IT is a discipline which requires patience, imagination and a very steady hand.
And now stone stackers are about to descend on Scotland for the second time to compete for the title of European Champion.
Organisers of the contest are extending an invitation to all European “Stone Balance Artists” and for others who are interested to spectate and “enjoy the ambience created by this intriguing art form.”
Stone stackers pile rocks on top of one another using only gravity and balance to create towers and monuments.
The championships involves two competitions - most artistic creation and most stones stacked.
Held over the weekend of Saturday 21 April to Sunday 22 April, the event takes place on Dunbar’s Lauderdal Park. On Sunday the event moves to the Eye Cave Beach, situated below Dunbar Sea Cadet hall where the winners will be decided.
The winner will be invited to participate in the World Stone Stacking Championships held annually in Lllano, Texas.
Organiser James Craig Page said: “Stone Stacking is both art and meditation, using free materials found on beaches and in parks. You can create temporary artistic monuments for passersby to enjoy.
"The benefit you find in trying this activity is the moments of clarity when you are zoned in to searching for the next stone or the sweet spot of gravity when you know you’ve got the perfect balance.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here