Ruth Robinson
  • About me
  • Gallery
    • Hooked Rag Rugs
    • Punchneedle
    • Work in Progress
    • Drawings and Collages
  • contact me

Summer Term 2015

4/5/2015

0 Comments

 

Joining a new class is always a little scary especially if you're using a new medium and learning new skills.  I'd not done any carving in either wood or stone before, but the idea of carving a bit of alabaster appealed - but then panic sets in - what to carve?    Maybe a face?  So armed with some family photos for reference, I started with bit of clay, playing around with the idea of making a maquette to work from.  But faces are hard!  The face didn't work out and gradually, with the help of a bit of plasticine, the idea of a pod emerged instead. 

I had some lovely black and variegated Cornish stones which reminded me of seeds, so the idea developed of carving a pod-like shape that they would fit into, like conkers fit into their seed pod.  Unfortunately I forgot to photograph the plasticine pod, which subsequently had another, different incarnation, so no record survives, but the alabaster pod which eventually emerged is reasonably close to the original idea, though much more detail was added as the carving progressed and my skills improved.


Picture
Picture

There were all these new tools to get used to: carvers chops to hold the alabaster firmly, rasps to roughly shape it, chisels and gouges for more definition and riflers for the fine detail. 

Picture
The first stage
Picture
A little more definition (Photo from Paul's blog)
Picture
Top view, final stage with texture added and after polishing

Picture
Back view, final stage with texture and after polishing
Picture
Front view, final stage showing carved recesses for 'seeds' and after polishing
Picture
Finished pod with black pebble 'seeds' in place.

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    I joined Paul's  Mixed Media Sculpture class  in spring 2015 and had my first try at stone carving.  I've starting writing this blog in December 2016, so it's written retrospectively until I catch up to the present day projects.

    Archives

    May 2015

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.