Thursday, October 1, 2009

First Sanding- Miracle


Yippee- look at what sanding does!!! For one, it makes her look like she has skin- always a good thing. For another, it helps me to see the form better without the distraction of gouge marks. I will be doing some more carving as I go along to fix things as I discover problem areas, but seeing this back was thrilling.

Here is a front view. As the limbs get more refined there are more negative spaces developing- with interesting shapes. All good.

The face is not too bad after sanding. The butternut will not hold much detail, so I'll be happy if it just looks human- eyes closed- and peaceful.

Sanding brought out the chunkiness of her left foot- so out came the gouges and a lot of wood came off the top and around the ankle. Better now.
There are still some inaccessible areas inside the figure that I need to get at least a little smooth. I have used my micro-motor tool a little for some of the detail areas that were especially difficult to get to. I've been using some sanding cones for the first time- and they work very well, but 99% has been hand sanding and my fingers are getting sore.

2 comments:

  1. Donna,
    She's starting to look real good. The hands and feet are coming out nicely. I hate sanding, especially by hand. If you are talking about the little sanding cones that are sort of shaped like a tiny hut and fit over a rubber piece, I have tried them and found that they work very well for tight spaces. How much detail are you planning for the face? You might want to make a less detailed face. Once you go for realistic detail, it can get tricky. Have you ever seen the wood sculpture of Ernst Barlach? He always had simple faces. Look him up.
    Pappajohn

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  2. pappajohn- I am familiar with Barlach- 5 years at UT and a degree in art history will do that- LOL
    I want something a bit more refined though- not as detailed as the Ian Norbury works- I couldn't even if I tried. He is the god of figure carving and I am a novice. He also uses walnut and my butternut is nowhere near as fine grained. I do need to avoid too much detail in the face- it needs to match the rest of the carving. Thanks for the comments. Donna

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