Set in stone:
Mark Buckley unearths the beauty
Cindy Boykin

A dry creek bed in the parched terrain of the Texas Panhandle exposes chalky white stone called gypsum. The finer-grained crystalline form of gypsum is called alabaster. Neither are much to look at.

But in the right hands, a drab chunk of alabaster takes form and becomes a thing of lustrous beauty. Just ask Mark Buckley.

Mark wasn’t the first guy to discover the artistic treasure inherent in stone. Author Dona Z. Meilach explains that “we date the ‘stone age’ from artifacts showing primitive man’s harnessing of stone for various implements. Archaeologists have been able to carbon date pebble sculptures back to early Neolithic times.”

Thousands of years later, the tomb of the 1300-BC Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamen was found to contain, among other things, translucent alabaster cups.

Today, when Mark turns stone on his lathe in his garage making vases and bowls, it is doubtful that he is channeling the spirit of early Neolithic Homo sapiens or King Tut. But like his artisan predecessors, he enjoys the moment while preserving it at the same time.

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And, perhaps like artists through the ages, Mark is guided by an intangible, inner directive. “This sounds funny,” he confides, “but people who are artists understand this. When I get a big piece of stone, I look at it for about a week and figure out, Okay, what is it telling me it wants to look like?” Breaking into a smile, he adds, “And then‚ because I’m cheap, I figure out the best way to cut the stone to get as many pieces out of it that I can!”

Leave no stone unturned
The monetary cost of the stone is only part of the actual investment. Acquiring the stone is also challenging. Most blocks weigh around 30 to 50 pounds. Sometimes Mark buys from area specialty stores, sometimes the material is mailed to him…and he has even been known to walk onto a field and ask the landowner for a boulder or two!

Recalling such an instance, Mark says, “One time I read online about a guy who bought the book Texas Gems and Minerals and then went around to all the places mentioned in the book and found the stones. He put it on his web page, and that’s where I found it.

“In one picture, he was in a creek bed with an armload of alabaster. He gave a general idea of where he found it, but I wasn’t sure exactly where it was. I thought it might be in the northwest part of Texas because a lot of the stone I buy comes out of New Mexico, Colorado and Utah.

“Then one Sunday morning my wife said, ‘Well, let’s just drive up there and see if we can find it.’ So we drove up there.”

Between Amarillo and Lubbock is a little town called Turkey, Texas. That’s where Mark saw a man walking on expansive acreage dotted with piles of rocks. He pulled the car over, stepped up to man’s fence, and asked if he could have some of the rock.

The puzzled man replied, “I don’t know what anyone would want that ol’ gypsum rock for, but you can have some.”

Mark put a couple of big boulders in the trunk of his car, went home, and turned some bowls—one of which he presented as a gift to the property owner. “When I gave it to him, I said, ‘This is what that rock looks like when it’s finished.’ He was just astounded and told me, ‘You can have all of it you want!’ ”

Snakes, dust and other hazards
It’s not only the weight of a boulder that necessitates caution when lifting it from a field, it’s also the possibility of a snake being coiled beneath it. Mark has learned to use a big rake to roll the rock toward him rather than pushing it over, exposing whatever is underneath to his legs and feet.

But by far, the biggest challenge is miniscule—dust particles. As stone spins on the lathe at an unbelievable speed (the control knob on Mark’s lathe can be set anywhere from 300 to 3,600 RPM, rounds per minute), the artist uses tools to shape and smooth it. This process creates a fine dust the texture of baby powder that drifts in the air and settles everywhere, primarily below the lathe. Mark’s shoes get covered in powdery dust.

Because of the profusion of dust in the air, it is advisable to wear a face mask while turning stone—or better yet, a respirator, which is what Mark uses. He also uses ear muffs to protect his ears from the dust and noise.

Sticks and stones
Turning stone is very similar to turning wood. In fact, Mark’s first venture into this hobby was turning wood on a small lathe to make unique writing pens.

He made wood pens out of osage orange (bois d’arc), pecan, ash, cedar…and mesquite, which like alabaster’s swan-like transformation, is a scrappy, under-appreciated element that makes surprisingly beautiful pieces.

So successful was Mark at crafting pens, that within the first three months of the undertaking, he sold enough pens to pay for the lathe, the sander, the grinder, and a couple of other accessories.

After a year of making pens, he wanted to take on bigger challenges, like bowls and eventually stone pieces. That required a larger lathe, which he purchased from a friend.

He began reading up on stone work and even contacted a California artisan featured in American Woodturner magazine to get firsthand advice. It was enough to get Mark up and running.

The technical aspects of turning stone are daunting for those unfamiliar with band saws, faceplates, and tailstocks. But anyone can appreciate the final products. Mark sells his work at art fairs and online at artistinwood.net. Several physicians at Texas Health Center for Diagnostics and Surgery, where Mark is a certified surgcial technician, have purchased pieces for their homes.

As it turns out, turning wood and stone into works of art has been a great hobby for Mark, especially since he deals with serious health issues on a daily basis at his day job.

“This is relaxing,” he shares. “It’s a little getaway. I love doing it. My wife asked me one day, ‘You really like doing this, don’t you?’  I said, ‘Yeah, this is pretty cool.’ ”

She’s happy for him, as long as he leaves his shoes at the garage door.