I have had the great honor of carving the wonderful Creche scene – often referred to as the Nativity – Joseph, Mary and the baby Jesus. I will be delivering this on Friday to Mepkin Abbey for their Creche Festival and I still have a few days of fussing with the finish.
Throughout the carving process, I quite often found myself praying for guidance – not only because the wood and design was a challenge, but the simple and humble honor of carving such incredible figures from the greatest story ever told!
I have decided to finish it with 3 coats of shellac with light sanding between each coat. The first 2 coats are brushed on and the final coat is sprayed. This is just to keep it simple and quick. I am definitely far from a finishing expert, and when I do have to finish my work, I keep it as basic as it gets. The thing I like about shellac is that if I screw up, I can remove it! Great news when I have no clue what I am doing! Time is running short, so I just need to get it done…
Here are photos of carving Mary. The Process was a real challenge because this was from a Pawlownia wood log that had been sitting outside for 2 years. Half of the log was rotten with very soft wood. I had to simply grind away all this nasty wood and carve Mary out of what was left – which caused the first attempt to not work out as well as I had wanted. I was not happy with the way the legs were positioned. I had to remove so much wood from the soft sections, that the legs were sort of awkward shaped – too thin. So I decided to remove the lower section of Mary’s legs and replace it with the piece of wood I removed from Joseph. This allowed me to have Mary in a kneeling position, which I liked much more.
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- Starting to shape Mary
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- Continuing carving Mary – notice the hollow section of the lower legs – that was the really soft wood I had to remove.
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- Working on Mary’s face
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- Deciding that I was not happy with the shape of the legs.
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- Removing the lower section of the legs, ready for new legs.
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- This section was cut off Joseph because of the large damaged area. It worked well using this for the “new” legs for a kneeling Mary.
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- New legs for a kneeling Mary.
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- Finished!
Here are the photos of carving the Baby Jesus:
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- The start.
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- A little farther.
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- And the face is starting to emerge.
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- And an expression slowly emerges.
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- Using a plaster cupid for “baby face” shape.
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- And more…
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- Finished face of Jesus.
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- Finished!
Who would have believed that those cast off and partially rotted log sections could be transformed into such beautiful works of art? But then, who also would believe that the same God who gave you the artistic/carving gifts to make that transformation could transform US fallen and broken creatures into beautiful new creations, cutting away that which is rotten in us and remaking us in the image of His own glorious Son. Sola Deo Gloria!
Beautiful words, Rod! Thanks so much!
Beautiful work Mary.
Thank you Paul! I may have more to add next year – maybe wise men? Shepherds?