Year 2 Week 11

Quite a pleasing week's carving. Managing to get some more definition out of the hand I think.

The side shown below is hard to get right.

I have started to carve the fingers on the top at last.

The picture below was my favourite bit from this week. I've carved the whole little finger now and like the look of it.

1 more week left this term.

Year 2 week 10

This week I did a couple of hours work at home on the carving in between week 9 and 10. The next 4 pictures show the results of that.

The next 4 pictures show the results of week 10 session in the class. It's slow going but I'm getting there.

Year 2 week 9

Today I spent a lot of time chiselling chunks off the piece to get it down to size and improve the shape.

I remembered this time to include the maquette in the photos.

I didn't do any work on the maquette this week but did last week so I think it is slightly improved from the earlier photos.

The wood carving should end up roughly the same size as the maquette which is life size. The wood should have a longer arm though.

There was a lot of wood on the floor at the end of the session but the shape doesn't seem to have changed much since the last session. Perhaps someone else was chipping in my direction. A long way to go yet anyway!

Year 2 Week 8

Today I started by doing some more work on the clay maquette of the fist. Unfortunately I forgot to take any photos. I am slightly happier now I have made some adjustments to it. It seems a bit more like my fist and less like the Incredible Hulk's. The clay was a bit harder and I enjoyed working with it more but I also got some valuable tips from the tutor as to where I had gone wrong. After about an hour on the clay I decided to start on the wood itself.

Firstly I decided that the piece of wood I had was too short so cut another length (of lime).



Then I used the saw and a chisel and mallet to start 'blocking out' to get to the shape.

It probably looks more like a fist now than it will when I'm finished but if so it will have to be described as abstract!

Year 2 Week 7

Today I started a new project. It was inspired by a woodcarving pictured in a book I have all about woodcarving.

I spent the whole of today's 3 hours working on a clay maquette.

Pictured behind the maquette is the wood I intend to carve the fist out of (in case you didn't realise it is supposed to be a fist).

I'm not overjoyed with the way it's turned out. It was modelled on my fist but seems to have turned out like the Incredible Hulk's fist!

Year 2 Week 6

During the week (at home between classes again) I spent some time sanding the wood. Today on the class I just sanded the stone with various grades of wet and dry sandpaper. Picture of back below.

I have now almost finished so have brought the whole sculpture home. All it needs is some polishing. I am not sure how to finish the wood though. I quite fancy staining it with a dark stain to make a contrast with the stone.

Next week new project!

Year 2 Week 5

I'm afraid the pictures are a bit blurred this week. They were just taken with my mobile phone and I must have been too close or moved.




Between lessons (during the week) I took a couple more notches out of the wood as I mentioned I would last week. This was to make it a bit more interesting and also to cover up a rough cut. Pictures of the results on the wood only are shown below.

Then today during the class I have been doing mainly sanding (with occasional use of the chisel and file).

The only difference you will see in the pictiures I think is that the black veins in the stone have started to show more thanks to sanding.

Still more sanding and then some polishing required.

Pictures of wood only as mentioned...

Year 2 Week 4

Today I was obsessed with making all the wonky lines straight in the stone which was harder than I thought. It did involve a little bit more sawing and chiselling but mainly I used rasps to file it down. I think I could go on forever attempting to straighten things up but I have to stop at some point and start sanding, which is now!

Below is the front view at the end of today.

Rear view below.

Left view.


Right view.

And my favourite view again from the front and slightly above.

I have decided that the wood needs a few more notches taken out of it to make it a bit more interesting so have taken it home to try and do it before next week. I live in hope.

Year 2 Week 3

Today I finished the sawing and the major chiselling of the sculpture. I took some more chunks out of the stone and the wood but I think that is enough now. Below is the left hand view.








I have started to file down some of the edges to make them squarer. Below is the back view. Hopefully you can see some more chunks were taken out of the stone here.

Below is the right hand view.

Last is the front view.




Lots of filing and sanding to be done!

Year 2 Week 2

Lots of sawing this week plus a little bit of chiselling. Hopefully just a little more of that on the stone and then start cleaning up (eg filing). I would also like to take some more off the wood though. Below is the front view after this week's efforts.

Left view

View of back (definitely a little more to be taken off here).

Right view



Below is my favourite view. From the front, slightly above.

Year 2 Week 1

Back to class after 1 term and the summer away. I didn't get very far with this sculpture over the summer but in the 3 hours today in class I feel like I've got going and achieved quite a lot. Below is the front view at the end of today.

Left side view.

Back view.

Right side view.

Front view again.

All of today's work was with a saw or a chisel and mallet.