WHAT KIND OF STONE IS THIS?
It is black granite from Bangalore, India, one of only three places in the world (the other countries are Sweden and South Africa) that you could get this amount of black granite in large sizes. Rogan Granite Industries was responsible for obtaining the stone. It is used for the walls, safety curbs and walkways. The lettering is light gray in color, the natural color of the abraded stone, which contrasts sharply with the polished black surface, making it extremely legible.
WHERE WAS THE STONE CUT?
All cutting and fabrication were done in Barre, Vermont. The variations in color and texture between the panels and the curbs and walkways are a result of different finishing techniques, i.e. polishing, honing and flame treating.
HOW WERE THE NAMES CARVED?
The names were NOT carved by hand, but by a computerized typesetting process (by Datalantic, Incorporated, Atlanta, Georgia) called photo stencil gritblasting, developed by Larry Century, specifically for the Memorial, in Memphis, Tennessee.
HOW WAS THE PROCESS DONE?
The process is of a digitized typeface called Optima. It involves a film negative at one-third in size from which an enlargement is made, a film positive (a stencil) at full size. The next step is coating the granite, which has been polished, with a photo sensitive emulsion, and the image is then transferred from the enlargement to the stone in a process very similar to silkscreening. When this step has been completed, the stone within the area of the letters is exposed and the remaining surface is protected by the emulsion. The size of the letters is .53 inches, and they are approximately .015 inches in depth. Inscribing of the names was done by Binswanger Glasscraft Products. The inscribing of the additional names (April and May 1986) was done by Great Panes Glasswork, Incorporated (based in Denver, Colorado) with a coordinated effort by Cooper-Lecky Architects.
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