Year 3 Xmas 2011

In that last two weeks of the class I mainly just sanded the dark wood of the sculpture and then over Xmas I polished it.

The dark wood has rather odd light section in it shown in this picture.

This close up picture shows what lovely grain the dark, inner wood has when polished.

I took the picture below to show the outer, light wood (the snake) stands out from the dark, inner wood (that the snake is wrapped around). It also shows the large split in the wood unfortunately. As long as it doesn't split completely I'll be happy.

I would just like to fill the woodworm holes with some wood glue mixed with sawdust and then I am finished.

Year 3 Week 10

You probably won't notice much difference today. I thinned out the snake a bit (the white bit) and I shaped the head and tale a bit more.

In the last half hour of the class I started to sand the dark wood a bit. I was pleasantly surprised. Some really nice patterns appeared in the dark wood when it was sanded which made me think if it was oiled/varnished afterwards it could look really nice.

Year 3 Week 9

I have continued to do lots of chiselling this week in class. You may be able to see now that my idea all along was to create the effect of a snake winding it's way up the log. The snake is the white outer wood and the tree is the dark wood below.

Year 3 Week 8

I started chiselling in between the masking tape to the dark, inner wood today.


When I had got down to that darker wood I took off the tape. I then had to chisel gently where the tape was to reveal the lighter, outer wood.

Unfortunately because I had taken off all the bark and left the log in my office (where the heat is on) it split all down one side.

I was a bit dissappointed by the split but I have decided to accept that it is a fact of life quite often when carving wood.

Year 3 Week 7

Today I brought in a very interesting piece of wood that my friend Bonnie gave me. It was destined for the fire I think but it is now going to be my next project instead. After much discussion in the class it was decided that it is laburnum.

The thing I like about it is that under the thin, dark bark it has a pale outer ring of wood and inside that it has a dark centre. I hope to use this as part of the sculpture.

My first job was to strip the bark off, not very difficult.

When all the bark was off I put some maskign tape around the log. The plan is to chisel down to the dark, inner wood in between the tape. Then I will leave the light outer wood where the tape is.

Year 3 Week 6

Today I concentrated on sanding and polishing the smooth sides of the face. Paul, the tutor cut the wooden base for me (with an electric saw) as I thought it was a bit too big for the sculpture the way it was.


Later at home I mounted the sculpture on the wooden base with a bolt. I had to drill a hole in the stone which was slightly worrying. It turned out OK though.

This is more or less the finished article now but I'm not sure about the base. I might try staining it or finding a completely different base.

Year 3 Week 5

I decided over the week that the nose was not prominent enough so cut the notch a bit deeper in the stone today. I then mostly just filed and sanded the stone to make it smoother.

I also cut a piece of scrap wood to length that I hope can be used as a base for the sculpture. It's nothing special but it would help it to stand up.

Year 3 Week 4

This week I felt that I was nearing the final shape of the sculpture so I decided to cut the nose. I thought carefully where to put it but am not sure I chose the right place. Possibly a bit too high?!?

My intention was to have the nose as the only feature on the face but I'm not sure if it works.

I did a little bit of polishing at the end to see how the contrast works between the face and the neck.

Year 3 Week 3

This week I worked on getting closer to the final shape of the sculpture mainly with the use of chisels and files.

I decided it might make a nice contrast if I left the back of the sculpture unpolished and with a rough texture and polished the front (face).

Year 3 Week 2

During the week I did some sketches to see how my idea for the new piece of stone might work.





I started to work on the stone this week. I did a little bit of sawing and a lot of chiselling.

Year 3 Week 1

The start of a new term and although I have a piece of wood at home I would like to start work on I couldn't resist getting a piece of stone from the store room at The Mary Ward Centre.



I didn't have anything in mind for stone so as Paul, the tutor has suggested in the past I just spent a while looking at it from all angles for inspiration.

I purposely picked a piece that was oddly shaped to increase my chances of being inspired.

Strangely the side that inspired me most was the flat, cut sides.

I made a couple of maquettes from clay to try out an idea I had. It is very roughly based on Cycladic sculpture which I really like

The second maquette is designed to suit the stone shape better but I like the look of it more anyway.

I didn't think it was worth keeping either of those maquettes for firing.

Summer 2011 Session 3

The squirrel is finished at last. Just in time for the start of a new term at The Mary Ward Centre and a new project. The final stage was polishing with various different types of polish to make it as dark as possible.