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SculptureBlog
by Koen van Velzen, sculptor in stone and bronze
vanH | coat of arms

Drilling holes

ByKoen van Velzen 17-07-201309-02-2026

When carving reliefs I like to start with ‘jig sawing‘: carving the contours pretty tight and perpendicular, right up to the background material of the relief. The diamond drill is a handy tool for that. I usually drill lots of holes to the correct depth, so I don't need to measure how deep the relief is and where all the parts have to go. So that is what I did today.

  • coat of arms, family crest carved in Elm wood, coat of arms relief
  • crest stone with coat of arms, coat of arms embossed in stone

It was hot today, and the corn simply races out of the soil. And the flowers; in the context of subsidised 'natural field boundaries’ the farmer has sown a floral mixture and I see buckwheat, bluebottle, vetches and I don't know what more start growing near my shop. A beautiful work place. Finally, I started a little bit with shaping the deepest parts of the relief. I prefer to work from deeper to higher parts, and when finishing high to low. That's for a reason, but you will notice only when you try it yourself.

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Report tags: #Bentheimer#drilling#coat-of-arms#measuring#surroundings#relief#techniques#sandstone

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