[chuckt]

Mark -

The amount of effort in planning and laying out this type of work alone is daunting. Forget about the accuracy in executing it . . . I'm with Joe, I'd go cross-eyed just trying to lay it all out. Heck, I can barely hang a picture straight for my wife, let alone this type of work. ;-)

Then, as you say - no room for errors in the actual cutting. Me - I'd invevitably screw this up somewhere along the line. Break off a piece, or cut too deep leaving an indent along the pattern, etc.

You seem to take to this type of work like a duck to water and make it all look so simple and straight forward. But therein lies the mark of a true master I suppose.

Therein too lies the reason your business will continue to boom. I imagine there are VERY few out there who A) have the confidence to take on this work and to convince a buyer that you can do it, and B) the skill to execute it cleanly and accurately. Those two factors alone should put you head and shoulders above the others and I imagine will keep you busy for many years to come. As you pointed out, recessions don't seem to affect the buying patterns of the wealthy who would be the one's commissioning this type of master craftsmanship. Your success will almost inevitably breed more success I should think as your reputation continues to spread.

Well done and well deserved. Fascinating to watch too. Thanks for sharing your progress.

ChuckT

[mark yundt]

Thanks Chuck but I think you might be exaggerating a bit. Yes,,I said it's demanding type work and probably not for everyone,,,but at this point I've done at a conservative guess,,,hundreds of feet of various moldings. One of the very first "beginners projects" I did was with another carver and the order was for over 900 ft of moldings. It's what I cut my teeth on so I don't know any different,,,to me ,,this is carving and what you do to make ends meet. If I had stayed on my original course and kept carving birds,,I wouldn't understand this stuff at all. It would scare or bore the stuffing out of me. But it's part of what I know,,,and it's part of what I do.Fortunately I've been exposed to ,and have carved a variety of pieces,,that I feel comfortable with whatever is needed. To me,,,that's what carving is all about,,,then again,,that's what I learned to do and never questioned if or how something could or should be done. You just do it,,,and I still do,,it's still my beginner projects in a way. That is how I believe carving should be taught. Makes a world of difference in what you end up able to do and what you're open to try. You have no fear 'cause the worst has been thrown at you from the beginning and you know no difference.

Just carve it. Don't think about it,,,JUST DO IT.

Anyway,,after my ramblings about carving,,,here is a sample of what the carvings should look like. See,,,I'm a chicken. I started on one of the returns to see how it would work out,,I didn't start on the main run. If I had screwed up it wouldn't be as noticeable,,,at least that's what I told myself. But it did work O.K. as a starting point to get a feel for it. I have my tools sorted out ,,which ones will do what,,the fixture has been tweeked to hold it just as I like,,the lighting is in position to cast the best shadows and now off I go. As time goes on,,I'll get faster and cleaner in my cuts. This piece has been gone over lightly with 220 just to see how it reads and any little glitches I should be aware of. It's a test piece using the final product as a guide. Like I said,,there are no second chances,,you have to hit it dead on right from the get go as there are no backup pieces to use. You either do it right the first time or it's all junk.

See,,,no pressure.

and now today I got calls for a fourth mantle as well as another life sized Crucifix,,,go figure....

[chuckt]

Well, you may be right - but I intended no exaggeration. I am honestly daunted by the thought of doing this type of work. But then again, I've had NO experience doing anything like it. So perhaps if I did moldings and projects like you did to build the skills then I'd think it was not that big a deal too.

It's kind of like a beginner watching a skilled musician play an instrument and marveling "how'd he do that?" "I could never do that." Well, put in the time to learn and lot's of pratice and it's not THAT difficult to get up and play some cool stuff in front of a crowd. But if you've not done that foundation work - you'll bomb.

Same thing here I suppose, so my observations are from a perspective of a raw beginner observing the skilled craftsman/artist. That's all.

ChuckT

[mark yundt]

Yup,,,you got it!

[RussL.]

As always, thank you for continuing to keep us posted and grounded ("keepin' it real", as it were) in what it is to be a professional woodcarver in the modern era, Oh ObiWan. ;-)

RussL.

[mark yundt]

"Keeping it Real" means to me,,,Keep it simple. That's half my job. I understand the idea that to many newer carvers some of this looks intimidating ,,complex,,and a bit of a mystery. And as I said,,it's what I started carving as a beginners project the first time I actually used chisels.Many of these jobs look intimidating to me as well. One thing I love is to make something that appears complex simple.Can I do the whole job at once? Nope! Can I do this one little piece? Sure! and the next little piece. Eventually when you put it all together you're done.

So I understand. I looked at that first piece and thought "Your kidding,,you expect me to carve THAT?" I couldn't imagine where or how to even begin.How do you draw it? How do you lay it out? How do you carve it?
But I'm willing to bet that if I had anyone of you carvers in my shop,,,showed you the steps and broke it down,,by the end of the day you'd be laying out this stuff and carving right beside me and thinking,,"well,,,that WAS a piece of cake!"

It all depends where you want to start.

If you want to learn to drive and start with a tractor trailer and learn to actually drive it,,,well,,any other type of vehicle from that down would seem easy and not be intimidating.
But if you start with a sub compact which seems like a practical start,,well getting into a full size car,,then a pickup,,to a truck,,to a tractor trailer would be intimidating at each step.

The necessary skills are picked up rather quickly as carving itself is fairly basic in it's moves and cuts.Which is good because that's not where carving occurs.
Just like my driving analogy ( driving chisels?) the actual skills necessary we probably all possess. Can you turn a steering wheel,,press on the brake or gas pedal? Probably. It's just that you need a different perspective and frame of mind to go from one to the other and that can be and is learned.

WE have a tendency to make things more complicated than it really is. We get it in our minds that it will be difficult.We get it in our heads that there is some mystery to it all.

Can you hold a chisel? Can you hit it with a mallet? Look,,you're carving. Keep it simple.

[mark yundt]

In response to RussL's comment on the post OOps dang mistakes,,,yes Russ,,I actually DO have some mahogany to carve! LOL..LOL Between yesterday and a couple of hours today I got the turned tops for the columns carved and ALL the moldings roughed in and the one finished. Geez,,,cant' a guy take a break every now and then?
Before you crack that whip again,,don't worry,,I'm just going to eat a little lunch to keep my energy up so I can get all this stuff carved.,check my e-mails and post this little update....O.K?
Then I'm going straight back to work.

Ohh,,,one more thing,,the mail just showed up during lunch with some fat checks in it,,,ya can't deny me the pleasure of taking them to the bank now can you? Besides,,,I'm going out tonight and buying all the furniture for my soon (7 months) to be born Grandchild. Geez,,,do they really need cribs,bassinets,changing tables,dressers,playpens,,,,this is going to hurt more than my trip to the Porter Cable store yesterday...5 bucks for the brushes I needed and went for,,,couple hundred just browsing,,,,

[RussL.]

Okay. That's more like it!
Look great!

Russ

[doris]

mark, that is nice news, almost hidden in what you say :-) congrats, to your (first(?)) grandchild :-) ... ... and, i enjoy seeing you figured out nicely how to stretch and squash the design to fit on the length given. nice job, on the carving too. yes, not the slightest glitch is allowed. that is sort of job that would scare me. i need lots of "room" for correcting errors... on my putto, i had first carved the mouth, i was so happy with expression,...only to realise it was totally off center (yes, could have easily posted that in the oops,dang, mistake-thread), but in such carvings there is always possiblitly to buy wood back as you called it once, so i could fix that mistake. a design like you carve now, there is not a milimeter for correction. hats off (this is freely translated from german saying, expressing admiration :-)... :-)

[mark yundt]

Thank you Doris ,,Your words mean so much to me. But if you had the chance to see just how easy this is to do,,,I don't think you'd be too impressed. Knowing you,,you'd probably find a better way than I have to get this done.

Buying back wood is an expression I like,,,and it seems you have found the benefits in that. See,,,there is always enough wood in a piece to make corrections.

In this photo the molding is only roughed in,,,the final carving looks really neat,,got several pieces done today.

Yes,,this is my first grandchild! And believe me,,,I have NO INTENTIONS OF SPOILING the child.....then again,,,I only lie when I'm not telling the truth!!! HA!