[mdallensr]

I'm back and still unpacking. I got into my shop this morning and started to get it back to normal after unloading my SUV Sunday night. It was a two-day drive from Ohio and I spent the night in Schenectady NY, outbound and inbound. It is great to be home, sleeping in my own bed. Not so great to be back at work, but I'm not retired and this the busiest time of the year for me.

The class was a great carving experience! It was a little different than I though it would be, but much more comprehensive. Chris had several mini-seminars planned on sharpening tools, making tools, modeling (in clay and in basswood), etc. Chris also did a Power Point presentation of some of his work, using each piece to make a point about a specific carving technique, choice of wood, orientation of patterns, and finishing materials and techniques. Neat stuff! Every-other day we did "rounds", almost like a hospital with interns. We all gathered around each student's work bench, heard their story about their project and their next steps, then Chris offered suggestions and others did as well. We went through all twelve students' projects that way, which took about 1 1/2 hours the first time then about an hour later.

We had a complete spectrum of projects: lettering, sign-making, relief (all forms), sculpture, and architectural details, carved in walnut, basswood, mahogany, cherry, butternut, and teak. We had students from Ohio (2), Texas, Virginia, New Jersey, Mass. (2), Maine (3), New Brunswick and New Hampshire and they were a true slice of life: doctors, a lawyer, accountant, two engineers, artist, carpenter, draftsman, housewife, and a couple of self employed folks. Many were retired and several had attended the CFC more than once for Chris Pye's course.

I need to download my photos, pretty them up a bit, and re-size them to post here. Be back soon. Mike

[mark yundt]

Thanks for the update. Sorry we weren't able to get together. I'm sure you must be beat after all that driving.
Now we have heard what HE did. I can't wait to see what YOU did to get your frame completed. I'm anxious to see your photos and see all the vines ,leaves and grapes underway! How much have you carved since you got home?

[mdallensr]

OK; almost back to normal and found my flash drive with my photos. Please remind me next year that August is my busiest month, at home and at work, so taking two weeks for a carving class will come at a price not measured in dollars. Still, it was worth it and I'd certainly do it again, and next year, the class is back to the last week of June and first week of July, which is a whole lot better for me.

The course was more focused on the carving process than just making chips, which was good for me. I had two goals for the course; first to become proficent with full-sized carving tools and mallet work, and two, to carve more with my left hand. Although I've carved for several years, most of my carving and class time is spent with palm tools, working on a bench hook. Over the past two years, I've set up a place to carve with a carving bench, and bought the right tools. I've been carving larger projects, so the whole idea of using full-sized tools properly, learning correctly, and doing a big project came together for the course.

We did several mini-seminars on: methods of holding work pieces, tool selection, tool making, sharpening, inside bevels for gouges, design basics, modeling (in clay and basswood), and finishing. These discussions were pretty interesting because, among the twelve of us, we had a good cross-section of wood, carving tools, vises, carving screws, mallets, etc. Consensus: Stubai makes the best carvers screw, particularly for end-grain, Veritas and Jerry-Rig were the preferred vises, Swiss-made the favorite carving tools, Norton transluscent Arkansas oil stones best for honing, and Tormek's are good for grinding and stropping (we had two for the class that got a lot of use).

I spent a whole day putting inside bevels on about 25 new gouges that I bought right before I went to Maine. That went well since we had the shaped oil stones that Chris Pye got Norton to make for carvers. I will get a set of those.

Chris started us with making simple, scale models of our carvings, to show how we would carve some difficult elements. I did a basswood model of my vertical frame, then a clay model of my bracket, followed by a basswood model of the grape cluster on my bracket. Chris was concerned about the way I would get the grapes to flow out from under the leaf at the top, but all of that worked just fine. I haven't played with clay since junior high, and have zero artistic ablitity, but it went better than I thought and I will try to get better with modeling. More to follow. Mike

[mdallensr]

After working out the details of the bracket and grape cluster, I started to carve the volutes. That went pretty well, and my new tools included some off-set (dog-leg) #2 skews that work really well to remove and clean up the ground at the bottom of the volute curves. Gave myself a little at-a-boy for getting those and made a note to get another, narrower set of left and rights for more delicate work. My design had a blank spot near the bottom of the volute, and Chris encouraged me to make use of the space. We decided on his "signature" mouse for one side, and a bird for the other. It came out pretty well, but I modeled it first and that made it pretty straightforward.

Did I mention that Maine Lobsterfest started on Wednesday of my first week in Maine? I didn't eat red meat for two weeks, tried every form of chowder you could imagine, and consumed a bunch of Maine micro-brew during happy-hour at the local pub, after class each night with some other carvers. Don't miss Cappy's if you ever get to Camden, Maine.

[mark yundt]

Looking good Mike. That little area under the volute is traditionally filled with Acanthus leaves or flowers. Grape leaves would have worked in this case as well as your mouse.
Do you plan on using the hour glass shape across the bottom volutes?

Maybe I'm not following,,but was there a question on the viability of having the leaves laying over the grapes? I think your idea,,,if this is what you're saying,,is just fine. I've done dozens of them this way and they look terrific I think,,very natural because that's how they actually grow. ( I'm sure I have pics if you need 'em)
Plus I feel ( just my opinion) that it adds an interesting detail and shadows that fall across the uppermost grapes and adds to the appearance of depth.

If this is what you want,,just carve it that way. You certainly have enough wood to do whatever you like on this piece.

[carvendive]

The carvings are looking very good!

Thanks for also including the clay pictures. Never seeing others working you often do things that simply "make no sense". When I model with clay I build the entire piece with clay - like ~ 10 lbs of the stuff. I just didn't think of putting the clay ON TO a wooden form. It's not that clay is so expensive - it's all the additional time it takes.

Did the class end up improving your start to finish time? Again, never carving beside another carver I always feel that I'm slow. (Just curious).
Personally I like the leaf over the grapes. But then I've always felt that a carving is a "representation" that is open to the artists interpretation. I know some things are designed and carved to specific guidelines (especially the classical pieces) But still, where possible I like to go free style. But then sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.

PS, while you were "gorging" on lobster and beer. We were suffering with Dungeness crabs (this was from 1 pull).

[mdallensr]

Hi Mark and carvendive; thanks for the comments and questions. There was no question about the leaf being over the grapes, just some details about the shape and placement to get the grapes to "spill" out from the leaf with more expression and interest. We made the two leaves into one, larger leaf, curved it more, in all planes, tilted it a bit to one side, and curved the grape cluster a bit to get more flow. It certainly is easier to munch around a clay leaf than a wooden one. Still, as the photos below show, the bracket looks pretty much like the original design, but improved with the changes. I left a lot of wood on the front of those brackets to carve the grape clusters, so there was never any doubt about carving it. We've been talking on this board (Mark mostly) about lines and planes, and Chris emphasizes them as well. The leaf on the bracket is rounded in the early design and photos, but at the end I shaped it more to create some specific lines (raised veins) and surfaces. It looks less like a blob now and will create more shadows.

I used my old roughing out routine, to outline the grape cluster and set the shape and height of each grape. I noted in the clay model that making a grape cluster without a pattern created a nearly perfect bunch of grapes with straight rows and columns of ball bearings, so keeping to the pattern was important. Setting the outline of the cluster locks in that part of the pattern, and the rest follows pretty easily. Flipping the #5's and #7's, with a good inside bevel, makes carving the grapes really easy. Just match the sweep with the size of the grape and work around it.

Carvendive, as a rookie clay modeler, I used what was available. What was handy was our instructor helper, who could go and make us anything we needed. He cut me the wooden form for the bracket and all I had to do was add the clay grape cluster to it. It's pretty neat having a complete wood shop in the next room and a recent grad who could run all of the machines, including a 20" band saw, big jointers, planers, table saws, a bizillion clamps for glue-ups, etc. Plus they have a good supply of quality wood you can buy for your project. Ben, my bench-mate, carved a full-sized head of his Great Dane from a huge walnut glue-up. It took some serious work by our helper, Terry, to get that glue-up down to carving size on that big band saw, but he got it done. More to follow. Mike

[mdallensr]

These photos show the progression of rounding the grapes. Mike

[mdallensr]

These photos show the shaping of the top leaf. At this point, it's curved side-to-side, back-to-front, and tilted from side-to-side to reveal grapes under the high side of the leaf.

[mdallensr]

These photos show more shaping of the top leaf, and the lines and surfaces (or facets) I carved to make it less smooth but still shaped.