Okay it's not moving fast. And what's worse, I was so enthralled with the beauty of the wood, I sorta forgot I was working on leaves. Yeesh! So my latest leaf is quite a marvel with scalloped edges and colour variations but it doesn't really look much like a leaf. And I really want to go back and work on leaf #2 but I have to keep reminding myself to continue with the rough work now and wait until the next pass when I will have more skill. Self restraint isn't my greatest strength.
I'll add a photo of my newest and greatest leaf. Hopefully tomorrow.
Wednesday 25 September 2013
Monday 2 September 2013
Down To Business
Well it's been a little while but I'm still totally excited about the project, I just can't get to it as often as I'd like. So now I'm down to the carving but as I've realized you need a plan. And what is easy to sketch isn't always easy to carve. Okay, for me, there isn't much that is easy to carve but anyway...here is the sketch that is the inspiration for the carving
I hope I can capture the energy of real leaves in the carving, and get the scale right.Now that I've started the carving I've already realized that I get to work in more dimensions so I have to think more about foreground and background and whether the leaves will curl in or out....OMG my head is spinning. It's definitely slowing down the actual carving having to think about all this stuff. Oh yah, so did I mention that one of the biggest mistakes beginning carvers make is not sharpening their tools often enough. Rick tells me that I should sharpen every 20 minutes while carving. Of course, I move so much more slowly than he does that maybe I could get away with every 30 minutes or maybe every 40 minutes. Ha ha
My current plan of attack: 1. Draw and then cut out the outline on the 'bad' side of the log, while deciding what's in the foreground and what is in the background. 2. Start doing the rough work around the leaves, just the big chunks. 3. By the time I get to the end of the bad side, I should have gained some minimal level of proficiency and be ready to start doing some of the more detailed shaping of the leaves. Gonna need some skill to capture the energy.
So here's where I've gotten to this weekend.
So what have I learned this weekend. 1. It's way easier to carve with the grain. Going across the grain seems to tear the wood. I'm not sure if that's just because most of my tools aren't sharp enough. Head scratcher there. I'll investigate further 2. Try to keep the outline nice and clean as you go. It's much harder to clean up a jagged line after you've dug down past the depth of the parting tool. 3. When designing, be careful of the leaf intersections. Make em too fussy with tight spaces and the carving is REALLY HARD. 4. Don't work too long. It all gets harder when you get tired.
That's pretty good learning for one weekend.
I hope I can capture the energy of real leaves in the carving, and get the scale right.Now that I've started the carving I've already realized that I get to work in more dimensions so I have to think more about foreground and background and whether the leaves will curl in or out....OMG my head is spinning. It's definitely slowing down the actual carving having to think about all this stuff. Oh yah, so did I mention that one of the biggest mistakes beginning carvers make is not sharpening their tools often enough. Rick tells me that I should sharpen every 20 minutes while carving. Of course, I move so much more slowly than he does that maybe I could get away with every 30 minutes or maybe every 40 minutes. Ha ha
My current plan of attack: 1. Draw and then cut out the outline on the 'bad' side of the log, while deciding what's in the foreground and what is in the background. 2. Start doing the rough work around the leaves, just the big chunks. 3. By the time I get to the end of the bad side, I should have gained some minimal level of proficiency and be ready to start doing some of the more detailed shaping of the leaves. Gonna need some skill to capture the energy.
So here's where I've gotten to this weekend.
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| Here's the rough outline. So far I'm not too impressed the feeling it conveys but I'm hoping it'll get better. And I gotta remember, this is the bad side. I can boob it up and start over with all my lessons learned |
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| Close up showing some of the detail of the carving. It's actually hard from the photo to see how deep it is, but isn't the wood grain gorgeous? |
So what have I learned this weekend. 1. It's way easier to carve with the grain. Going across the grain seems to tear the wood. I'm not sure if that's just because most of my tools aren't sharp enough. Head scratcher there. I'll investigate further 2. Try to keep the outline nice and clean as you go. It's much harder to clean up a jagged line after you've dug down past the depth of the parting tool. 3. When designing, be careful of the leaf intersections. Make em too fussy with tight spaces and the carving is REALLY HARD. 4. Don't work too long. It all gets harder when you get tired.
That's pretty good learning for one weekend.
Tuesday 13 August 2013
Final clean up before the carving starts
So I must have spent 4 or 5 hours in total, cleaning up the chain saw cuts and getting the wood down to the heart wood as instructed. Not having anything better for the job I was using a good old chisel from the toolbox. And honestly, I was finding it hard to tell if I'd gone deep enough because the wood does start to have some colour as you get close to the heart and you don't want to go too deep now, do you? At least that's my story. So when Rick, my woodworking guru, called and offered to come over and demonstrate the use of a slick, how could I say no. Even though I was tempted. And OH MY GOSH, there is nothing like the right tool in the hands of a master. I'm still marveling at how fast he got that done. And for that matter, how much more wood he took off. I'm not even going to show you my paltry little pile of wood chips. Or the giant pile after he finished.
The resulting surface is gorgeous, almost completely free of knots, and ready to go. And by the way, it smells heavenly! I'm a little reluctant to touch it. Only a little.
Now I'm studying up on carving technique cause the rubber hits the road on this project pretty soon and I want to be ready. By the way, I'm getting lots of good ideas for future projects; I could barely sleep last night thinking about them. I hope my friends like wood gifts. Is this gonna be like gifts from your 2 year old I wonder?
The resulting surface is gorgeous, almost completely free of knots, and ready to go. And by the way, it smells heavenly! I'm a little reluctant to touch it. Only a little.
Now I'm studying up on carving technique cause the rubber hits the road on this project pretty soon and I want to be ready. By the way, I'm getting lots of good ideas for future projects; I could barely sleep last night thinking about them. I hope my friends like wood gifts. Is this gonna be like gifts from your 2 year old I wonder?
Sunday 11 August 2013
Getting Started
Before you start carving, there is some prep that needs to happen. I hate that. I wanna get going... First, as the log dries it will split. By slicing into the heart of the log you reduce (eliminate?) this splitting. I misunderstood the necessary cut initially and my able assistant cut off the bottom; first mistake. Oh well, I can work with that. The photo shows the proper cut, as I understand it.You have to cut into the heart.
The other thing I learned after the fact was that you cannot take off the bark and immediately start carving. Well you can, but you may regret it in the finished product. You need to take off the top layers, right down to the 'real' wood. I think it's the sap wood you're removing but maybe I'm wrong. Anyway, I'm working with Western Red Cedar so it looks pretty obvious at this point. Later on it's less obvious, to me anyway but that's for my next post. Have I mentioned how lucky I am to have acquired a mentor guiding me on this adventure? I really lucked out.
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| It seems like this amount of cut should be sufficient but it may be that we should have done a bigger 'v'. When I learn more I'll share it. |
The other thing I learned after the fact was that you cannot take off the bark and immediately start carving. Well you can, but you may regret it in the finished product. You need to take off the top layers, right down to the 'real' wood. I think it's the sap wood you're removing but maybe I'm wrong. Anyway, I'm working with Western Red Cedar so it looks pretty obvious at this point. Later on it's less obvious, to me anyway but that's for my next post. Have I mentioned how lucky I am to have acquired a mentor guiding me on this adventure? I really lucked out.
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| Two ways to get down to the workable wood. Chainsaw or hatchet....chainsaw is faster. |
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| Ready for final cleanup |
Saturday 10 August 2013
Introduction
I'm writing this blog because I've just started my first major carving project and I couldn't find a source for the most basic information on how to proceed. In fact, this is only my second ever carving project so I really could use some help. Luckily a local artisan has just offered to help me out and I'm off! So I'll try to post regularly as we proceed, sharing all of the tips as he shares them with me. I started work on Wednesday, before I spoke with him, and already I have made mistakes. I hope my postings will help someone else in the future.
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