Marius Ritiu first anneals the copper plates, i.e. heats them for some time at a temperature slightly below the melting point of the copper, to make them as malleable as possible. This process is repeated several times during the making of the sculpture, as the copper becomes harder and more brittle as it is deformed by the hammering. Ritiu then anchors the malleable copper plates on a boulder he selected with steel anchors and screws, followed step by step by hammering the copper plates. MeteoRitiu (Sisyphus IX) has had about 5 million hammer blows on its surface. Once the desired shape is achieved, Marius Ritiu removes the copper, plate by plate, and reassembles it on a steel support. Each plate has to be connected to a steel structure with copper rivets.After Ritiu reassembles the copper "meteorite" with the same shape as the rock it was hammered onto, he soldered all the overlaps and seams between the plates to give the illusion of one solid piece of metal. A hollow copper body imitating a solid rock body. A light but very heavy-looking non-ferrous metal body.