Everything I see is junk

[jartzh]

It seems that everything I see is just junk. Including my stuff. I think my eye is getting too critical. I want everything to look like a fine piece of marble by Michelangeno or Bernini. I learned long ago that I cant carve a wood copy of a fine piece of porcelin, so I stop trying. But lately the pendelum has swung back the other way.
I hope that my next piece will be special but as soon as I put the poly on it I realize its just another piece of wood.

Have I carved too many pieces thru the years?

I have created a challenge for myself that I cant beat. I think I have only carved about 3 things ever that I like and if I still had them I probably wouldnt like them either.

Anybody else feel like this?

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

If you get to the point you like everything you do......quit! Not liking or being satisfied with our work is what keeps us striving!! At least those that are not in a slump!

[bbowers]

If you hold yourself to that standard, how can carving be fun? I am always wanting to improve and learn new techniques, but would never expect my work to look like porcelian. Maybe another medium would be more satisfying to you?

[JimSawyer]

I remeber when I was younger hearing about the Hopi indians purposely putting a flaw into their design in the rugs they made. Only the heavenly creator can make something perfect. I try to do my best. Each time I make somethig it's just a little better than the last. Aim high, shoot low.

[doris]

hello jartzh, you are not alone...i only have created one single piece i am happy with, and yes, michelangelo, bernini but also riemenschneider and stoss, and many more, are carvers who give me hints where i want go, and whom i consider as my teachers. and, as you, i feel frustrated when, again, a piece not meets what i wanted it be... i think, we need learn relax a little --- i for one, try now to see the progress i am doing, not that i forget where i want go, and not that i dont realise all the mistakes i made, but looking at the progress gives a positive, and takes out some of the frustration, and makes i can keep go further... michelangelo himself was often very unhappy with his carvings, so unhappy that he even attacked them, since he had the feeling the carving not shows what he wanted to show ...
i dont think the number of pieces carved is the problem, (except only if you have the feeling you were more interested in quantiity than in quality, but as you speak i dont believe that)...
give yourself a new project, and keep going. it helps !!

[Jim-Iowa]

Originally Posted by JimSawyer

I remeber when I was younger hearing about the Hopi indians purposely putting a flaw into their design in the rugs they made. Only the heavenly creator can make something perfect. I try to do my best. Each time I make somethig it's just a little better than the last. Aim high, shoot low.

Jim my Dad tells me thats a fact! He retired from Maytag in 1980 and went to Mexico to do what our denomination calls Home Missions. He supervised remodeling and construction at the Indian Bible College in Albuquerque and built churches on several reservations in the area.
The Natives insisted on building inperfections into the project, just as you say.

[Hugh-P]

Jim, I know the feeling well. Things never seem to come out the way we want. But maybe to cheer you up a little, after not seeing my work for a while and I encounter it in a customers home, it invariably looks a lot better. Either it improves with age, or I can't remember my errors.
My wife and I delivered a carving to a good customer, while waiting for him to return, we looked at his collection of carvings. My wife spied a decoy that she liked and said I don't mean to run your carvings down, but that particular decoy is one of the best I've seen. Well, grin, it was one I sold the man years before. We are our worst critics.

[Tom-H]

I get disappointed with my whittling sometimes, well maybe more than sometimes. But that soon passes with the next effort. Junk! naw, don't think that way. If the funk you are in continues, perhaps as an earlier poster suggested; try something else. My suggestion would be try something in which you wouldn't be so critical of your performance. Give skydiving a try. Your performance is either successful or it isn't. Just kidding!

Tom H

[Ron T]

I, too, know the feeling. I'm working on several projects at once because I reach a point where they're just not what I had in mind so I put it down and start another. I'm making it a point now to finish them. I just try to make each one the best I can.

[Mitchell]

Depends on WHY you're carving.....

Are you trying to duplicate something made by the masters from years ago? It took them years and their work is still here for a reason - they were pretty talented.

I have pieces that I like better than others (naturally) and I see many that really could be better if I had done some things differently. BUT - I'm still very happy to be carving --> and that's what really brings joy to me, not necessarily the end result, but the journey.

Don't get me wrong, I do want to make something that's "good", but that's not entirely what I carve for.

Keep trying and learning and maybe you can enjoy it more.