Carving , the art of

[Leshy]

I just came across this and just had to share...
http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2017/...d-carvings-that-fit-in-the-palm-of-your-hand/


Amazing right?


Anybody carve miniatures here?
I know the Chinese and Japanese excel at these things , just wondered if anyone here did?

Feel free to hijack thread and post pics of your carvings ...
I'll pluck up the courage and post my first ever one...
Birch burl , 4" diameter.
Nature did most of the work

 

[Robson Valley]

The hedgehog is wonderful! You've done enough, the mind of the viewer does the rest.

Back before the mega-hack of the Woodcarving Illustrated forum website, there was a guy from the UK
who carved miniatures. Used to do lots of things in carpenter's pencil leads and so forth.
All the pictures were lost, just a bunch of empty text left to read.

Anyway, there never were many carvers in the WCI Forums that did miniatures, which is not to say that they don't exist.

 

[Leshy]

The hedgehog is wonderful! You've done enough, the mind of the viewer does the rest.

Back before the mega-hack of the Woodcarving Illustrated forum website, there was a guy from the UK
who carved miniatures. Used to do lots of things in carpenter's pencil leads and so forth.
All the pictures were lost, just a bunch of empty text left to read.

Anyway, there never were many carvers in the WCI Forums that did miniatures, which is not to say that they don't exist.

Thank you Bud, appreciate the kind comment.
Hey that reminds me I used to get a monthly newsletter from them via email on my old email address...Must dig it out.
Mega Hack? Does that mean the forum is finished ?
Anyways , I'd love to see the wonderful things you make with them lovely tools of yours, boss.

Take your Kestrels for instance...I've seen the handles on those , and they're top notch... 👍😉

 

[bilmo-p5]

The hedgehog is wonderful! You've done enough, the mind of the viewer does the rest.

What he said.

 

[Leshy]

What he said.

Thank you Sir!👍

 

[Robson Valley]

I'm trying to suck a few pictures out of Photobucket but data speeds here are really poor.

This is a bowdrill in birch. Ravens form life-time pair bonds so I carved the Ravens to hold the cord in their beaks.
The round-handled crooked knives are Canadian Hall farrier hoof knives. It's a myth that you have to buy carving tools.
Very, very hard steel to revise from 25 degrees down to 12 or so.. New for me $50 each. Worn out from a farrier, $5.00
and there's a lifetime of carving steel in the old ones (plus tighter radius curves, too!) Couple of PacNW blades I hafted as well.

 

[Leshy]

Very nice ! Love the ravens idea , also has a very Native American look .
Thanks for sharing those Brian , awesome👍 Good tip on the farrier knives too! I'll be pestering the local farrier to see if he's got any old ones kicking around...👍👍

I'm trying to suck a few pictures out of Photobucket but data speeds here are really poor.

This is a bowdrill in birch. Ravens form life-time pair bonds so I carved the Ravens to hold the cord in their beaks.
The round-handled crooked knives are Canadian Hall farrier hoof knives. It's a myth that you have to buy carving tools.
Very, very hard steel to revise from 25 degrees down to 12 or so.. New for me $50 each. Worn out from a farrier, $5.00
and there's a lifetime of carving steel in the old ones (plus tighter radius curves, too!) Couple of PacNW blades I hafted as well.

 

[Robson Valley]

Thanks. The Kestrel D-adze is at the top, I used it to shape the bow.
I used copper for the Raven eyes to show wealth and prosperity.
The stain is iron acetate = steel wool dissolved in vinegar, ract with the tannins in the wood.

I know you hold the bow by one limb but I put a bunch of black in the middle (#18 tarred nylon seine cord) sort of for storage.

The old skinny Hall is on the left, the two new ones are to the right.
The PacNW blade with the yellow whipping was a UKAL Supervet farrier's knife blade for trimming sheep and goat toenails.
The blade with the brown whipping came out of Crescent Knife Works in Vancouver,BC.

 

[Nice65]

The hedgehog is wonderful! You've done enough, the mind of the viewer does the rest.

Back before the mega-hack of the Woodcarving Illustrated forum website, there was a guy from the UK
who carved miniatures. Used to do lots of things in carpenter's pencil leads and so forth.
All the pictures were lost, just a bunch of empty text left to read.

Anyway, there never were many carvers in the WCI Forums that did miniatures, which is not to say that they don't exist.

Dalton Ghetti? Not UK, but these are the pics I remember.

http://weburbanist.com/2012/02/15/zen-like-artist-creates-intricate-pencil-tip-carvings/

http://www.daltonmghetti.com/

More graphite carvers here:

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/425097652304079465/

 

[Robson Valley]

Thanks. Amazing stuff, huh? Everybody should have a good look.
Don't recognize any of the carvings in the links. Ghetti's chain is just over the top good.

Used the screen name "flyfisher", don't think I ever knew his real name.
He had been some sort of a manufacturing jeweller or watch-maker, something like that.

Judging by my tools, about all I can do is sharpen a pencil!

 

[Leshy]

Wow! Nice65 that's an awesome link.
Those are amazing , thanks for sharing!👍

 

[Night Phoenix]

That is a very cute hedgehogglet

I just came across this and just had to share...
http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2017/...d-carvings-that-fit-in-the-palm-of-your-hand/


Amazing right?


Anybody carve miniatures here?
I know the Chinese and Japanese excel at these things , just wondered if anyone here did?

Feel free to hijack thread and post pics of your carvings ...
I'll pluck up the courage and post my first ever one...
Birch burl , 4" diameter.
Nature did most of the work

 

[Night Phoenix]

These are special, gorgeously worked and i adore the symbolism and choice of ravens with the cord

I'm trying to suck a few pictures out of Photobucket but data speeds here are really poor.

This is a bowdrill in birch. Ravens form life-time pair bonds so I carved the Ravens to hold the cord in their beaks.
The round-handled crooked knives are Canadian Hall farrier hoof knives. It's a myth that you have to buy carving tools.
Very, very hard steel to revise from 25 degrees down to 12 or so.. New for me $50 each. Worn out from a farrier, $5.00
and there's a lifetime of carving steel in the old ones (plus tighter radius curves, too!) Couple of PacNW blades I hafted as well.

 

[Leshy]

Thanks Kat!
That was beginner's luck ...
Just finding the right timber.
At first I thought bowl , and then the hedgehog just wanted to come out , weird ... It was like he'd always been there, just waiting for the knife to let him out.
Ive been playing with spoons and other bits but nothing worth shouting about... 😉

👍

 

[Robson Valley]

It's OK, Leshy. When you see things in the wood, it does feel like they have always been there.
Nothing spooky about it. That's what I carve.
I don't have preconceived ideas about what I want to "make" from a block of wood.
I have tried to do that and failed, every time.

I think to be very strict about bushcraft, then the carved spoons, bowls and kuksa are central.
However humans have a somewhat more expansive imagination.

 

[Leshy]

I couldn't have said it better , and I'm glad it's not just me ....
👍

 

[Robson Valley]

Here's a really crazy, crazy example:

I was up maybe a couple thousand feet abover the Fraser River, then the mountains 6k - 9k all along the other side.
I was splitting big chunks of western red cedar (curved stump parts of logs) into more managable pieces.
I split a block into 3 slabs. The middle slab was a fish tail. Damn near dropped it. Big fish, swimming away from me.

Unsure of what to make of it, I cloned a kitchen cupboard door and painted that.

 

[Robbi]

Hey RV, could we see some of your other carved stuff please

 

[Robson Valley]

Here's my score:
For every 10 carving starts,
3 die
3 become the living dead
3 finish OK
1 is exactly what I saw in the wood.

The dead ones get split and over hauled = hauled out back and tossed over the neighbor's fence to be consumed in his fire pit.
What do you like? Dishes? Animals? 70 spoons and 30 forks partly finished?

I want to see other people's carvings, kuksa, bowls and spoons included.
Don't worry about how slick they are, wood carving practice does wonders, yes???

 

[rancid badger]

Heres a few of mine from the last 17 years or so;

"totems" but not representative of any particular tribe or nation, just stick doodles really


a "wood nymph" ???



one of a series of about 10 or 12 "birds" done from forked branches


and another "wood spirit" from an ancient splinter of oak, found on a local tree believed to have been hit by lightning at some point in the last 30 years or so. It was well seasoned, about three times bigger than the finished item when I started and hard as hexx!






Oh and one of several "free-form" birch cups I've done


And where it came from;


Then there are slightly bigger things;




I haven't really bothered carving anything much for ages, well over three years or more.



Anyway, that's some of my "doodles"

Cheers

Steve