---- Chris Pye: WOODCARVING - NEWSLETTER ---- October 2002 http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com "Dedicated to the teaching, learning and love of woodcarving" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hello Everyone! 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 zipfile for 2001 newsletters ============================================================ Replying to this Newsletter? PLEASE CHANGE THE SUBJECT LINE! ============================================================ CONTENTS: 1. Slipstones Woodcarving Magazine - October 2002 2. Website News 1) New & Free Woodcarving eBook 2) Forthcoming Survey 3. Woodcarving Tuition in Canada - 2003 4. Quick Carving Questions 1) Source of Butternut? 2) Wood-boring Beetles? 3) Carving Flowers? 4) Book on Clay Modelling? 5) Stop Cuts in Lettering? 5. Article: On Cameras and Photographing Your Work By Chris Pye Website Bookmarks at the end. ____________________________________________________________ 1. SLIPSTONES WOODCARVING MAGAZINE - October 2002 ____________________________________________________________ Slipstones Woodcarving Magazine is like an invitation to my workshop where I share my experience of over 25 years as a professional woodcarver, and offer advice and support, along with that of other subscribers. WHY NOT JOIN ME? For full details of this invaluable interactive woodcarving magazine, go now to: http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/slipstones/index.html And get your FREE copy of '101 Master Woodcarving Secrets', exclusive to subscribers. Back issues of Slipstones now available without subscribing. ----- THIS MONTH: *** CARVING SMOKE, FLAMES AND THE NEST *** The final stage in the ONGOING PHOENIX CARVING which now appears in the new website gallery. (http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/gallery/gallery13.html) How do you carve smoke? What about a nest? Tricky! If you have a look at the gallery picture: http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/gallery/phoen6.html you'll see how I approached this challenging aspect of the carving. In this month's Slipstones I take you behind the scenes to see how I went about it. *** HOW MUCH PRESSURE FOR GLUEING UP? *** It depends. And how much glue do you really need? Enough. But what's that? Find out more in Slipstones... *** DOWEL PLATES What's that? A little known, low-tech, fun piece of kit that can any size dowel out of any piece of wood in seconds. Oh yes - and I show you how to make the kit itself, easily... *** ROUTER PLANERS And another, 'what's that?' Also little known. Very useful for flattening wood. Find out more by subscribing to Slipstones. *** And yet more, including 'LINES OF LIGHT' and CARVING TIPS. Subscribe to Slipstones magazine. And get your FREE copy of '101 MASTER WOODCARVING SECRETS', exclusive to subscribers. Have you downloaded your FREE sample edition of Slipstones? Find it here: http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/slipstones/index.html ____________________________________________________________ 2. WEBSITE NEWS ____________________________________________________________ 1) NEW WOODCARVING EBOOK "Fundamentals of Woodcarving" I have gathered together the series of articles that appeared recently in this newsletter, added a few pictures and turned it into an eBook. It's free, yours for the downloading, and here: http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/fundamentals/fundamentals_ebook.html As with the other free eBooks on the site, you can happily copy it, send it to friends or make it available from your own website. 2) FORTHCOMING SURVEY It's in the offing! I am putting together a short survey or questionnaire about the website and online newsletters and magazines. I want to improve what I am doing and so, in turn, help you improve and enjoy your carving more The survey will probably come as a separate mailing, possibly even before the next newsletter; it will also be available online. Please, when you see it, do take a few moments to reply. I'd really appreciate having as much feedback as possible. Thanks very much! __________________________________________ 3. WOODCARVING TUITION IN CANADA - 2003 __________________________________________ I am privileged to have been asked to run 2 week-long woodcarving courses at Rosewood Studio in Almonte, Ontario, Canada - 20 minutes from Ottawa. http://www.rosewoodstudio.com/index.html Rosewood Studio is run and directed by Ted Brown and has an aim of providing "the best possible instruction in the fine art of woodworking", using "'instructors [who] are some of the finest crafts persons of our time... professional woodworkers hailing from all across the North America.' Woodcarving courses are new to Rosewood. The ones I am takings are open to everyone, previous experience of carving or not. You'll see they take place in the Autumn of next year. There are a limited number of spaces and now you have plenty of time to and plan and book! Any questions about what we will be doing, please feel free to email me. Questions about booking, facilities or accommodation etc, to Rosewood Studio please. So, what will we be doing? In both course, besides essential techniques of carving, students will also learn fundamental skills of sharpening carving tools and maintaining sharpness. More specifically: 1. THE OUTCOME OF THE TOOL: AN INTRODUCTION TO DECORATIVE CARVING DATE: 1-week Sept. 15 to Sept. 19, 2003 Have you some piece of furniture, possibly a drawer front, or a box or fire surround that needs that 'extra something', some ornamentation to finish it off? Some leaves, perhaps, or a carved moulding? This is where 'decorative woodcarving' comes in. And the decoration that is most admired results from working with carving tools: using them correctly, efficiently and designing with the tools in mind. In this course I begin with exercises in holding and manipulating the carving tools, and finding out what they do best. Basic cuts are built up in stages into simple but strong, traditional designs, left straight from the chisel: leaves, flowers, and mouldings for example, suitable for decorating furniture. More details: http://www.rosewoodstudio.com/woodworking_school_courses/woodworking_itdc_2003.htm 2. RELIEF CARVING - AN INTRODUCTION Date: 1-week Sept. 22 to Sept 26, 2003 Yes - this is The Fish! - perhaps the best way I've ever found of starting someone in general carving, and help improve the work of those with more experience. Relief carving can be used for creating 'pictures' in its own right or as a means of decorating furniture. My book "Relief Carving - A Practical Introduction" was derived from the content of this workshop, and I've successfully taught it to hundreds of students. We'll use the book as a guide to woodcarving techniques. Step by step you will design and complete a project in low and then high relief, learning how to use carving tools for lining in, grounding out, setting in, modelling and surface finishing - straight from the cutting edge. The result will be that you have a repertoire of transferable carving skills and can go on to carve with a sense of confidence. More details: http://www.rosewoodstudio.com/woodworking_school_courses/woodworking_reliefcarving_2003.htm As I said, any questions about what we will be doing, please feel free to email me. See you next year! __________________________________________ 4. QUICK CARVING QUESTIONS __________________________________________ **** QUESTION 1: SOURCE OF BUTTERNUT? **** "I live in the K.C. Missouri area. How can I find a 5 to 6ft. Butternut log, 18in. diameter? I'd like to carve a bear." **** ANSWER **** I'm afraid I'm the wrong man to ask about Butternut - it doesn't grow here in the UK. Perhaps there are local timber merchants who can give you a better idea of what is available. And perhaps someone reading this can help? =================================== **** QUESTION 2: WOOD-BORING BEETLES **** "My father has carved a six foot Indian out of basswood. The entire surface is being bored by something. Hundreds of small holes - he says like a pencil eraser size - are appearing. He has tried insecticide inside the holes but nothing seems to be helping. Any suggestions?" **** ANSWER **** Holes like this mean the beetle has flown; and just injecting the holes is of little help. If the wood has been varnished, waxed etc whatever liquid or other treatment you use will not penetrate the wood. I suggest you check out a firm specialising in woodworm treatment - we have different critters in the UK - strip the carving of any surface finish, and soak in a woodworm killing fluid. Allow to dry and re-finish. =================================== **** QUESTION 3: Carving Flowers? **** "I have been carving mostly small things for several years and recently began a full size carousel horse. Looking at the flowers you did on the bed (eg: http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/gallery/bed6.html) was exactly the form I have been looking for to improve the flowers I am doing behind the saddle. Any pointers you can give me?" **** ANSWER **** One, very important one: If you look you will see that I have nestled them together, overlapping, minimising the gaps in between. Why? Well, the real difficulty is getting in between flowers to carve any background. I have effectively eliminated most of the problem. So what you have is more of a shallow relief than a deep one; the flowers are wrapped over and around the wood of the bed. You can bore out these spaces first, clean them out, then punch them further back to finish. =================================== **** QUESTION 4: BOOK ON CLAY MODELLING? **** "I just purchased a copy of your book, Elements of Woodcarving. In the section on modelling you mentioned getting a good book for advice on storing clay and keeping it wet etc. I was wondering if you could suggest one such book for a new woodcarver? " **** ANSWER **** Clay is very simple stuff. Mud, really, if you think about it. What you need to know about it for our purposes is minimal and not specific to woodcarving. So you'll find any book on modelling in clay will tell you what you need to know - that's one reason why I haven't recommended one on the website. =================================== **** QUESTION 5: STOP CUTS IN LETTERING? **** "When incising lettering - as in your lettercarving book - is the 'centre stop cut' shallower than the final depth? In other words, the two following angle cuts meet each other below that centre stop cut?" **** ANSWER **** Exactly so. The initial stop cut is only to control the grain when you make the angle cuts. If it goes down say just a third of the way, that's fine. Sorry that wasn't clear! ____________________________________________________________ 5. ARTICLE: On Cameras and Photographing Your Work By Chris Pye ____________________________________________________________ ON CAMERAS & PHOTOGRAPHING YOUR WORK By Chris Pye I was recently asked: "I'm thinking of buying a camera to photograph my carvings. What should I buy, digital or SLR? What do you use?" I think the answer lies in another question: what is it you really want to do? Why photograph at all? Myself, I undertake two sorts of photography relating to my carving. In the first place I need to illustrate my writing (articles, books and so on) and a lot of this is 'work in progress'. They often seem a bit 'down and dirty'; views from the workface. Secondly, I need a portfolio of work to show clients. More and more I send them to the website, but if it is a face-to-face meeting then I need my hard copy. A third reason might be to keep a record, but this need is satisfied with portfolio work. I do have a digital camera - I use it for the website work and illustrating Slipstones. I also have a fairly old but trusty SLR. Since the SLR will of course take a picture that can be scanned into a computer and so fulfil digital needs, if I didn't have a camera at all, then an SLR would be my most useful option. However, if I only wanted to send pictures electronically, or post them on my website, I'd be best going for a digital camera. Remember that the resolution on VDU's is very low and 75dpi is quite adequate, so a camera that sings and dances would be a waste of money. As I said, the decision depends on what you need to do. What about the actual photographing of carvings? A few notes, applying to all cameras: The most important thing to consider is the lighting. Carvings are all about light and shadow. However: * Start by setting up a simple background - some simple colour or texture that sets off the piece. * Mount your camera on a tripod * Arrange the subject in your lens. * NOW turn to the lighting. There is a tried and tested method which I use practically all of the time. You need two sources of lighting: * A general one from the front * Another more focussed light from the side. Now: * Look carefully through the lens; move the lights about; turn the carving. * Just play about with many variations and you'll find something that looks good, that shows your work off well. * I never use a flash; the results are unpredictable compared to fixed lighting and flash easily washes out shadows. * Take a series of frames at different exposures. * Daylight and reflecting surfaces give some of the best results. More than the camera itself, results really depend on the eye behind it. I never claim to be a photographer, and am entirely self-taught in what I do. If you know better or have something to add, please write to me. Better still: why not write a short article about your experiences for inclusion in this newsletter? ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ That's it for this month! Joy and success in your carving! Chris Pye ------------------------- PS: Another one to ponder at the bench: "Many people dream of success. To me, success can only be achieved through repeated failure and introspection." - Soichiro Honda, founder of Honda Motors SOME WEBSITE BOOKMARKS ____________________________________________________________ * 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 * Slipstones Magazine http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/slipstones/index.html * 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 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Copyright (c) Chris Pye 2002 Chris@chrispye-woodcarving.com ------------------------------------------------------------- Chris Pye: Woodcarving Newsletter is listed in the EzinesPlus directory of newsletters and ezines. http://ezinesplus.com -------------------------------------------------------------