1:  Woodcarving DVD: Sharpening Techniques - now available!
2:  Innovative Woodcarving Slipstones - now available!
3:  The Big 5...
4:  Miscellany:
       One for the Bench
       Back issues
       Woodcarving Tuition/Teaching
       Slipstones Woodcarving Manuals

1  Woodcarving DVD: Sharpening Techniques - now available!

What do I mean by 'correctly'?
All professional carvers know there's a real difference between 'sharp' and 'cutting well'.
This DVD is not just about 'sharpening'. It's also about how to make your gouge cut at its most efficient.

Do you understand the difference? You should! It can only benefit your carving.

With this DVD, get to really understand your gouge and how to sharpen it like a professional carver.

2  Innovative Woodcarving Slipstones - now available!

I've written a free pdf introducing them:

• what they are
• why these slipstones are so different
• the usefulness of the inside bevel
• where to get them
• how to use them

Carving seems to me more and more an 'inner game'.

I often think that I only do a few 'things' - let's call it 5 - when I carve. These are not so much techniques as attitudes that I have; focusses; ways of working.

It's hard to overemphasise how profound these things feel to me sometimes. I mention them to students ("Here's a pearl. Catch!") but I'm never really sure if they get it since I also understand how banal or drippy these things must sound.
Anyway, judge for yourself.
Here's the second:

Consider where did the two meet? What happens when mass meets space?

You get surfaces.
That's what you see and touch. And only that.

And where do surfaces meet?
They meet at junctions, which are nothing other than lines.

Junctions occur at the changes of plane: between one element and its background within a relief carving, for example, or the outline of a piece.
Additionally, there are softer lines where you have a more subtle change of plane, such as arise from tool facets worked into the surface. Then again, you have actual lines simply drawn into the surface, as in hair or fur.

So, really, that's all you have: surfaces and lines.
Think about at the moment.
No matter what you have made: when you have finished, all you can see are surfaces and lines.

As you carve you will be concerning yourself with the three-dimensional quality of what you are making. Of course. You need to get this mass, your original lump of wood, shaped correctly; flowing as it needs to flow; interesting, and appropriate to what your subect.

However, before you could say you have finished, you must give every surfaces and line its proper due.

So many times carvings fail not so much because of incorrect three-dimensionality, but because the surfaces and lines are poorly worked, untidy, unclear or running untrue.
Look at every surface, outline, facet and line. Consider them. Judge them. And take the trouble to correct them. if you need to.  

That's it!

Please forward this newsletter to a woodcarving friend, and anyone else you think might be interested. Thanks!

Joy and success with your carving.

                                                              Chris Pye  

 
PS: One for the Bench:

"It is common sense to take a method and try it; if it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something."

           ~ Franklin D.Roosevelt

BACK ISSUES of this newsletter:

http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/intro/pastnews.html
including zipfiles for 2001 - 2006 text-style newsletters

TUITION/TEACHING 2007

UK (1-TO-1 PERSONAL TUITION)

The best way to learn or improve your carving is to join me in my studio for intensive, custom tuition, tailored to exactly what you need. Easy to arrange; dates to suit.
Full details here:
http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/tuition/t_custom.html
 

USA 2008 (Center For Furniture Craftsmanship, Maine)

  July 21 - 25:  Relief Carving

  July 28 - Aug 8:  2 week Intermediate/Advanced

Details later in the year on the CFC website: http://www.woodschool.org

SLIPSTONES WOODCARVING MANUALS

Help yourself!
You are free to copy any or all of these ebooks, send them to your carving friends, or have them available on your own website but you must not charge money for them.

Full list and details here:
http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/slipstones/index.html

  Chris Pye Signature Slipstones (pdf only)
  Deep Undercutting Tools (pdf only)
  Key Notes on Sharpening Woodcarving Gouges (pdf only)
  Master Woodcarving Secrets (pdf only)
    (Sponsored by Tools for Working Wood)
  Quick Carving Questions - 1
    (Sponsored by Tools for Working Wood)
  Quick Carving Questions - 2
    (Sponsored by Classic Hand Tools http://www.classichandtools.com/)
  Quick Carving Questions - 3
     (Sponsored by Preferred Edge Carving Knives & Supplies)
  Quick Carving Questions - 4
  Selecting & Sharpening Your V Tool
  Learning to Carve
  Learning to Carve 2
  A Guide to Safe Woodcarving
  Mistakes and Woodcarving
  Fundamentals of Woodcarving
  Slicing, And The Value Of The Inside Bevel (pdf only)

  PDF versions of all Ebooks