• Hot weather and rough griffins

    background, vanH, coat of arms
    2 comments
    33 degrees tent

    With 33 degrees Celsius it's actually no weather to be carving right under the hot sun. In anticipation of my final shelter I just stretched a tarp today, and if I just keep the floor wet, it'll be alright.

    The precarving is making good progress, just a while and I can start detailing the coat-of-arms finally.

    In consultation with the client, I've carved the shield slightly convex, making it a bit more lively. Result of course is that the sides ende up quite a bit lower, so I had to carve the claws of the right hand (to the audience left hand) Griffin all over again. Because I already knew this could happen, there was no problem. I outlined the cross on the shield, and that also still needs to be finished.

    roughly carved

    In addition, I have made a start with the helmet and the left (for the viewers at home right) griffin.

    All volumes are now just about roughly shaped, it just looks very crude still. That is intended; First I wanted to see how the parts relate to each other. I prefer to do the detailing only when it's clear to me there will be no more surprises.

    On the picture I got as an example, the shield contains a series of balls and lines. That's a color coding that's used in Heraldry: dots means gold, and lines stand for Red. So if someone made a line drawing or an unpainted relief of a coat of arms, expert could know anyway that the shield was painted in gold with red. So each color had its own code. And not only that, actually red is called gule, gold is called or, black is sabre, green is vert or sinople, silver isargent and blue azure, and each color has its own display in black and white, for example, by cross-hatching. Because the weapon is seen from the position of the Knight, left and right are dubbed opposite for the viewer.

    The majority of those I 'sort of' knew, but with the internet it is very convenient if I can check this stuff quickly. At home in front of the computer, that is, when I'm carving I have no time for that.

    Nasty the first message about this project.
    Nasty the next post about this project.

  • Assigning the volumes

    vanH, coat of arms
    Left griffin crude carving

    The precarving of a sculpture has to do with roughly defining the desired volumes. This means that I determine where the mass of a component should approximately be, without going into details too much. At this stage it is mainly about figuring out whether all parts are in harmony with each other.

    I am currently working on the coat-of-arms, and since this is a relief, I divide it into small pieces. A tail, a hind leg, the shield, the wings, each small part is carved like a separate puzzle piece. That is possible because I have several reference points: the lines I've carved into the stone are still on the remaining parts of the relief, and the drill holes also indicate fairly accurately where everything has to go. I don't need to determine their position over and over again, because I all captured those at an earlier stage . I only need to concern myself with the height and curves. Hence I only do the precarving at first ; if I would completely finish it and then later discover that it has to come down a lot more, I have to do everything all over again.

    I've just about carved one Griffin now , but that is in relation to the shield and the compartment on which it stands. The shield again is in relation to the helmet, so if I later discover that the shield still has to come down a lot more, I also need to re-carve the legs of the Griffin. That's why I haven't been undercutting all the parts yet; they have all been carved perpendicular to base material, so I always have room left to carve deeper. I only chop away the material from under the legs when I know that everything is properly in place. The next part is the helmet, and only when that's ready I will know if everything is to my liking. The other half is just a mirrored copy.

    Sandstone is very pleasant to carve in, but it is not good for your lungs. That's why I use an air helmet, and keep the stone wet. Another advantage is that wet sandstone is easier to carve. It still remains very sunny and hot for the time being, and you can tell by the stone itself: I keep making it wet, but it dries out again in an instant .

    Nasty the first message about this project.
    Nasty the next post about this project.

No more messages to show.

No more messages to show.