get placed on top of their uprights today. Stone 122 is famous for getting smashed in half in 1900, when a gale blew it from its perch and hurled it 80 feet across the ground.Oddly, the more you learn about the real Stonehenge the more fragile and contingent it becomes. It seems to fall apart at the slightest puff of wind. I think at least three stones have fallen or blown over

Alan Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03057473257605783968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5798558878385181261.post-13618763208134523922007-06-28T13:31:00.000Z2007-07-15T13:56:11.718Z

Not much news recently as Soo and I have been at meetings, or on training, or on trips to London to see how real heritage organisations work etc. Work, eh?Today is the first day for a while that we have had a proper lunchbreak, so up goes stone 22, a sarsen on the west side of the outer circle, which fell down in 1900 taking its lintel with it.

Alan Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03057473257605783968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5798558878385181261.post-42901482089814504912007-06-22T13:20:00.000Z2007-07-15T13:56:31.671Z

Two more stones - 21 and 16 - make the transformation from flat cardboard potentiality to 3D cardboard reality. More importantly, however, English Heritage's Customer Services people have replied to my request to get them to sell this fantastic model in their online shop:Unfortunately the product is now discontinued, we're glad you are enjoying it so much though and thanks for supporting English

Alan Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03057473257605783968noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5798558878385181261.post-29895133458205076362007-06-21T12:50:00.000Z2007-07-15T13:57:23.794Z

Sunrise this morning, Thursday 21 June 2007, shone clear and bright across our cardboard Stonehenge, witnessed only by our Lego watchmen. From tomorrow the summer sunrise will start to track slowly back across the eastern horizon, rising further and further towards the south, passing due east in September - the equinox - until it reaches due south east in December, at which point the apparent

Alan Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03057473257605783968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5798558878385181261.post-67268811517329216522007-06-20T12:55:00.000Z2007-08-16T15:05:28.919Z

When I came into the office this morning the Lego people were lined up in anticipation of the forthcoming solstice. The policeman is attempting to keep order but I fear the tape will be down by the end of the day.

Soo Martin ...http://www.blogger.com/profile/13587855403991407477noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5798558878385181261.post-55156528700289859952007-06-19T12:46:00.000Z2007-07-15T13:58:06.413Z

The summer solstice occurs later this week, and the time has come for many of Stonehenge's ancient rituals to be carried out.One of the most ancient and mysterious traditions is the ceremony in which Wiltshire Constabulary tape off the centre of Stonehenge with the sacred yellow and black chevron tape. Many illegal ravers, hippies and regional TV news crews often visit Stonehenge just to watch

Alan Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03057473257605783968noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5798558878385181261.post-76585809796728180772007-06-12T13:19:00.000Z2007-07-15T13:58:28.234Z

Soo has made stone 56, a wonderfully sinuous stone which seems to curve inwards near its top. The nipple you can see at the very top of the stone is a stone tenon joint - Stonehenge's builders were inexperienced in the use of stone as a building material, so they used carpentry techniques, including mortise and tenon joints. It could also be said that modern office workers are equally

Alan Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03057473257605783968noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5798558878385181261.post-44633128928409651022007-06-11T13:07:00.000Z2007-06-11T12:11:11.033Z

As you can see, my fingers are much fatter and monkeylike than Soo's. This is a shot of stone 152 being folded into shape before it gets put in place as a lintel in the inner horsehoe.

Alan Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03057473257605783968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5798558878385181261.post-56652526821113246512007-06-08T13:48:00.000Z2007-07-15T13:59:08.755Z

Yes they are! Today Soo has made stone 34, which is a dinky wee little thing, and I've made stone 53, which was the first stone discovered to have carvings of axe designs, way back in 1953 by RJC Atkinson, when late afternoon summer sunshine shone obliquely across the face of stone 53, throwing the images into clear relief. And a close examination of the cardboard version under bleak office

Alan Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03057473257605783968noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5798558878385181261.post-65680378291954595912007-06-07T13:47:00.000Z2007-07-15T13:59:41.393Z

Yes! - stone 30 has now been slotted into place, which pretty much completes the whole of the eastern side, as far as the uprights go. (We still need to put most of the lintels on top.)It's between stone 30 and its neighbour, stone 101, that you get to see the midsummer sunrise on June 21, so stone 30 is one that appears on lots of photos. Our Lego men cannot wait for the real sunrise to take

Alan Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03057473257605783968noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5798558878385181261.post-82464030532467258342007-06-06T13:10:00.000Z2007-06-06T13:13:11.512Z

Our colleagues come in regularly to see how the henge is progressing. Here are some of the comments we have had so far: "What's that?", "Why do you want to do that?", "It's fantastic", "You can really see the sinewiness of the stones", "I think you have a bit of an issue with the scale" and "It's so realistic."

Soo Martin ...http://www.blogger.com/profile/13587855403991407477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5798558878385181261.post-11977142171401562007-06-05T12:33:00.000Z2007-07-15T14:00:16.255Z

Today we have added stones 1 and 23. Stoneheads will recall that stone 1 was leaning over at a scary angle until the restoration of 1920, when it was straightened up. Stone 23 is famous because it actually fell over in March 1963, after which it was re-erected into a concrete base. In our cardboard reconstruction the concrete has been expertly modelled in Copydex.We still have 40+ stones to make

Alan Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03057473257605783968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5798558878385181261.post-35495513476729195972007-05-31T15:57:00.000Z2007-08-16T15:06:57.670Z

Oh dear, it's the evil spiders from Metebelis 3!

Soo Martin ...http://www.blogger.com/profile/13587855403991407477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5798558878385181261.post-2651109165556323412007-05-30T13:13:00.000Z2007-08-16T15:09:16.523Z

As you can see, we have captured a vist from our favourite timelord. We think he is here on an important asignment. He is being as evasive as ever so we have not managed to wheedle the secrets of the stones out of him as yet. I wonder what the threat to the earth is this time?

Soo Martin ...http://www.blogger.com/profile/13587855403991407477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5798558878385181261.post-76513604746025067632007-05-29T13:31:00.000Z2007-07-15T14:00:49.804Z

Stone no. 4 goes in, completing another trilithon. This particular stone was one of those discovered in 1953 to have been decorated with Mycenaean-style axe designs, I've had a good look at the cardboard version but can't see any axe decorations on it... Ah well. It's the fifth vertical stone from the left in this panoramic photo.

Alan Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03057473257605783968noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5798558878385181261.post-22863893699043425782007-05-24T13:17:00.000Z2007-07-15T14:01:13.978Z

Stone no. 8 has joined its companions on the outer circle. This one seemed particularly tricky for some reason and I have had to use masses of Copydex. Copydex is great stuff - it dries a translucent grey stoney colour, so it can be used like Polyfilla to hide any gaps in the cardboard joins.

Alan Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03057473257605783968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5798558878385181261.post-79743072001114636332007-05-23T12:55:00.000Z2007-05-23T11:59:49.555Z

It's a beautifully sunny day here, so there's only time to make a small stone, very quickly, and stick it down. Here you can see Legoman dowse the site for water to quench his thirst.

Alan Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03057473257605783968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5798558878385181261.post-668903576352953272007-05-22T13:01:00.000Z2007-05-22T12:03:29.536Z

Stone no 3 is dragged all the way from the Welsh cardboard mountains to the outer circle.

Alan Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03057473257605783968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5798558878385181261.post-58981758189212877762007-05-18T14:07:00.000Z2007-05-18T15:10:46.983Z

For me, this lunchtime project is very rewarding. It is a pleasant contrast to work with the hands and make a physical object instead of doing virtual work on a computer screen. Concentrating on making one stone at a time takes me far away from the frantic office environment in which I am trying to do ten things at once. Having never been to Stonehenge, I find it is a great way to familiarise

Soo Martin ...http://www.blogger.com/profile/13587855403991407477noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5798558878385181261.post-90643329633549641242007-05-15T20:55:00.000Z2007-05-19T18:44:53.551Z

Stones 10 and 12 safely go in. This shot of Soo's fingers shows how fiddly the stones can be:

Alan Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03057473257605783968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5798558878385181261.post-47553853809622110712007-05-15T18:42:00.000Z2007-05-19T18:43:26.539Z

OK we've started this blog a little late - we've already made 17 stones. So this is how the model looks so far. We're well impressed with the quality of the cardboard cut-outs, they actually look stone shaped rather than box shaped, full of curves and hollows and things.

Alan Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03057473257605783968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5798558878385181261.post-65418180356913587332007-05-13T20:26:00.000Z2007-05-13T20:36:26.175Z

Here's what we're making it from - the cardboard stonehenge kit made by Brian and Lizzie Sanders of sanders-art. Alan bought it in April from the gift shop at Stonehenge itself, when he was on holiday in Wiltshire with his family. Even in the packet it looks great. OK, it doesn't seem to have the Heel Stone, which is a pity, and it doesn't say what scale it is, so we don't know if the Lego men

Alan Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03057473257605783968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5798558878385181261.post-60196782297800560972007-05-13T20:01:00.000Z2007-05-19T19:48:49.205Z

We work in a British archives service - running databases, creating digital photographs of historical documents, all that sort of thing. But we need a break from staring at computers all day, so in our lunch break we are building Stonehenge. Out of cardboard.When it's all done, we'll fill it with Lego druids and align it with the sun!

Alan Ahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03057473257605783968noreply@blogger.com0