Saturday, October 17, 2009

Hurl, step by step

Here's a quick trip through the creation of a carving.

For this piece, we're starting with a piece of black spruce burl that i collected on the shore of the Bering Sea this summer. Once I actually decided to carve it, the first step was to trim off the two protruding branch ends with a hand saw. Then it was hand shaved with rasps into a workable shape, removing nearly all of the weathered, grey exterior.

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After that, I started cutting into it with my gouges in what felt like the right place to start. I almost never plan out my carvings, I just start cutting into the wood and try to help whatever wants to emerge do so. Before long, I had the basic shape of some kind of face.

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Then it was a matter of refining and adding a little detail. This burl has grain running in 15 different directions, sometimes in the same place...

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Refine further, file, sand; repeat.

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Add Danish Oil, let it soak in.

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Last but not least, put it out there for everyone to see and hope they like it.

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=32796599

I've gotten some feedback that it's difficult to make out the shape in the photos on Etsy, can anyone back that up or add any input? please?

2 comments:

  1. Nope, no difficulty, looks awesome, reads just fine in the photos.
    Really niece piece, like it a lot.

    -t

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  2. Thanks. I was beginning to think that I was only having an easy time seeing it because I knew what I was looking at.

    ReplyDelete