Soapstone Class Update

My soapstone carving class is over halfway finished now. I have completed my first little project that I posted about previously and started on another slightly bigger project.

My first project was a simple little mouse, that’s all done now and the results are below.

After the previous update I finished smoothing and shaping the body, drilled two small eyes and added a tail made from a leather cord which is glued into a hole I drilled in the rear. The final finish was achieved with a few coats of linseed oil. This brought out a range of colours within the stone which was much broader than I had expected.

My next piece will be an Eider duck, I have made some progress in the roughing out of the basic shape but I still have a lot of work to do. I am not sure I’ll be able to finish it completely by the end of the course but I hope to re-enroll for next term.

At the encouragement of the tutor I made a clay maquette of my Eider to try to plan the basic shape and proportions. I don’t think I did a very good job of it. I have almost no experience in clay modelling so the shape was very rough and the shape and proportion of the head is more than a little bit off.

My next class will be spent focusing on doing the bulk of the shaping around the body and making a start with roughing out the head. If it comes out looking ok and if I can re-enroll next term I had thought about making a base for the Eider to rest on with a carved wake pattern to represent the duck moving through the water. I don’t know how well this project will turn out but I’m sure it will be a good learning experience.

The next update will be after the final class of the course.

 

Soapstone Class – Week 1

Last Friday I went to my first soapstone carving class.

Although I normally work in wood I thought taking this class would help me develop my carving skills on a material that is easy to work with and put me in an environment with other, much more capable, carvers that I could learn from.

I think calling the other members of the class “more capable” is something of an understatement. It’s only a small group but most of them have been taking the same class over and over for a few years and their work is nothing short of remarkable. It would be entirely appropriate to call them artists rather than simply carvers. There is a wide array of skills and styles on display from the other members of the class from abstract sculptures to animals to classical chinese style heads.

As you’ve probably seen, my work is a little more… unsophisticated. I probably won’t be making any terracotta warriors within the 8 weeks of the course but I’d like to come out of this with something simple and presentable.

I haven’t quite decided on my main project yet so I spent the first class working on something small using one of the free scraps among the supplies of stone (we pay for the stone by weight normally). It’s going to be a little mousey.

I think I’m just about done with the basic shaping so the next class will be spent smoothing it off and maybe even applying a finish. When I’m done with the smoothing I’ll drill some little eye holes and another hole in the bum for me to stick some leather thong in to act as a tail.

I’m working on sketching some ideas for my main project so hopefully I’ll at least be able to pick out a stone this week and start some basic roughing out.

Catching up

As expected I’ve been completely useless when it comes to updating this blog. Thankfully I’ve not been so lax when it comes to actually making things.

I’ve made quite a few small pieces these last few months, mostly pendants and the like. Sadly I’ve passed a few onto people without photographing them. I remembered to take a couple of pictures though so I’ve at least got something to share.

First up is something inspired by a makezine article.

Embedding pencil crayons into a pendant seemed like an odd idea at first and I wasn’t sure it would work but I’m glad I tried it. I did most of the shaping and finishing of this pendant at a craft group I attend and it attracted quite a bit of attention while I was working on it. I eventually ended up selling it along with a couple of other items which I suppose was a nice surprise. I never make anything with a sale in mind but I suppose getting a few quid back for more materials is a plus.

Next up is a little pig I made out of some wood I found down by the river.

I think it might be Beech, I’m not sure. It carved pretty well though and took a wax finish quite nicely. It’s not a very detailed or lifelike pig, just a cute little thing that I made for fun.

Finally I have a spoon, made from the same wood as the pig.

I’m actually quite pleased with this spoon. It’s the best one I’ve made to date. I’m still having trouble joining the handle and the underside of the bowl together neatly but that will come in time with a bit of studying and practice I hope.. I’ve since finished it off with a bit of walnut oil.

In the pipeline I’ve got another spoon, a little tiki carving and another crayon pendant. The pendant will be very similar to the previous one so I won’t bother posting it here but I think I’ll share the spoon and the tiki when they’re done.

Christmas Eve Project – Owl

I thought for my first post of 2013 I would share the last thing I made in 2012. I spent my christmas eve making this little wooden owl.

I carved it from a White Poplar branch and finished it pretty inexpertly with Colron Refined Beeswax. Picking a darker wax brought out a lot of detail in the grain but I think overall it looks a bit grubby due to wax getting stuck in some of the crevices that I couldn’t sand properly.

Poplar isn’t a good wood for carving, it tears out really easily but I have to make do with whatever I can get my hands on. Having very sharp tools helps prevent the tearing but with poplar they would need to be super sharp. My tools are pretty sharp but it’s a skill that takes a long time to get really good at.

I’m happy with my Owl overall. I had a lot of fun making it and it was nice to be able to carve an animal as it’s something I’ve wanted to try for a while. I don’t do much proper carving in the round aside from making brooches so it was a good challenge. I think in 2013 I’ll try to do a few more pieces like this.