The stone was carefully chosen and cut using diamond saws to slice through the boulder. We needed a big slab of New Zealand Pounamu to carve this 50cm long Mere which, is a replica of a Te Papa piece. After the slab had been cut, the silhouette of the Mere is sketched onto the stone and excess material is cut away. Once the general outline of the piece has been cut from the slab, the artist can get started on carving the Mere. After the handle has been carved, the Mere is finally put on a pounamu base. Here you can see how translucent the material used is, indicating its quality.