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- marble carved hand started
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- shaping the celtic design
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- Yes, that actually plugs in!
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- Celtic corner design
Today was a very busy day working with messy, dusty machines. If I know I have to use grinders, routers, or whatever it is, I try to do it all in one day to get it over with. I really could do without doing this part, but I guess it gets me to the fun part faster!
I cut out the ball and claw feet blanks on a bandsaw for the class this weekend that will be held at Roy Underhill’s – The Woodwright’s School in Pittsboro, NC. There are still 3 openings (I think), so if you’re in that area, these classes are a lot of fun. You don’t really need any carving experience either.
Then on to grinding out a piece of marble with a diamond grinder to shape the little sculpted hand so I can complete the repair. My eyes are still gritty – even with goggles. Once I fit this snuggly on the original, so the wrist is the same size, I will then finish the fingers with a hand-chisel and do the finishing. The hand will be slightly smaller after finishing details.
Then on to routing out the background of a new project. I am working on a detail for a medieval table for a church. Andrew Gould, (www.newworldbyzantine.com) an architect that specializes in some amazing classical designs came up with this sort of rustic celtic/scandinavian design.
The background goes down about 1/4″, and then all the scrolls, celtic knots and creatures are hand-carved. This is quarter-sawn white oak, so I’ll be spending a lot of time sharpening tools tomorrow. I have videoed the process of doing the small corner design, so that will eventually be on the video school web site.
And after all this, I still have to finish the work for Savannah. And… I am continuing to work on getting the online school up. My aim at this point is fully publishing it for late June or early July. I will be spending the next month doing a lot of test runs and making sure everything runs without issues.
So…It doesn’t look as if sleep is on my list over the next few weeks or months. It’s over-rated…
All is interesting, with the exception of the tailed demons, a necessary evil for someone trying to earn a living.
The Celtic arch presents a question. It’s not always easy to read 3 dimensional shapes from 2 dimensional images. It appears that the innermost element of the arch changes shape from being a cove on the ends to becoming an astragal in the center. Is that the case, or an illusion? If so, very nicely done. The transitions are imperceptible.
Hi Bob,
In my Pollyanna mode (my husband accuses me of this often), I was thinking of the creatures as nice little birds – see the beaks?
As for the question about the Celtic arch, this is simply a routed edge with a rounded (convex) profile along the inside – all the same shape. With the quarter sawn oak and the way it was glued together, the shadows create an interesting effect. It’s sort of like looking at a photo of a relief carving and not being able to tell whether it is carved into the wood, or raised above the wood because of odd shadow lines.