The Shroud request

[mark yundt]

As many of you have seen in the background of photo's I post a sculpture of a Crucifix.Some have commented and now I was asked (thanks Doris!) to give a little (?) info on it.Why doesn't everyone just look at the thing I'm shooting instead of snooping around my shop? LOL..

Rather than bury it in another thread I decided to put it here as it might be interesting for others to see instead of just those following the other posts.Now this is not the definitive way of doing this type of thing,,it's just the way I decided to do it. The reasons made sense at the time,and solved many problems I thought I would encounter as I had never done this type of thing before.

I was asked to do a carving of the Shroud of Turin. For those who don't know what this is,,it's a 14 ft long cloth with the image of a crucified man on it,both front and back views. Some do,,some don't believe it is the burial cloth of Jesus.Countless books ,documentaries,scientific inquiries and discussions have followed this piece for decades.Though the image shows a man in repose,,my job was to show that body,,,all the correct dimensions taken from the cloth,,and show it being crucified.Nice request Huh?

So I started with a basic sketch,profile if you will and used that to make essentially a skeleton. I don't have photos' of this but in the sketch you can see outlines of what were 2X4's that I used to make the major bones of the body,,connected with very heavy gauge wire to make a poseable manequin at all the bodies joints. Looked very much like those wooden sketch dolls you see at art stores.I needed this flexability so if I needed to change the pose after the clay was set,,all I needed to do was remove a bit of clay and foam,,repose the piece,,and put the clay back in.
I did it in clay first for several reasons. One was I simply needed to solve many problems and know what it was I was going after. Two and most importantly,,with all the info on this,,and the priests,doctors,theologians and scientists who were to come and look at it for critique before I actuall carved it in wood suggested a change it would be easy to do.
And they know this piece inside and out. One of the doctors who studied the shroud actually hung his own students to see just what happens to the human body. Every dimension had to be included,,the length of each finger,the distance from the wrist to the elbow,,the angle of the arms (27.5 degrees) the right arm 1 1/4 inches longer than the left,,how far the body slumps away from the cross ,5-7 inches,,( mine is at 6),the wound in the chest,,2 1/4 inches long,6 inches from the center line 4 inches below the right nipple between the 5th and 6th rib..etc,,you get the idea.I had no room for error.

The first pic shows the basic sketch with the bones I discussed. I then covered the whole piece with spray foam.That gave me a good ,light core without having to use 600 lbs of clay. I then carved the foam into the basic shape keeping it a bit small. And I was able to pinpoint all the major forms,joints and centerlines on this foam.
Photo 4 is adding the clay and generally getting parts in place.
5 is yours truly adding the loin cloth and sculpting the clay.

[mark yundt]

Don't know why some of these are getting dark? I just hope I keep them in sequence!

Here you can see the clay is done. Now on to the glue up in the second photo. Here you can make out the body lying on his right side,back facing you and the legs off to the left.
Now the side shot ,,starting to rough it in.
I had to hang it so I could get a better perspective on comparisons to the clay model,,but the body is getting more refined here.Just prior to this I had the face completly carved in,,but then realized it was wrong. It was down too far in the chest. So I simply recarved the whole face after I got it hanging.

[mark yundt]

Here you can see the basic block for the feet,they're in there ,and it had to be left foot over right.And the roughed in feet ready to start detailing and defining.
Next the body is done and on to the arms which were just big chunks as well.
Here is the block which will be a hand. And then the hand is done.

[mark yundt]

They then decided they wanted a crown of thorns so I glued up a block big enough to fit over his head and then carved this out of it. The thorns are separate of course,,I'm not THAT nuts!

The body ( basswood) isn't stained,,but the crown is at this point.
And the carving is done.

I let my wife do the texture on the cross itself..it's mahogany. This though is what the crosses used at the time were actually like. Just a "T". Believe me,,I learned more about the body,,the history of crucifixions,,minute details about the Shroud and each and every dimension you care to think about with this project.How many wrinkles on the forehead,,where the nails were driven and at what angle,,the broken nose,,the swelling below and above the right eye. They all had to be there plus more. I have many more photos of this if your're interested,,but this gives you the basics on what it's about.

So that's what you see in the background.

And that's how I did it.

[doris]

mark, seeing all the pics and description, oh the first time i am glad i was curious ;-) snooping around is one of my specialtities, glad you did not mind... thanks so much for sharing, we can learn so much, (for now i looked only a ittle, but downloaded for more closely study), and it is a wonderful piece, ah wonderful is simply too weak word, its a great carving. i would have freaked out from knowing those people know exactely what they want see, and you had to do exactely to every minute detail... also, i noticed the nails go through the wrist. that proofs what nobody i discussed this topic wants believe me. my argument was, if one would nail through the hands, like is depicted on many paintings and carvings, the weight of body would simply rip the hands, since there is no strong enough bone barrier there..whoops sorry, went astray... i have two questions regarding the glueing...for the main body you have several pieces, did you glue one on other, let dry, then glue next, until you got all ? and the other, you glued the arms, i suppose the grain is running with the arms, and thats why you glued them on. but then, the area where you glue consist of endgrain. does this mean you can glue wood all ways you like, provided the area you want glue fits nicely together ? ... oh, and where will this carving go ? to europe, so i might have a chance to see it in person ? ... and if that is not too much asked, i certainly would love to see more of the pics you mentioned you have ;-)

[chipper67]

Mark,

Thankyou for posting these pictures. I too would like to see more pictures if possible. You certainly did your research on this as it shows. I have many questions regarding this carving. It's just amazing! Who was this commision for if I might ask, where is it located? What stain did you decide on and did you then seal it somehow? In your research, was mahogany the kind of wood (tree) commonly used for crucifixions? I could go on and on but I better stop for now. Your work just amazes me. I wished I could be a fly on the wall in your shop and just watch how you create your artwork.

Chipper67

[CarverRog]

I can't even say enough about this carving. You are truly an artist. Thanks for letting us carvers see just what goes into such a carving.

[achaundy]

Mark
Just curious, has this project made you stop and think what you were really creating here. Using all the dimensions of the shroud you are creating a very good likeness of Jesus. (You probably have some help how about it) Skip

[gene-messer]

Mark .. I truly believe that this type of carving .. religious carving is your greatest gift ..

Your skill and perception is outstanding in this type of work . ...

Your ideas and subjects are God centered and I truly believe your gift's are also ........

Please let us see the finished piece and we also will be blessed ..

Gene

[bghebert]

There are no words that could express my appreciation of the talent you have, you're truly a master. I never had the opportunity to study carving, so just seeing the basic methods of creating a large carving like this answers so many questions for me. I can't imagine the work that must go into something like this.

Thanks so much for sharing

Bruce