greenman - wip

Woodbutcher Jan · #11 05-01-2008, 08:15 PM

Love the green man
let me use it for my lawn chairs please ??
I am carving something differend
I France man asked me to make HAT FORMS (8 of'm) all differend sizes for polo players hats
Got one done and hope it meets with his aproval He comes back from Franca on May 12 to pick this one up

Wonders are never out of this world are they ??

GaryMc · #12 05-01-2008, 08:18 PM

Doris, Here is the Greenman I did last year, my own design, won ribbons at my Carving show, and sold him at the show for a good price.
GaryMc

doris · #13 05-02-2008, 01:44 AM

wow, peter, that was an interesting reading. did not know that of mayday, what a funny coincidence me starting on that day ...thanks for sharing the link

jan, yes you may use it, and i would like see your result then...

gary, thanks ! nice to see him again, i remember you did as wip thread too... congrats on the ribbons and sell, he sure is a great carving, the leaves flow so nicely

dicktilley20 · #14 05-02-2008, 04:41 AM

The Green Man, Jack o' the Green, The Harvest Lord.......

he has been kind to me over the past few years Doris, I have sold every one that I make.

My first Green Dude took me a couple of days to carve, now I can make one in half an hour with my chainsaw....

Heres a picture of my latest one....

And a smaller one, carved from oak and ebonized.

...and heres one created with fire...

I like him!

The biggest one I have carved is 4m long.

The pagan god of re-birth and regeneration....

dick

doris · #15 05-02-2008, 04:52 AM

great ! oh, i love them, the bench is my favourite :-) ... half an hour ? oh, sigh, i am in the several days league...doesn´t matter though it is so much fun. thanks for sharing your greenmen !! ...oh, btw what is "ebonized" ?

Bobla76 · #16 05-02-2008, 08:01 AM

I have been saving a very nice piece of butternut to do a greenman. I just haven't had the courage to start. I think that seeing your work has pushed me to get started soon.

mark yundt · #17 05-02-2008, 08:54 AM

Don't know if you remember my Greenman. I didn't bother to research the history and find out what they are supposed to look like. So I gave him a peaceful and happy look. I like to think it turned out O.K. He's still hanging in my shop keeping an eye on things. I have had several offers on him though so one day he'll be gone I'm sure.He's actually led me to several other marketing ideas to try out. I used the ever popular Acanthus leaves for him.

doris · #18 05-02-2008, 09:14 AM

bobla, that is wonderful ! i am looking forward to see your (!) greenman :-)

mark, of course if do remember him, you gave that time to me inspiration to try a greenwoman, how could i forget that ! ... sure, i would love to see him here again, that way we get a nice collection, as resource for further inspirations on greenman.

doris · #19 05-02-2008, 10:35 AM

update :-)

worked the face, tried to improve the shapes of the face under the leaves, i think it is better now... and carved more on mouth, and put eyes ... and of course made some leaves... fun ! ...

i have some technical questions ...
the wood is extremely crumbly, it is very hard to put small detail, or small ridges. it easily breaks away "just from looking at it" ... is there some way of cutting such crumbly wood safely ? (besides from the obvious of keeping the tools as sharp as possible ? ) ...
i wanted to carve the leaf tip on top overlapping (correct word?) i mean that it "folds" over... that needs at least some undercutting, would a crumbly wood hold that ? or should i better consider changing the design ?

edit whoops, i did not see previous post...thanks mark !! yes, that is a fine greenman, and i am with you here, i did not do research when starting greenman, i just wanted have fun, and put some ideas of chris pye into my setting... thanks again for posting your greenman.

mark yundt · #20 05-02-2008, 10:58 AM

I agree,,this does appear to be Walnut. I'm surprised it's so crumbly. It usually holds great detail and carves beautifully with little resistance. Though there can be variations from piece to piece.

As far as the top section,,I imagine you want to curl it over as I had done on my piece. I would suggest carving as much if not all of the outside section you see laying over the top. This will give you the support you need before trying to undercut it at all.Don't try undercutting it first! Establish all the outside parameters first. Considering the size of the piece as well,,there probably won't be much undercutting necessary,,just a relief will give you the appearance of depth and movement you are looking for without risk of it crumbling away.

Also ,,,looking at your piece and the cuts,,I may be wrong,,but your tools might not be as sharp as they could be. Especially the V tool that I imagine you are using for the deep V shapes. If that's the case,,make the initial cut using the V,,then follow it up with a fairly flat chisel to define this shape and caress and roll the sides of the V into the shape of the leaves you want. I'm currently doing that on the sample piece I'm doing. In my case,,the V defines the depth of the crease in the center of the leaf,,and now I'm finessing that shape into that of a leaf.