Assigning the volumes

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 .

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