Art & Woodworking: How I relief carved Space Whales. Complete process with pictures.
Space Whales.
Relief carving is a type of woodcarving in which figures are carved in a flat panel of wood. The figures project only slightly from the background rather than standing freely.
More recent carvings: Wolf Face & Gangster Owl & The Elf & Some Foxes & Tim Tribute
(1) The space whales hanging on the wall like a painting.
(2) The space whales against a black background.
The pictures above are the results of at least thirty five hours of work. Even though I think this piece turned out pretty good, I’m not a professional woodworker. I’m still learning and that is the sole reason why I would like to share my woodworking process and progress with you Steemers.
Process.
All of my previous pieces had their carvings centered. This time I wanted to try something else. I wanted to get a story going, something more like a painting. To play around with the composition of how and where I could place the figures. Hence the flying whales and the floating astronaut.
(3) Like every other carving I began with getting the design on the wood and carving away the outlines.
(4) My focus was to get the astronaut done first. I started to play around with the planets as well.
(5) Before I started on the outlines of the whales I wanted to get the details done on the moon man.
(6) I wanted to get as much detail in there as possible. Wrinkles, straps, everything. The MDF did not allow me to go much further. It was way to fickle in the end.
(7) Now it was time to get the space whales going. Outlines and layers first. The details came later.
(8) I had some troubles making the smaller whale look less clunky. In hindsight I shouldn’t have carved his front flipper so deep.
(9) After finishing the big guy I did sandpaper the piece. As you might have noticed I used another coating this time.
Next.
At the moment I’m not really sure what my next project is going to be. Some days ago I got myself some basswood and birch. It will be my first time carving in real hardwood so I have to keep that in mind. This is also why I got the other coating. Let me know if you have any suggestions or ideas on what to do next.
End.
For those that are unaware, I do also stream all my woodworking endeavours live on Twitch.tv. As of right now I’ll also try to post on this blog at least once every two weeks. Interested in supporting and following my efforts of becoming a better woodworker? A follow on Steemit would mean the world to me.
Social & Media.
- Website: www.tomtinderbox.com
- Twitch: www.twitch.tv/TomTinderbox
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/TomTinderbox
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/TomTinderbox
- Steemit: www.steemit.com/@TomTinderbox
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/TomTinderbox
- Shop: www.tomtinderbox.com/woodworking
I’m happy to answer all the questions that come my way.
Much Love,
TomTinderbox
wonderful art and beautiful painting, that's a great working,i also like this art
Thanks for very good share
Ritue, thank you!
No idea why this got posted twice. I'm sorry for that. I'm still happy to answer any questions that come my way.
Awesome carving. I love space whales. It reminds me of the japanese wood block carvings used to make prints. They traditionally use cherry wood because it is fine grained and easy to carve so you can carve very fine details. Plus it ages to a gorgeous color so no need for stain.
I've been looking at woodblock carvings as well. Kind of want to try to make a print myself one day. If you're interested in japanese woodblock carvings you might want to watch this guy. He carves his prints live on air:
I have seen his videos, great stuff, a real craftsman.
Nice use of MDF. Never really thought of carving it until recently. Have you ever heard of Tricoya from Medite its an amazing weather proof version which you can use for out door work.
MDF is not ideal for carvings, but it does the job. I just wrote that down, thank you!
Congratulations @tomtinderbox! You have completed some achievement on Steemit and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :
Click on any badge to view your own Board of Honor on SteemitBoard.
For more information about SteemitBoard, click here
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPCongratulations @tomtinderbox! You have received a personal award!
Click on the badge to view your own Board of Honor on SteemitBoard.
Congratulations @tomtinderbox! You received a personal award!
Click here to view your Board
Congratulations @tomtinderbox! You received a personal award!
You can view your badges on your Steem Board and compare to others on the Steem Ranking
Vote for @Steemitboard as a witness to get one more award and increased upvotes!