witch, witch! - burn him!
Funny you should mention that, I have a certificate somewhere that says I'm now a witch. Learnt a bit of the craft at some classes back in '98. I'd always been interested in natural lore and such. The course was certainly mind expanding. Loved it in fact.
All natural things have a male or female aspect - rocks, trees etc - but even "made" things can have a character/spirit of their own - a bloke returned a knife he had bought off me as its Spirit did not like him...I aint joking, and the bloke did not even want his cash back, just wanted away from the knife ........
Know that feeling well, I have a Leatherman Multi tool like that, the first time I used it sliced the tendon in my left thumb. Not saying it has a bad spirit in it, but whenever I hold it, it just feels ... wrong. I won't part with it though far too expensive to replace. I was told by my witchy friend to put it in the freezer to exorcise any bad vibes it had. Figured nothing ventured nothing gained so I did. I kid myself it worked, sorta.
Very nice biker! can i ask what tools you used to do that m8?
i'm tempted to give that a go now
Go for it, but on a scrap piece first. I used some small carving chisels I have and a couple of worn to the nub wood chisels. I'll take a photo of the ones I used and post it here a bit later when I dig out the camera again.
Is there no end to your skills?
Yeah: can't sing, don't play a musical instrument but would love to. Lousy cook, two burners on the hob at once and I panic, the result reflect that. Don't have green fingers but secretly wish I had. Can't solder copper joints when plumbing. Can't weld, last time I welded my workpiece to my vice, finally sold the welding machine in disgust at myself. Don't understand poetry, never have, wish I could appreciate it like others do. Can't tell jokes.
That is wicked ive always struggled carving a womans face cos they have much softer lines nice work.
Know what you mean, but then I have had a bit of practice drawing them and knew pretty much what I wanted to achieve with this. I did one just like it about 10 years ago for my ex-wife. I just wanted one of my own.
Non from me, quite agree. Lovely carving, on a really nice staff, is that natural? (I've seen that effect from vines) enhanced or carved? BTW why are her eyes closed? just wondering, accident or design?
Yup the wood is naturally like that. It was in a coppiced wood behind the workshop where I worked in Kent. Bindweed got up the trunk and forced the growing sapling to spiral like that. My mate and I found a several trees growing like that but we only took a couple each. It sat gaffer-taped to a length of 2x2 to hold it straight while it seasoned for a couple of years. Then sat in my basement for a couple more years after I moved over here to France. Last year I stripped off the bark using a drawknife and then filed and sanded off the rougher bits. The basic shape was always there but once the bark came off it looked gorgeous!
Yes her eyes are closed deliberately. Bit like she's meditating or resting. Having her eyes open would have been rather difficult, not to mention risky carving such finer details and hope they turn out right. Call me chicken I don't mind.
Really like it. Did a wood spirit this weekend myself, but daren't post it now, nowhere near your standard. So what tools did you use? Perhaps a photo tutorial if you've got the time, your skills are more than worthy of it.
Thanks! I had the camera nearby to record it as it developed but I got so wrapped up in it suddenly it was completed and I only had a few pictures taken. Oh well. If you run a search on the bushcraftusa forum there's a great tutorial for carving a male woodspirit with moustache and full beard, it's a step by step process and is just great. As for nowhere near my standard, well I am a carpenter with an artist-ish bent so I'm a bit more used to working with hand tools to create a certain final piece.
Practice makes perfect as the old saying goes. As for the tools there were carving chisels, but mostly just two worn down 3/4 and 1/4 inch bevel-edged straight wood chisels. As I said above, I'll post a pic of those I used a bit later.
Sincere thanks for all the replies and positive feedback. Seeing photos of your own projects makes me want to have a go and do it myself, I'm just trying to return a bit of that inspiration back into the system as well by sharing what I've done.
Thanks for reading.
