Advise on futuristic way of wood carving.

[carvedwoodsign]

Hello,
This is my first post to this forum so I will introduce who I am and Then I'm going to ask for some advise on a different way of carving wood. So first let me introduce myself. My name is Mark Dante Di Saverio I am a wood carver and general sculptor and my proffesion is making carved wood signs for high end residetial homes, Bed and breakfast hotels and busineses. My woodworking experience started with making wood foundry patterns for local foundrys in Pennsylvania and then I gravitated to restoring wooden runabout boats and such. I was then recruited to fabricate hard urethane foam patterns for thermal tiles on the space shuttle, these were duplicated in a gunstock machine into silica tiles for the bottom of the orbiter. I did this for 15 years and now I am concentrating on carved wood signs that I sell on http://www.carvedwoodsign.com. I have done lots of sculpture and really love bronze sculpture. But I like making signs and it is profitable. However hand carving signs is a very time consuming task which makes the profits less so I am converting most of my work over to CNC. I have been doing a lot of the modeling in software and just outright buying 3D models from other sources. As I said I am doing some of the modeling in software using software such as zbrush. However modeling and sculpting this way has a lot to be desired as I am an artist who likes to work with his hands. I think a good solution to this delema might be to work in clay and then to 3D scan the sceane or object and then to machine into the wood with CNC. Using clay allows for addition and subtraction to the base matierial and also the correction of mistakes. Once you are satisfied with the work you can then commit it to the wood through CNC. Any good useful advice or tips on this would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you,
Dante Di Saverio

[Cottonwood]

I agree, Dante, hand carving is very time consuming and therefore limits quantity of production and, to some extent. exactness that you find in computer programed signs. I work with hand tools because I do woodcarving for. primarily, my enjoyment and the sense of accomplishment I get from creating something with my hands and brain. What you have described is truly a new way of looking at carving and the possibilities I am sure are endless. In the future woodcarvers will be able to produce pieces that will be very difficult, if not impossible to the hand tool carver like myself. I'm sure that the sense of accomplishment will be just as great when one has stretched their imagination to the limit using computer programs and mechanized tools.
I am looking forward to seeing some of your productions and being thrilled with the possibilities that are now available.

[northwood bob]

Another idea might be t ouse a CNC software such as MasterCam. Transfer this model to CNC language (G-code) and cut a rough pattern in wood. This willl leave you with just the detailing using carving tools. It should dramaticly reduce the tome spend in the roughout stage.

Bob

[Donsexton]

I have some experience with computer controlled sculpting machines. Honestly I can tell when a sculpture has been done on just a machine and only a machine. If you take a machine made sculpture and work on it with hand tools just a little it makes all the difference I think. You know you got to “put your own stank on it”

[johncarves]

This has already become an everyday method of reproducing work & enlargements of them.

15 years ago I had a commission that included 100 castings of a bust I had executed in clay. My contact at the casting firm took me on a tour of their facility.

In the lobby was a small sculpture of a nude woman done in minute detail. Every time you entered a different section of the plant the first thing you saw was an enlargement of that naked lady, each one slightly larger than the previous. The final one was larger than life size and sooooo lifelike that it was embarrassing.

I loved it!

You can get your work done any size you want, just furnish the original and place you order.