---- Chris Pye: WOODCARVING - NEWSLETTER ---- September 2005 http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com "Dedicated to the teaching, learning and love of woodcarving" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This is an opt-in newsletter and you should only be receiving it because you requested it from the website, or were sent it by a friend. Subscribe or Unsubscribe easily on the home page here: http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/ or using the link at the end of the newsletter. ****Back issues here: http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/intro/pastnews.html including zipfiles for 2001, 2002 & 2003, 2004 newsletters ============================================================ Hello Everyone! Many, many thanks to everyone who has forwarded this email to friends and family. Please keep passing it on and getting them to add themselves to the distribution list. CONTENTS: Coming to the end of moving house and workshop and this newsletter is still of the minimal ilk. My email address remains constant for all those who know me - and if I haven't sent you my new address by October (and you think you should have it!) just drop me a line. If you are short on reading matter, do have a look at past issues! Link above. 1. Learning to Carve II Part 6: 'Vision' Website Bookmarks at the end. List of Slipstones Woodcarving Manuals Teaching Dates ________________________________________________ 1. NEW SERIES: LEARNING TO CARVE II Part 6: 'VISION' ________________________________________________ It's simply this: the more we can 'see' into the block and visualise the surface of the final form, the easier it will be to arrive there. Some carvers like to explore a block of wood and see what 'comes out' - what was in there that they reveal. Actually - literally - there is nothing THERE in the block like this. What happens is a dialogue between the carver and the block and the result is totally dependant on what the carver did. A hundred carvers and a hundred different carvings from the same block. This approach to creating a sculpture can be highly successful, with beautiful, meaningful and spontaneous results. On the other hand the result can be as exciting as looking at someone's doodling or Rorschach test, with limited creative input from the carver. I want to put this approach to carving to one side however and turn to what most of us want: to carve a specific something. It may be a head, a letter, an acanthus leaf but that's what we want to end up with, and what we want to see and show our friends. So you've got some tools sharpened and a place to work; perhaps you've carved before and you are going to tackle a three-dimensional carving, 'in-the-round'. You have a picture from a magazine of, let's say, a leaping frog that you want to carve. You are ready to go. You are about to undertake a journey. Right in front of you, on the bench, is our block of wood from which you are about to remove all non-leaping-frog wood. And right in front of your bench, just below your diaphragm, you feel a little knot - technically called the 'Aaargh!' Now, that 'Aaargh' knot is a mixture of excitement and anxiety. You are about to be challenged (by yourself!) and excitment is a great feeling - you want to keep that. But what about the other: the trepidation, the 'what-do-I-do-now' panicky fear of failure etc? Here's the question that's at the root of it in this case: how can you remove all NON-FROG wood from your block of wood unless you have a 100% idea of what is FROG wood? You want to end up taking not too much and not too little; just the right amount, in the right place, to give that frog life? To make the viewer listen for the splash. The answer lies in your preparation - the drawings or models etc that you made before you started into the block. I'll say more about that next month but just let me ask you: what would be the point of doing these? None other that to distinguish what is your frog, and what isn't - to distinguish IN YOUR MIND. TO GIVE YOU A CLEAR VISION OF WHERE YOU ARE GOING - so you can see as fully as possible into the block of wood and take away wood from exactly the places you need to. Why wouldn't the picture you started with be enough? Well it might be, but it's unlikely. Your picture is TWO-dimensional: it's only a view from the 'picture plane'. You cannot go to one side and see the other eye, or round to the back for the arm, or the thickness of the body. You could just sally into the block of wood and nimbly assess what you are doing as you go along, but this is the more risky approach and the Aaargh! might never go away - it might even become vocal... So there you have it: vision. The more you can 'see' into the block and visualise the final form, the easier it will be to arrive there, the lesser the anxiety, the more the fun and the greater the chance of success. The way to get this 'vision'? It's not magic; it's not something that arrives out of the blue. Sure, some of us find it more easy than others but EVERYONE can enormously increase there vision of the piece they want to carve. How? With pre-gouge-into-wood groundwork. Next month: More on Preparation, or 'Where Does a Carving Start?' ================================================= That's all for this month! Joy and success in your carving! Chris Pye ------------------------- PS: One for the bench: "We are the music makers, And we are the dreamers of dreams, Wandering by lone sea-breakers, And sitting by desolate streams; - World-losers and world-forsakers, On whom the pale moon gleams: Yet we are the movers and shakers Of the world for ever, it seems." ~ Arthur O'Shaunessy ____________________________________________________________ SOME WEBSITE BOOKMARKS ____________________________________________________________ ----------------- SLIPSTONES WOODCARVING MANUALS Help yourself! Full list and details: http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/slipstones/index.html * Quick Carving Questions - 1 http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/slipstones/qcq1.html (Sponsored by Tools for Working Wood: http://www.toolsforworkingwood.com/) * Quick Carving Questions - 2 http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/slipstones/qcq2.html (Sponsored by Classic Hand Tools: http://www.classichandtools.com/) * Quick Carving Questions - 3 http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/slipstones/qcq3.html (Sponsored by Preferred Edge Carving Knives & Supplies: http://www.preferrededge.ca/) * Quick Carving Questions - 4 http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/slipstones/qcq4.html (Sponsored by The Japan Woodworker: http://www.japanwoodworker.com/) * The Accomplished V Tool 1 - Free evaluation copy http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/slipstones/v1.html * Learning to Carve - Free eBook http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/slipstones/learncarving.html * A Guide to Safe Woodcarving - Free eBook http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/slipstones/safecarving.html * Mistakes and Woodcarving - Free eBook http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/slipstones/mistakes.html * Fundamentals of Woodcarving - Free eBook http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/slipstones/fundamentals.html *Slicing, And The Value Of The Inside Bevel With The Chris Pye #2 1/2 Finishing Gouges From Ashley Iles - Free pdf http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/slipstones/slicing.html ----------------- TEACHING * UK (1-TO-1 PERSONAL TUITION) Full details here: http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/tuition/t_custom.html Single day: £150 3 days: £360 5 days: £495 Lunch included. Local B&Bs in a very beautiful part of England... * CANADA (ROSEWOOD STUDIO, ALMONTE, ONTARIO) 2005 http://www.rosewoodstudio.com Sep 12 - Sep 16 Relief Carving I (Beginners) Sep 19 - Sep 23 Relief Carving II (Advanced) * USA (CENTER FOR FURNITURE CRAFTSMANSHIP, MAINE) 2006 http://www.woodschool.org/ June 5 - 11 Wood Sculpture (provisionally - interested?) June 14 - 16 Wood Sculpture June 19 - 23 Ornamental Carving (content to be decided) June 26 - 30 Relief Carving July 3 - Jul 7 Intermediate/Advanced Carving ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Copyright (c) Chris Pye 2005 Chris@chrispye-woodcarving.com ----------------------- -----------------------