---- Chris Pye: WOODCARVING - NEWSLETTER ---- May 2003 http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com "Dedicated to the teaching, learning and love of woodcarving" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Please forward this newsletter to a woodcarving friend, and anyone else you think might be interested. Thanks! 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/index.html 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 and 2002 newsletters ============================================================ Replying to this Newsletter? PLEASE CHANGE THE SUBJECT LINE! ============================================================ CONTENTS: 1. Website 1) New Gallery Carvings 2) New 'Inspiration' 3) Teaching Dates 2. Quick Carving Questions 1) Celtic Font? 2) Keeping Work Clean? 3) Finishing Basswood For Clay Moulds? 4) Preventing Wood Drying Between Sessions? 5) Cheap Ways Of Holding Relief Carvings? 6) Losing That Square Look In The Round? 3. Parallel Lines Guest Article: Attention Please - May I Have Your Attention? By Gary Lockwood Website Bookmarks at the end. __________________________________________ 1. WEBSITE NEWS __________________________________________ 1) NEW GALLERY CARVING King's Head in English Oak Height: 15in (381mm), width & depth: 12in (300mm). This is carving that appears in my Elements of Woodcarving and was asked about in this newsletter recently - finished at last! The EveryKing. Alfred and Edward I for example, or the mythological Arthur, even something of Jesus. I have put 8 pictures in a new gallery: http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/gallery/gallery14.html Would you like to own this carving? My work is almost always commissioned so I'm rarely able to sell carvings. The King's Head is for sale and, before I put it on eBay or similar, I am offering it to the website newsletter community first. Feel free to make me a sensible offer, or write if you want to discuss the carving, or anything else. 2) NEW INSPIRATION This seems to me just a perfect place to find one. And you can almost hear the music. Intrigued? Good! Have a look: http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/gallery/g_inspiration.html 3) TEACHING DATES Just a reminder. These areas are great places to visit in their own right. We have lots of fun and * USA (CENTER FOR FURNITURE CRAFTSMANSHIP, MAINE) Website: http://www.woodschool.org June 23 - 27 Ornamental Carving June 30 - July 4 Relief Carving July 7 - 11 Carving Tutorial * CANADA (ROSEWOOD STUDIO, ALMONTE, ONTARIO) http://http://www.rosewoodstudio.com Sep 15 - Sep 19 The Outcome of the Tool: Sep 22 - Sep 26 Relief Carving Links for more details, on my website, at the end of the newsletter ________________________________________ 2. QUICK CARVING QUESTIONS ________________________________________ **** QUESTION 1: CELTIC FONT **** Actually, I'm cheating. This isn't a question, just an interesting site found by Steve McDonald, who says: "Chris have you seen this font before? I downloaded it today - it's very cool and easy to use. Maybe someone you know might want to use it but, beware, it's kind of addictive!" http://www.clanbadge.com/knots.htm =================================== **** QUESTION 2: KEEPING WORK CLEAN? **** "I have just finished the carving of a totem pole (height approx. 100 cm) and am now preparing its final finishing. During the carving some parts of the carving ended up not as clean as I would like to have liked them to be. I have looked into some of your books and did not really find some instructions for how to do this and what is the best material to use. The wood used for the carving is Poplar. **** ANSWER **** The thing is, cleaning work that has already got dirty is very difficult - usually impossible - without carving. And the paler the wood, the worse the problem. That's why I am always emphasizing keeping work clean as you go along. It's so easy to get freshly cut wood dirty. Actually, my definitive statement and advice is in my Elements of Woodcarving: Page 90: 'Habits in Action' But hindsight's not a lot of help to you I know! Some thoughts: All woods darken with oiling and light, so the finish might just subsume some of the dirt over time. Scraping will remove heavy dirt and is better and quicker than sanding it away. But it still takes time, so why not skim over at least those parts that offend you most? You could also think about adding a little colour to the oil (either oil paint or oil based pigment). Or bleaching the worst areas before colouring. Thin colour will still let the grain show though but might be used to selectively cover problem areas? Remember too that handling will give a patina - in other words: post-finish dirt gives the work character! So perhaps you could antique the whole thing to make it look a bit less fresh and new? Use an 'antique wax' which will tone down the wood and quite literally throw shop dirt and dust at it with; then vigorously brush clean. =================================== **** QUESTION 3: FINISHING BASSWOOD FOR CLAY MOULDS? **** "I want to carve moulds in Basswood for clay casts. I need to seal the wood to deter cracking from the moisture in the clay, and retain the very light, creamy color of the basswood. Possible?" **** ANSWER **** You'll have to experiment with this as I've never done it for your purposes, but I would COMPLETELY SOAK the wood in linseed oil (boiled), rather than surface seal it. You can do this by repeatedly brushing the oil on, or immersing the wood in a vessel filled with the oil. I have read that if you warm the oil up to a simmering point a few times, this will help penetration. Leave a few days, remove and wipe/scrub off excess oil. Leave to dry. You may have to thin the oil a little with turpentine as it tends to be very thick, but the result should be very resistant to drying and cracking and clay should come away easily. =================================== **** QUESTION 4: PREVENTING BETWEEN SESSIONS DRYING? **** "Due to work constraints I have to take a break from carving up - to 1 month in duration. During this time, what are the ways I can protect the Work-In-Progress?" **** ANSWER **** It depends on the relative humidity, the type of wood, and how seasoned it is. The danger is in rapid loss of moisture from the wood and subsequent splitting as it adjusts to internal pressures. The answer's easy: Wrap your work in plastic (bag or clingwrap) between sessions to keep the moisture content even. =================================== **** QUESTION 5: CHEAP WAYS OF HOLDING RELIEF CARVINGS? **** "I'm just starting in relief carving and would like to know the best (and least expensive) way to clamp and secure the wood while carving." **** ANSWER **** I suggest you study my book Relief carving in Wood: http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/writing/w_bk4.html as well as my Woodcarving tools, Materials & Equipment: http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/writing/w_bk1vol2.html The first has a cheap method using 'fences', the second lots of other information and alternatives. =================================== **** QUESTION 6: LOSING THAT SQUARE LOOK IN THE ROUND? **** "Do you have any tips for the novice on how to avoid the square look when carving in the round?" **** ANSWER **** Essentially I think it boils down to a design that leads the eye - and thus the carver - round the corner. So you have to start at that end with the design. Have you tried modelling in clay? This is a great way to hang loose since the form will never be square unless you make it so. Many carvers do indeed begin with a square block, bandsawing from 2 sides. This will immediately give a square look, and your job is to break this squareness up - this is the aim in the bosting stage: putting in flow and movement along with the masses. Then again, there was a movement for 'truth to the form' that kept the squareness in - Eric Gill for example. ____________________________________________________________ 3. PARALLEL LINES GUEST ARTICLE: ATTENTION PLEASE - MAY I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION? By Gary Lockwood Why do some things catch your attention and others don't? Remember the last time you decided to buy a car? Once you decided what kind of car you wanted, all of a sudden, you started seeing more of that kind of car on the streets. Were they there before and you just didn't pay attention to them? A pregnant woman will start noticing other pregnant women. Your new house is close to railroad tracks, yet after a few days, you don't hear the trains anymore. What is it that provokes your attention? At the base of the brain where it connects to the spinal chord is a region known as the Reticular Activating System (RAS). The RAS acts as a newspaper editor. Editors make decisions regarding which stories get big headlines, page one treatment, and which items wind up buried with the ads on page sixteen. The RAS receives thousands of messages each second. Everything you see, hear, smell, feel and touch is a message entering your brain. The Reticular Activating System filters through all these messages and decides which ones will get page one treatment - that is, arouse the brain. The largest portion of the brain is the cerebrum. This is the center for cognition or thought. Deep within the central portion of the brain are the subsystems that are triggered by emotions. When a signal gets through the "editor" (Reticular Activating System) and arrives at the cerebrum, the brain turns on thoughts, emotions or both. Even though the cerebrum is the center for high level thought, it is unresponsive unless the reticular formation sends a signal to begin the data processing. Here's the hard part. What causes some messages to get through the filter and others to be blocked out? One of the things we've learned from working with entrepreneurs is that we tend to pay attention to the things which are important to us at the time. If our currently dominant thoughts are about creating a new brochure, we'll start seeing other brochures. We'll hear conversations about brochures. We'll pick up ideas relating to brochures and even notice colors that would be attractive for the new brochure. In other words, the Reticular Activating System will pass through anything even remotely related to the important issue - the brochure. From a practical point of view, this means that, if we want to solve a problem or achieve a goal, keep it at the top of your mind. Think about it, talk about it, write about it and imagine it completed. This is one of the reasons why affirmations work so well and why it is important to review your goals frequently. Some people will keep an idea at "top of mind" by creating a notebook of pictures, cut from magazines, that reflect their idea or their desired end result. This "image book" helps the visualization process, keeps the brain focused on the important issue and triggers the RAS. If it's possible to turn on the brain, is it also possible to turn it off? There are three common situations where the brain is more than likely to shut down: 1. Conflict... One of the ways to turn off the brain involves the use of conceptual conflicts. Ironically, conceptual conflict can also turn on your brain and stimulate creative thought, but only if you have been successful in resolving small amounts of conflict in similar situations. Such a background will have provided you with a reservoir of confidence you can tap regarding the new question. However, the insecure person may look at the difference between the expected outcome and the real result and sigh: "I'm wrong again. I can't do this." If the problem appears unsolvable or out of reach, we may just give up before we ever get started. 2. Overstimulation... Have you ever decided to clean the garage, but after inspecting the area, decided to take a nap? Have you ever committed yourself to a night of preparation for a big presentation, but once you scanned the material and noticed how overwhelmingly difficult it seems, decided to do other tasks that were long overdue? These are classic examples of flight behavior. Despite your good intentions of cleaning or preparing, you gave up before you started. The tasks were so large that you didn't know where to begin. Was your brain stimulated? Yes, but it was so over-stimulated that it shut down, and the outward behavior may have been physical. You find yourself very tired: "I'll clean the garage after I take a nap." You might even get sick: "I was so nervous about the presentation that I got nauseous." To avoid shutting down your brain from overstimulation, break a large or difficult into several steps, then tackle the project a step at a time. 3. Understimulation... The more popular term for this condition is boredom. Whenever a behavior is repeated to the extent that it is habitual, the brain shuts down. Shouting at a child to "Sit down and shut up" will grab their attention and they will respond for a while, but if you choose to begin every day with that command, the child will suddenly "go deaf" and not even hear you. Closely allied with the repetition of behavior is the familiarity of the subject matter. When you announce to your team that the next day will be devoted to smile training for customer service, they greet you with a moan, "smile training again!" The familiar is usually not a great motivator. Perhaps the key to interest is making the familiar seem strange. For example, setting up role play situations where your team members get to act out the part of customer and service representative in a variety of situations. Try something new. Don't fall asleep in your comfort zone. As we have seen, there is a thin line between the actions that turn the brain on and off. By taking advantage of how your brain works, you can increase your creativity, reduce boredom, boost recognition of opportunities and accelerate achievement of your goals. Where do you start? Write down the five most important outcomes you want to achieve in the coming year. Put this paper in a convenient place where you can read it every day. This affirmation of your preferred future will keep your Reticular Activating System working for you, filtering in the sights, sounds, ideas and people to help you get there. In other words, it will get your attention. =================================== About the Author... Gary Lockwood is Increasing the Effectiveness and Enhancing the Lives of CEOs, business owners and professionals. Get the CEO Success Report at: http://www.CEOSuccess.com/newsletter.htm Get the Free BizSuccess newsletter: http://www.bizsuccess.com/newsletter.htm or send any blank email to mailto:subscribe@BizSuccess.com Email: mailto:Gary@BizSuccess.com Web: http://www.BizSuccess.com ========================================= Chris Pye: ***** HOW DOES THIS ARTICLE RELATE TO WOODCARVING? I love all this brain stuff! My jaw drops with the increasing sense of incredulity... There are two particularly important issues here: As a carver, how you get you viewers' attention? How do you just grab it, stop them walking by? By making your work stand out, get attention, from others. And how do you maintain and achieve your aims as a carver? Trying to get that balance between over- and underdoing it? Good, simple advice at the end. ============================================= That's all for this month! Joy and success in your carving! Chris Pye ------------------------- PS: Another one to ponder at the bench: "Without continuous personal development you are now all that you will ever become, and hell starts when the person you are, meets the person you could have been." Eli Cohen ____________________________________________________________ SOME WEBSITE BOOKMARKS ____________________________________________________________ -----------------WOODCARVING TOOLS * UK TOOLSHOP: Auriou woodcarving tools and other equipment http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/toolshop/ts_uktoolshop.html * UKTOOLSHOP Direct Link (missing out introductory page): http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/toolshop/uktoolshop/index.html -----------------WOODCARVING MANUALS * The Accomplished V Tool 1 - Free evaluation copy http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/ * Learning to Carve - Free eBook http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/learncarving/learn_ebook.html * A Guide to Safe Woodcarving - Free eBook http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/safecarving/safecarving_index.html * Mistakes and Woodcarving - Free eBook http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/mistakes/mistakes_ebook.html * Fundamentals of Woodcarving - Free eBook http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/fundamentals/fundamentals_ebook.html -----------------TEACHING DATES * USA (CENTER FOR FURNITURE CRAFTSMANSHIP, MAINE) http://www.woodschool.org June 23 - 27 Ornamental Carving June 30 - July 4 Relief Carving July 7 - 11 Carving Tutorial Full details here: http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/tuition/t_classesUSA.html * CANADA (ROSEWOOD STUDIO, ALMONTE, ONTARIO) http://http://www.rosewoodstudio.com Sep 15 - Sep 19 The Outcome of the Tool: Sep 22 - Sep 26 Relief Carving Full details here: http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/tuition/t_classesCAN.html Here's a link to view Rosewood's latest newsletter: http://www.rosewoodstudio.com/woodworking_newsl/woodworking_newsl.htm Inquiries, please call toll free 1-866-704-7778. * UK (1-TO-1 PERSONAL TUITION) Full details here: http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/tuition/t_custom.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Copyright (c) Chris Pye 2003 Chris@chrispye-woodcarving.com