Day 0: Learning to Wood Carve
Testing out to see if what kind of progress I can make by working on carving a chunk of wood everyday. This is Day 0. I will carve a small piece of wood everyday focusing on something new daily.
Plus, I've been looking for a hobby. Something that takes discipline, and creativity. I also love being in the mountains and hiking, so this goes hand and hand with that also.
I went down a rabbit hole on youtube, when I found a certain video of a guy carving an 'Alice and Wonderland piece'.
Woodcarving also has allot of tradition, and cultural roots. Look at some of the beautiful pieces in Thailand and China for example. I also when taking a class under Edward Slingerland at UBC, there was a story of a butcher and a woodcarver which was an example of Wu Wei. I never was to big on new age type of philosophy, but it had a good underpinning to it. Anyone who has played sports knows of the feeling Effortless Effort. Being in the zone, etc. Story on the woodcarver. https://books.google.com/books?id=dAwTDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA186&lpg=PA186&dq=woodcarver+qing&source=bl&ots=XOqDKT8VCN&sig=SGxBF53IZN-ZnEpScTvSwDpOcPI&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjmrqXf3Z7ZAhUT8WMKHYdyChUQ6AEILzAB#v=onepage&q=woodcarver%20qing&f=false
Everything seems to be pointing to try it out, and it will help pass the time till Spring and Summer. So, this is my first try. The only equipment I had was a Flexcut Chipping knife and a piece of balsa wood.
*Astronaut - Tryed to make a 2001 Space Odyssey type of suit mixed with a cartoony type of Astronaut.
*Flexcut Chipping Knife
*Balsa Wood
*Learned how to make relief cuts to make smoother and quicker ways of taking off excess wood.
*Balsa very easy to work with but also pretty hard to keep from splitting
My first try.
!
It looks like you need some better tools to carve into narrow spaces, check out bent chisels and draw knifes.
Thanks. Noted. This is a first try. This was with a single knife so already found the limitations and getting the tools to go forward.
I've been a woodwork enthusiast for a long time, unfotunately the propper tools just don't exist around here, and it's hard to find good wood in the desert, so I just piled up knowldege about it withot any chance to execute
Your spaceman figure is quite interesting, having a natural primitive appeal. Good luck with your project.