---- Chris Pye: WOODCARVING - NEWSLETTER ---- October 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: Coming to the end of moving house and workshop and this newsletter is still of the minimal ilk. My email address remains constant for all those who know me - and if I haven't sent you my new address by October (and you think you should have it!) just drop me a line. If you are short on reading matter, do have a look at past issues! Link above. 1. Workshop Move 2. New Gallery on the Website 3. Learning to Carve II Part 6: 'Where Does a Carving Start?' Website Bookmarks at the end. List of Slipstones Woodcarving Manuals Teaching Dates ________________________________________________ 1. Workshop Move ________________________________________________ I'm over the brow of the hill with my house and workshop move - well not quite, I am up the side of what is known as 'Brilley Mountain', right on the English side of the border with Wales and nestling near Offa's Dyke among the gorgeous hills of the Black Mountains. By 'over the brow' I meant that I am in there and the major sorting out is done. I have a smaller workspace, meaning I have to simplify (and have discovered how good for the soul is letting go and throwing away!). I live now in 'hamlet' called Brilley: a few houses, church (no pub!) a loose collection of houses and farms knitted together by a net of single track roads - some no better than rat runs. Why have I chosen somewhere so obscure? Well, it's not really. 5 miles away is Hay-on-Wye, the 'Town of Books' - estimates vary between 20 and 30 miles of bookshelves! - which also boasts an international literary festival each year. It's a very creative, unspoiled part of the world. Hay is also a main centre for walking the Black Mountains & Brecon Beacons (Brecon is the town from which came the South Wales Borderers who were famously involved in Rork's Drift. Remember the film 'Zulu'?) So, if you ever come this way for teaching, there is a lot to do and make a vacation of! Personally I'm in love with the region. And I now live somewhere in its heart, silent and with the space and light to work and create in. I count my blessings every day! And - thank you for your patience -this newsletter should get back to something more normal soon. And as a token, here's something I made earlier... ________________________________________________ 2. New Gallery on the Website ________________________________________________ I was very privileged to have been asked by the 'staff' at Clarence House (the London residence of the royal couple) to design and carve a breakfast table rosebowl to commemorate the wedding of TRH The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall. I have put up some pictures here: http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/gallery/gallery16.html The main gallery index is here: http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/gallery/g_index.html Have a look. (You can even tell me what you think!) ________________________________________________ 3. NEW SERIES: LEARNING TO CARVE II Part 7: 'WHERE DOES A CARVING START' ________________________________________________ This really happened: I was 'doing the rounds' in an ongoing adult woodcarving class. I got to a busy student carving away at an interestingly shaped block of wood; a project I hadn't see before. I admired his work, "Nice squirrel." "It's a horse." Now in terms of social faux pas that was a good one. Not quite the time for pressing that 'swallow-me-up-trap-door-opening' button, but getting close. There was a bit of jovial laughter from me and a sort of withering smile from him, and then a longish silence. But then my finger came away from the button (it's in the middle of my forehead and used too often - but I shouldn't be telling you this in case I meet you when you're in a playful mood.) as I realised the student had a fundamental problem which I couldn't let pass. I asked to see his reference material. I didn't actually say 'reference material' but any 'pictures and drawings of horses'. I could have said 'photographs and pictures, anatomy books, sketches, working drawings, model', meaning all that stuff which tells you what a horse looks like in the pose you want. He had none. Nothing. Not a picture in a book; sketch on a napkin; horse parked in the yard. Zilch. "So how familiar are you with horses?" (I was tempted, "And squirrels?") "Oh, not any really. I've seen horses on TV of course; I know what they look like. I rode a donkey on Penarth beach once." The story was that he felt like carving a horse, So fired with enthusiasm he just started took a block of wood and go going. Familiar? And what's the problem with that? Well, nothing if you can do it. But most of us - including me - can't, and we run the risk of our carvings not reaching the standards we have set in out minds, or what others might reasonable expect when they view the finished piece. We all want to succeed in our woodcarving and we don't want ignorant peripatetic teachers failing to see our struggling genius. Let me come at the problem a roundabout way: When I was a young lad I was chased by a horse that was certainly going to eat me. I had no doubt that it was a 'horse'; I recognised it straight away: the 4 legs, the thundering hooves and the piranha-like teeth. It was my first and blighted encounter with a horse but it was definitely a horse and not, despite the teeth, a piranha. And, though I've never seen an example in the flesh, so to speak, should I one day find a piranha in my bath I'd be able to cry, without hesitation: 'There's a piranha in my bath!' - and not a horse. I heard of an experiment where college students were shown a 1000 or so pictures and then asked to write down what they remembered. Big trouble - it was in dozens. The students were re-shown the pictures with 20 or so new ones inserted in to the series and asked to indicate objects they hadn't seen before. They had no problems picking out them all. This experiment was about 'recognition' and 'memory': our brains easily recognise vast amounts of things but struggle with relatively poor ability to recall them. Recognising things is a natural and highly developed skill in all of us - you can see how valuable a survival skill it is when making a decision to run away quickly, or not take a bath. It is vital to understand the difference between 'recognizing' something and 'remembering' it. We can recognise, say, a horse from the merest glimpse of a part or a silhouette but, unless we are exceptionally gifted or experienced, can't draw a fetlock to save our lives. Like my student, many carvers start into their block of wood mistaking recognition for memory. They expect to wing it. If there is a difference between them and myself, I've learned not to make this mistake. I've learned to reign in my desire and NOT SEE MY CARVING AS STARTING WHEN THE CHISEL HITS THE WOOD. I see a the process that results in a woodcarving as starting much earlier: with THE IDEA - which needs firming up into something different and interesting. It then goes to THE RESEARCH, which fills the outline idea and fleshes out simple recognition. ONLY THEN does it move into hard wood. What reference material do you need? The answer is: Enough! Drawings, pictures, sketches or photos you've taken from the real thing, plastic or clay models - whatever is needed to give you confidence. This reference material supports your carving skills. It shows you the way; stops you making mistakes; turns your struggles into competence. YOU CANNOT HAVE TOO MUCH RESEARCH AND SUPPORT MATERIAL, BUT YOU CAN HAVE TOO LITTLE. And the result of inadequate support material is likely to be having someone praise your good-looking squirrel when you are actually carving a horse. Next month: Transferable Skills ================================================= That's all for this month! Joy and success in your carving! Chris Pye ------------------------- PS: One for the bench: "The best way to get a good idea is to get many ideas." ~ Linus Pauling ____________________________________________________________ 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, or possibly staying with myself, hear Hay-on-Wye ('The Town of Books') in a very beautiful part of England, near the Welsh border... * USA (CENTER FOR FURNITURE CRAFTSMANSHIP, MAINE) 2006 http://www.woodschool.org/ June 19 - 23 Wood Sculpture June 26 - July 7 Relief Carving July 10 - 14 Intermediate/Advanced Carving ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Copyright (c) Chris Pye 2005 Chris@chrispye-woodcarving.com ----------------------- -----------------------