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.