---- Chris Pye: WOODCARVING - NEWSLETTER ---- August 2005 http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com "Dedicated to the teaching, learning and love of woodcarving" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This is an opt-in newsletter and you should only be receiving it because you requested it from the website, or were sent it by a friend. Subscribe or Unsubscribe easily on the home page here: http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/ or using the link at the end of the newsletter. ****Back issues here: http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/intro/pastnews.html including zipfiles for 2001, 2002 & 2003, 2004 newsletters ============================================================ Hello Everyone! Many, many thanks to everyone who has forwarded this email to friends and family. Please keep passing it on and getting them to add themselves to the distribution list. CONTENTS: Still in the throes of moving house and workshop so this newsletter will tend to be a little minimal for a while. My email address remains constant for all those who know me. If you are short on reading matter, do have a look at past issues! Link above. 1. Learning to Carve II Part 5: 'The Theory of Relativity' Website Bookmarks at the end. List of Slipstones Woodcarving Manuals Teaching Dates ________________________________________________ 1. NEW SERIES: LEARNING TO CARVE II Part 5: 'The Theory of Relativity' ________________________________________________ Move over Einstein! I can best illustrate my point by telling you how I arrived at it. I have been teaching an intermediate/advanced woodcarving class at the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship in Maine for several years now: students bring their own projects, which I oversee. Once up and running, I go from bench to bench seeing how they are doing, encouraging, advising - and solving problems... One of these problems is what we carvers call 'The Missing Wood Phenomenon'. (MWP in scientific circles.) And the first I hear about it is a variation on 2 themes: "Er... it fell off!" "Wow - squirrels have TWO ears! Where's the wood for the other one gone!" In other words there is a bit of wood missing from where you wanted it. Recognise this strange effect? Nothing to do with you of course; it's a mystery as yet unknown to science - just as the pull of gravity is greater around your bench than elsewhere, or tools demanifest from your bench only to return through a wormhole in space when you stop looking for them. The thing is, as I arrive at the bench and am told about the dreadful MWP, I'm also expected to do something about it! Which is? Carve the missing wood back on! Because that is the ONLY thing I CAN do. Let's be clear: unless we glue more material to the block to restore the missing wood, all I have at my command is to CARVE MORE WOOD AWAY. And, 9 times out of 10 I carve more wood away - and, as if by magic, more appears. Boy, does my street cred. go up! (Not for the remaining 1 out of 10: I usually slink away shaking my head and leaving the student brooding on the follies of being human.) So what's going on here? Well it's relativity. Everything is relative to everything else! What you see in a woodcarving depends entirely on the context - the wood around it. Consider a relief carving: We think the subject is projecting forward but, really, IT HAS STAYED IN THE SAME PLACE AND WE HAVE TAKEN THE SURROUNDING WOOD BACK. Take more and it's a 'high' relief; less and it's 'low'. So, by adjusting (removing) wood around the subject I can make elements APPEAR to gain wood, to move forward, or even actually appear. In fact, that is ALL you do when you carve - anything. You see it as well in tool sharpening: the corners might seem to project forwards as you sharpen. But, really, THEY HAVE STAYED IN THE SAME PLACE AND YOU HAVE REMOVED METAL IN THE MIDDLE. If you are not to be undone by the dreaded MWP, you really must understand this sense of relativity as you carve, and work with it. A final nugget of carving wisdom that arises from what I've just said: Even as you are removing wood, you must GIVE YOUR FULL ATTENTION TO THE WOOD YOU ARE LEAVING - that's your carving, not the woodchips on the floor. Next month: 'Vision' ================================================= That's all for this month! Joy and success in your carving! Chris Pye ------------------------- PS: One for the bench: "Our ordinary mind always tries to persuade us that we are nothing but acorns and that our greatest happiness will be to become bigger, fatter, shinier acorns; but that is of interest only to pigs. Our faith gives us knowledge of something better: that we can become oak trees." ~ E.F. Schumacher ____________________________________________________________ SOME WEBSITE BOOKMARKS ____________________________________________________________ ----------------- SLIPSTONES WOODCARVING MANUALS Help yourself! Full list and details: http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/slipstones/index.html * Quick Carving Questions - 1 http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/slipstones/qcq1.html (Sponsored by Tools for Working Wood: http://www.toolsforworkingwood.com/) * Quick Carving Questions - 2 http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/slipstones/qcq2.html (Sponsored by Classic Hand Tools: http://www.classichandtools.com/) * Quick Carving Questions - 3 http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/slipstones/qcq3.html (Sponsored by Preferred Edge Carving Knives & Supplies: http://www.preferrededge.ca/) * Quick Carving Questions - 4 http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/slipstones/qcq4.html (Sponsored by The Japan Woodworker: http://www.japanwoodworker.com/) * The Accomplished V Tool 1 - Free evaluation copy http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/slipstones/v1.html * Learning to Carve - Free eBook http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/slipstones/learncarving.html * A Guide to Safe Woodcarving - Free eBook http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/slipstones/safecarving.html * Mistakes and Woodcarving - Free eBook http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/slipstones/mistakes.html * Fundamentals of Woodcarving - Free eBook http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/slipstones/fundamentals.html *Slicing, And The Value Of The Inside Bevel With The Chris Pye #2 1/2 Finishing Gouges From Ashley Iles - Free pdf http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/slipstones/slicing.html ----------------- TEACHING * UK (1-TO-1 PERSONAL TUITION) Full details here: http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/tuition/t_custom.html Single day: £150 3 days: £360 5 days: £495 Lunch included. Local B&Bs in a very beautiful part of England... * CANADA (ROSEWOOD STUDIO, ALMONTE, ONTARIO) 2005 http://www.rosewoodstudio.com Sep 12 - Sep 16 Relief Carving I (Beginners) Sep 19 - Sep 23 Relief Carving II (Advanced) * USA (CENTER FOR FURNITURE CRAFTSMANSHIP, MAINE) 2006 http://www.woodschool.org/ June 5 - 11 Wood Sculpture (provisionally - interested?) June 14 - 16 Wood Sculpture June 19 - 23 Ornamental Carving (content to be decided) June 26 - 30 Relief Carving July 3 - Jul 7 Intermediate/Advanced Carving ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Copyright (c) Chris Pye 2005 Chris@chrispye-woodcarving.com ----------------------- -----------------------