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…
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
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.
I live a stones throw from the abbey can’t wait to see it in person
Hi Brian,
I hope I can get it finished in time! I thrive under pressure!