More About Ivy and Woodcraft: Making Decorative Pieces
As some of you may know, I have made a cane and a staff out of ivy wood, and I think they both look great. So, I decided to make some decorative pieces as well, ornaments or sculptures, if you will (the very impatient can now scroll down to the last photo).
Maybe you have seen some of the big, intertwined, and even merged trunks of old ivy on trees in a forest somewhere. If you haven't, this is what I am talking about:
I have always liked how these trunks and branches look, with all their weird shapes and shadows. I wanted to get a piece of this ivy and prepare it for display.
Now you can't just rip some off a tree; it would damage the tree's bark, it is not done, and probably theft as well. So, getting my hands on a nice piece of ivy to strip, detail, and sand down wasn't easy; these larger pieces turned out to be quite rare here.
During a storm we had, however, many an old tree toppled over, and was later cut into pieces and removed. You can see here somebody has already got his hands on a fair chunk of ivy from one of the tree trunks:
It may have been me. Anyway, on my walks in the forest I managed to get some of the larger ivy pieces off these trees trunks; I usually take a piece of 70 to 80cm. And yes, I carry a foldable saw in my coat pocket and a knife on my belt, but don't tell anyone.
This is an example of what I saw off to carry home (or pick up by car; these pieces are sometimes too heavy to carry for several kilometers because they contain a lot of water).
After stripping off the bark and sapwood, you get something like this (different piece, but you can see that):
At first the wood that appears is very pale, but the moisture that oozes out leaves an orange-brown residue. It is easily sanded off, or left on, even easier.
The bottom has been aligned and flattened so the whole thing can stand independently. The branch in traction you see is being glued; it was broken when I found this piece, but it looks like the repair will be almost invisible. The whole thing is now drying before I process it further. After drying, this wood is surprisingly light in weight, by the way.
This piece has had a first sanding:
It is now ready for a final sanding and the application of some beeswax, but it looks much like the final product already.
Maybe you just go meh at this, but I love looking at these, with all their fluent and mysterious shapes, and I think they are well worth the effort that goes into making them.
Thanks for watching!
That is downright brilliant. And beautiful. Very creative idea. I hope you do a series of photos on all your final pieces. They would look great in a living room on display.
Love the "it may have been me" too...got a good schnort out of that one. Thanks for sharing your process, I have ivy on two Sequoia in my yard, but I have to wait until after I'm long gone to have them get this big.
Damn, I was rather hoping you would run into these large pieces of ivy all the time in the forests you frequent, and was going to carry large quantities out, and ship them to me.
It is a shame I don't find them in the woods. Then again, the ecosystem would be in trouble if I did. We have enough problem with the damn blackberries, Scotch broom and now False Brome. The Ivy would be a true scourge....a stylish, English Countryside version of Kudzu.
Though if I COULD find it, I'd be happy to mail you the stuff in a shipping container on a boat. The SBD might be a bit alarming, but WELL worth the final product. Those are gorgeous.
(Though I DID find a huge rock with a fossil in it once. Weighed in at about a gazillion pounds. Took me a couple of days to try to get it out of the wood. A LOT of work for small reward, but well worth it.)
Nice! I love fossils. What was it?
Though long gone today, if I remember correctly, a short 6 inches, with an organic-looking surface. Kind of like a tree branch? Was black, like it burned, but I don't think that has much to do with anything in fossilization. Things can be whatever color mineral replaced them. Though not sure.
My Dad was a serious rock hound. Had a very large rock, mineral and fossil collection. I was obsessed with crinoids and trilobites when I was a youngster. Would walk the limestone RR beds with him for hours and hours, looking for both. Very fun indeed.
It seems we shared an affliction, but I was more into ammonoids. The first rock I ever split myself contained crinoids, though. I still have a small collection, also minerals and fossils.
That would be so amazing to split your first rock and find fossils. No wonder you didn't lose the bug.
I never found any ammonoids, but maybe I just had an eye for the others. That's cool you still have yours. Do you still collect, beyond picking up 'cool things' you see? Mine blew to the wind somewhere in the dis-appreciation of youth and all the accompanying running around.
Though I do have some Dawn Redwood needles, Ginko? looking leaves, and maybe Equisetum needles? It's been awhile, but a buddy and I might travel this summer to 'hound' out some more. They're everywhere in the road cuts. I always looked for a fish, but have yet to find one.
Keep looking. We don't have rocks in The Netherlands on the surface, it's all sand and peat here, but fairly near my home town, in a place called Winterswijk, there is an old limestone quarry where many fish and dinosaur and even insect fossils are found. You can't just go there and start looking, though, the finds there are too important for mere amateurs.
Love it! I planted some hazel in the backyard a couple of years ago specifically to make a walking stick. Once it's more established I plan coppice it. Next step is to get three long flexible shoots and braid them together. They will hopefully then grow into one stem with a braid pattern. When it's thick enough I'll cut it, remove the bark, and soak it or steam it so I can bend the handle shape. It's a long term project :-) I got this idea from one I saw in a museum over in Scotland that Hugh Miller had made two hundred years ago.
Sounds like a great project! If you have patience, that is.
There is a local custom in my region of The Netherlands to make walking sticks from wood that has been "strangled" by honeysuckle:
I like those. I'll have to plant some honeysuckle too now ☺
BTW these canes are called "goastok" in local dialect, and that googles really well. Most texts you'll find will be in Dutch, though.
I really like this. I love how crazy a mature ivy can grow. It'd look great in a vivarium too.
And in my living room 8-). Yes, it grows in wild and strange ways, and the branches really merge at some point, I can tell by the two or more piths starting to share growth rings. These pieces are really one solid piece of wood.
Wow, amazing art
you like this plant?
its the devil's ivy hahaha
sours the ground
good neighbor for my blue berries though
but would rather have a conifer than this
nice crafting though
your hobby?
there's a contest about that
go to anomadsoul I think
I have many hobbies, but yes, I like to work with wood occasionally, and ivy wood is nice to work with, and unusual, but hard to find in large pieces. It is also very meditative.
then you should enter it
I think it's still on and eveuncovered is the judge for it
that's where I saw it
Beautiful!!!
Thanks!
I think, if you are tonight quite extraordinary, you have a good post today.
amazing post,creative mind
carry on