Looking forward to Auburn's Artrageous tomorrow. Weather looks great and the new venue should be fun. I have been working on my Green River series doing lots of thinking and lots of drawings.I enjoy the process as much if not more than the finished piece. I'm doing a study piece for a larger work and have shared some of the process below.
The mahogany blank. A good looking wood and enjoyable to carve. Takes detail well and very consistent grain. You don't want to carve birdseye maple it will drive you crazy.
The shape is drawn and I remove the background leaving a thin frame around the edge. I freehand a router using a spiral cut straight bit. Strong hands and patience required.
Now the fun part, removing wood with the hand tools. This is where you shape the piece as you want it. I never do "realistic" pieces I don't enjoy that. Like with music I prefer to write my own songs rather than perform in a cover band.
Flexcut carving tools come pre-sharpened and are easy to maintain. Traditionally carving tools do not come sharpened, only roughly shaped. They assume that as a carver you have a preference for a sharpening angle which would be dependent on what wood you carve and your technique.
Coffee fuels the process sometimes. I prefer strong black Sumatran coffee from a French press.
Starting to get the feel I'm after. Working with clay you can add or remove over and over. With woodcarving, once its removed its gone. I tend to slow down a bit after I have a lot of time and effort invested in a piece.
90 % done! I now need a little time to think about the final details. Thinking about incorporating some cobalt colored glass into the piece. Have to think about that.
