[foundwood]

Here is the next part of the Bonsai Formed Bust shaped with plaster: I just finished the left side today. The new side looks much better to me than the right with fewer swirling/flowing branches. It appears "busy" in the pictures because you really can't get a true sense of the depth from being hollow. I will post pictures with different light angles when I finish it out of wood. That should help.

It probably looks more like a coral formation at this point, but please keep in mind that it will be more realistic when sculpted from wood. I am still learning to carve and sculpt, so please bear with me. It probably takes me ten times longer than most of you to finish a piece.

My wife and I celebrated our 22nd wedding anniversary with a wonderful dinner at the Bridge Tender restaurant at Wrightsville Beach, NC last night. Bless her heart, she had to sit and listen to me describe my plans for cutting this piece out of wood. It takes a special person to handle someone as "off the wall". She is still the only one for me!

Well, what do y'all think so far?

[Tidewalker]

anniversary ! I think it is amazing and I can't wait to see the piece carved out of wood. I love the whole idea and would love to see it materialize.
Darren

[Eleanor]

Wow it's going to look great. What wood are you planning to use? I know what you mean about spouses having to share the house with a third party / lodger ( ie the current work-in-progress) I go on about mine as if it's a new puppy. Then when it's finished I miss it. I'd like to see all the stages of your project, however slow!! Incidentally, has anyone ever carved out of real bonsai wood? Eleanor

[bygeorge]

That is going to be one interesting carving! Really great idea. Share some progress photos if you can.

Chuck

[foundwood]

Eleanor, I am going to a timber recycling plant this morning to see if I can find a log large enough to contain the entire piece. I hope to find a chunk of cherry, but that is not likely to happen.

I was excited about the prospect of using a 100 year old piece of cypress that had been salvaged from the bottom of the Cape Fear River. The owner of the lumber mill lost interest in the project when I asked him to kiln dry a six foot log for me. I went back to the same operation yesterday, and someone else told me that they could never KD a log, because it just wouldnt effectively dry the whole thing. He didn't laugh when I told him that I could dry even a water-soaked log in my microwave oven using roasting bags over the course of several days. I have had great success with this technique.

The second fellow is also trying to find a 100 year old piece of pine cut from a timber end that was salvaged from a tobacco warehouse. He has a sample, and the growth rings are so tight together that it is absolutely gorgeous when quarter sawn. I am staying away from the ancient pine because every fireplace mantel piece in his showroom is splitting severely.

I have to use a piece of wood that will hold very sharp edges, or I will never be able to shape the branches to fine points.

[RoundRiver]

Well It's sure comming along.

I have to admire your patence while making a model...I tend to "go for it" right away.

As for wood I wish you were closer to me, I have several likely candidated for your project. Cherry, Maple, Old growth fir...and on amd on.

I had a thought...I'm not sure how you intend to mount this piece when finnished, By my thought is to carve a stand out of the same wood as the tree, leave alot on the bottom so you can bring the roots down around it, i feel this would really say bonsi.

Keep up the great work!

Russ

[heineda]

Hello,

You are a very lucky man to have a wife that supports what you are interested in. My wife considers the time I spend carving to be wasted, and the money I have spent on tools to be the biggest waste of money ever. Her family loves the things I carve for them, but not my wife. I soend half as much on carving as she does on fingernails and toenails, but those are "worthy" expenses. I have tried to get her to pick up a kife and try something simple, but she will not even discuss it. Oh well, shes grown a bit more tollerant the last year or so, but I wish she would get behind my carving once in a while.

Carving,
Dan Heine

[foundwood]

I had great luck at the recycling plant this morning, and hit the motherlode!

The following photos depict a couple of logs cut from extremely old growth cypress. These jewels were cut three weeks ago, and there isn't one single crack in either of them! Brian Hedgepeth in Wilmington also has black Walnut and some planed lumber from varieties of trees that are now extinct in our part of the US. It is sickening to see the amount of mature trees that are being disposed of as a result of commercial and residential development in Southeastern, NC. Brian told me that people aren't trying to save anything in residential areas: homeowners tell him to clear-cut everything, and landscape architects fill in the blanks. He makes mulch out of everything...

I overlaid my plaster mock-up on the rough-shaped piece. I went straight to the shop after playing hookie from the office and hacked on one of the logs with an electric chainsaw.

I will dry this piece over the course of the next four nights in a microwave oven, and then hopefully start working with my tools on Sunday.

I will post again soon.

[Thor]

What an exciting project! I do hope you'll keep us posted with pictures of the step-by-step.
Thor

[squbrigg]

That is quite a project you are tackling! I'm looking forward to watching your progress. Great concept.

Congratulations too, and to your wife. Having a wife/spouse that supports your efforts makes a big difference. Dan....I feel bad for you, and count myself lucky that my bride is so supportive. I don't mean to say she doesn't complain that I buy too many tools or haul home too much wood, just she loves what I do with the wood when I get to it.

Bob