Mary May - Woodcarver
  • Blog Home
  • Mary’s Carving School
  • Home
  • Creche
  • Mepkin Abbey Creche Festival Carving

Mepkin Abbey Creche Festival Carving

October 9, 2013 / Mary May / Creche

I have a wonderful commission that I have been working on. It is a Nativity set (Creche) for Mepkin Abbey, in Moncks Corner, SC. Every Christmas they have a wonderful Creche festival with many different hand-made Creche scenes made in a variety of materials. If you are in SC in November and December, I would really encourage you to see the festival.

I need to complete 3 figures – Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus – by early November, and have nearly finished carving Joseph. Because of the late start on this (I started locating the wood about 3 weeks ago), I was extremely tight with the amount of time I had. I was eager to get started with the carving, so the quickest way to start in as soon as possible was to simply find a log and start carving.  The wood I chose was Paulownia, and Rod Mortenson, of Swansea, SC was kind enough to give me several logs that he had in his yard. Paulownia is originally from Japan – an extremely lightweight wood, very soft, very strong, sort of pithy, stringy, not the nicest to carve with chisels, but it grinds well, and when I use my electric chisel, it cuts quickly. The choice of wood was based on availability (3 logs that have been sitting outside for a few years), speed of carving, lightness (for ease of moving around), and I honestly didn’t have a clue what I was getting into. But I’m always up for a good challenge!

There were a lot of unknowns from the start – how much rot was there after being outside for so long? Once the rot was removed, was there enough shape to find Joseph? Or would it simply be a toothpick by the end of a lot of grinding? And the big question – could this actually be done?

Well, the answers are – there was a LOT of rot. When I started to grind away the rot, it just kept getting deeper and deeper. The nice thing about it was it went very quick! I probably removed all the rot in about 1/2 hour – nice soft wood. There was a point were I really felt like I was carving out a dug-out canoe. And Joseph was supposed to be in there somewhere. I got to a point where I found a huge rotten hole where I determined that I would simply have to cut off the section above this hole. So Joseph got about 9 inches shorter. At that point I didn’t even know which end would be Joseph’s head. I litereally turned it one side up – stared at it for a while trying to visualize a figure, the turned it the other side and again tried to see Joseph. The design was simply based on what good wood was left after removing the rot.

Once I determined which side was up, I started to locate the shoulders and the head. From there I started to position the arms and hands and staff he is holding.

For as long as I could resist, I tried to not carve “holes” which would lock me into a design. As long as I resisted making those holes, I could shift the design all over the place – up, down, right, left. Once a hole is cut, you’re sort of locked in.

I am happy with the way Joseph is turning out. Now I have a lot of work to do in carving Mary. The log she is cut out of had a lot more rot, so I still have a lot of sorting out to do in designing her. I will report…

The Log.
The log after removing the rotten parts of the log.
Ready to cut off top section after discovering a huge rotten hole. Looks sort of like a dugout canoe.

Trying to find Joseph somewhere in there.
Discovering shape.
Discovering more shape and locating position of arms.

Starting to carve face using electrice chisel.
More carving face.
And more face carving.

Joseph finally discovered!
Nearly finished…
detail of face…

4 comments on “Mepkin Abbey Creche Festival Carving”

  1. Dan Evans says:
    October 16, 2013 at 1:53 pm

    Mary, Looking at the size of this log I remember at Kelly Mehler’s this spring when you told us to bring a larger chisel and I brought one of my 2″ big boys and you thought that was a little too big. A picture of you with the “big boy” brought a laugh. With the log in this commission it could have been useful; now you know why they make them that way.

    Great Work on Joseph! I am anxious to see the others. How are you going to finish them?
    Dan

    • MaryMay says:
      October 16, 2013 at 9:27 pm

      Hi Dan,
      Thanks! Yes, I remember that chisel. That would have been VERY useful for this project.

      I will probably just finish them with several coats of shellac – simply because I will need to have them fully dry within a day or so after finishing. The schedule is very tight on this.

      I’ll send photos of the other sculptures when I can.

      • brian says:
        October 19, 2013 at 12:11 pm

        I live a stones throw from the abbey can’t wait to see it in person

        • MaryMay says:
          October 23, 2013 at 8:46 pm

          Hi Brian,
          I hope I can get it finished in time! I thrive under pressure!

Watch a Sample Lesson from my Online School

Your Free Membership offers 12 Free Lessons. See more at My School of Traditional Woodcarving.
Facebook You Tube Google plus Linked In twitter-24

Recent Posts

  • Carving the Acanthus Leaf Book with Videos and Study Casts
  • Last Chance to Pre-Order Carving the Acanthus Leaf Book
  • Enter to win FREE resin castings of acanthus leaves
  • Preview a FREE Chapter of my Carving the Acanthus Leaf Book
  • Carving the Acanthus Leaf – Now Available for Pre-Order
news-sm

Keep up with my online Woodcarving School

A weekly newsletter tells of the latest video episode. My monthly newsletter announces upcoming video lessons, carving tips and tricks, a free template and class schedule.

Categories

  • Acanthus book
  • Acanthus Leaves
  • American College of the Building Arts
  • Antique furniture reproduction
  • Book Review
  • Brookgreen Gardens
  • Cartouche
  • Carving wildlife
  • Carvings for churches
  • Chair Carving
  • Charleston Rice Bed
  • Creche
  • europe trip
  • Finials
  • Fleur-de-lis
  • Grinling Gibbons
  • Guest Blogger
  • Handworks Show
  • intaglio- maple leaf
  • Magazine articles
  • On-Line Woodcarving articles and TV interviews
  • Online carving school
  • People
  • Philadelphia Highboy
  • Savannah
  • Scrolls
  • Shows
  • Society of American Period Furniture Makers
  • Tools
  • TV Shows
  • Uncategorized
  • Videos
  • Violin Scroll
  • WIA Show
  • Wood Carving Education
    • Ball and claw foot
    • letter carving
    • Mary's story
    • Tips & Tricks
    • Woodcarving classes
  • Wood Carving Projects
    • Acanthus Leaf Repair on Tables
    • Bed Carving
    • Carving faces
    • Carving Hands
    • Carving Reeds
    • Celtic design
    • Church carving in Savannah
    • Coat of Arms
    • College Sign
    • Corinthian Capitals
    • Deep relief carving
    • Dragon Carving
    • Egg and Dart Molding
    • Kings Head Bracket
    • Misc. Antique Furniture Repair
    • Newport Shell
    • Period Furniture Carving
    • Picture Frame
    • Rosettes
    • Shell and Acanthus Leaf
    • Shell Niches
    • Shell wall sconce
    • Sunburst
  • Wood Carving Tips

Archives

  • January 2018 (1)
  • November 2017 (1)
  • October 2017 (2)
  • September 2017 (1)
  • July 2017 (1)
  • April 2017 (1)
  • March 2017 (1)
  • January 2017 (3)
  • December 2016 (2)
  • July 2016 (1)
  • May 2016 (1)
  • April 2016 (1)
  • March 2016 (1)
  • February 2016 (1)
  • January 2016 (2)
  • November 2015 (3)
  • October 2015 (3)
  • July 2015 (1)
  • June 2015 (2)
  • May 2015 (2)
  • April 2015 (4)
  • March 2015 (4)
  • February 2015 (5)
  • January 2015 (9)
  • December 2014 (8)
  • November 2014 (6)
  • October 2014 (6)
  • September 2014 (9)
  • August 2014 (4)
  • July 2014 (8)
  • June 2014 (2)
  • May 2014 (8)
  • April 2014 (13)
  • March 2014 (3)
  • February 2014 (1)
  • January 2014 (3)
  • December 2013 (1)
  • November 2013 (1)
  • October 2013 (5)
  • September 2013 (5)
  • August 2013 (2)
  • July 2013 (8)
  • June 2013 (3)
  • May 2013 (3)
  • April 2013 (5)
  • March 2013 (9)
  • February 2013 (3)
  • January 2013 (3)
  • December 2012 (6)
  • November 2012 (5)
  • October 2012 (5)
  • September 2012 (4)
  • August 2012 (4)
  • July 2012 (6)
  • June 2012 (5)
  • May 2012 (7)
  • April 2012 (8)
  • March 2012 (7)
  • February 2012 (9)
  • January 2012 (11)
  • December 2011 (8)
  • November 2011 (7)
  • October 2011 (21)
  • September 2011 (18)
  • August 2011 (7)

Blogroll

  • Bob Easton
  • Giant Cypress
  • High Rock Woodworking
  • Matts Basement Workshop
  • Modern Woodworkers Association
  • Penultimate Woodshop
  • Renaissance Woodworker
  • The Sunday Woodcarver
  • The Wood Whisperer
  • Tom's Workbench
  • Wood Central
  • Wood Net
  • Wood Talk Online

Links

  • Alan Breed
  • Alf Sharp
  • American College of the Building Arts
  • Charles Neil Woodworking
  • Charles Ramberg Furniture Maker
  • Christopher Schwarz
  • Connecticut Valley School of Woodworking
  • Dan Hamilton
  • Greg Guenther Wood Group
  • Highland Woodworking
  • Kelly Mehler School of Woodworking
  • Lucy Churchill
  • Lumber Jocks Woodworking Showcase
  • Marc Adams School of Woodworking
  • Mark Van Abbema
  • Philip Lowe
  • Pro Woodworking Tips
  • Ronnie Sextion
  • Society of American Period Furniture Makers
  • Studio 3d Creations
  • Thaddeus Stephens College of Technology
  • The Acanthus Workshop, LLC
  • The Mill, Inc
  • The Renaissance Woodworker
  • The Woodwright's School
  • Wood Carving Guide
  • Woodcraft Supply
  • Woodworking Workshops of the Shenendoah Valley
Mary May - Woodcarver - Copyright © Cornerstone Creations, LLC, 2015
Privacy Policy

Thank you

Your feedback have been received.

Close