Finished another plaque

steve kelly

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This Plaque had a lot of things going on which made it a little more complicated....Also...With just an inch thick board, I wasn't so sure I could make all the levels work out. I really thin things down, almost paper thin, so I did a little fudging and hedging in different places in-order to make it all work together.P1130094.jpgP1130093.jpgP1130092.jpgP1130083.jpgP1130082.jpg
 
Nice work again Steve.

Always enjoy seeing the details on your carvings.

I was thinking that some of the elements were a bit flatter in a few places than some of your previous ones, but I can see how that would end up being the case once you mentioned using a thinner piece of wood and the challenge with the various levels. You do such a good job of projecting depth that sometimes its a bit hard to remember the limitations of the medium you're working with there and that its a thin flat board to start with, it often appears thicker than it is :thumb:

I think my favorite part is the skirt, the way it flows and the bit of flip to the edge of it really shows like its in motion. Really classic and nice bit there.

You might have been able to sneak a bit more roundness out of the babies head and made his ear a little shallower and had that still work but that's definitely 20:20 hindsight..

Also thanks for showing at different angles, definitely helps visualize the different layers and the blending between them as well as some of the other more subtle textures in the carving. The front view and some of the side views show a lot of different details that aren't obvious until you compare them.
 
Thanks David!...I'm going to try a full frontal face of my granddaughter next...If that doesn't work out, I may not show it. lol
 
Ryan... I may have to start calling you Keen eye Ryan. I can't seem to get anything past your penetrating eye...I knew that you would spot the troubled spots....And....You are right....That was where the fudging and hedging took place alright....The head of the baby is definitely flat and the legs of the mother are also flat and thinner then I really like....I tried to put a muscle line in on the mother's leg but it turned out to be to flat...so it really doesn't look right....I like working with the one inch board because of the challenges it brings....But in the end it somewhat did worked out.

You are right about the baby's ear and maybe even the mother's ear....That's where I had plenty of room and I took all I could get! lol...Thank you for the critique...I need all I can get...After all I think that deep down in, most people want to improve.
 
Thanks Leo....I make the background depth using my drill press and a zip bit....I go around the boarder of the carving 7/8 " in depth and about a 1/4' to maybe 3/8 " wide. Then I use a dremel to rough cut in the different levels and also undercutting.....Then I use a variety of other tools to work the rest....variety of chisels; a variety of special files with different shapes that are rounded at the end where I can get in and around; Pin knives and bigger, In-order to make finger nails or teeth I drill a hole in the end of a small bolt and grind it down to where it 's a half circle and then sharpen it to a fine edge...Works great!; a small piece of an 80 grit sanding belt really works good smooth things together;...I'll will use some rounded over dremel diamond 100 grid bits with my fingers to smooth out small areas say in the ears or eyes or whatever that you really can't do as well with sandpaper....There are other things that I use I just can't think of it right now....That's about the gist of it....I don't know much about the CNC but it looks like you could work that really well with making plaques similar to what I'm doing...If you try it and it works out...I'll like to see it!
 
Thanks Bob...I appreciate that....I'm not really that good at it...There is a whole lot of people better than I am....Tony for one!
 
:D Well Steve, I do admit to spending a bit of time looking at your carvings.

I wasn't sure about the mothers face/ear, you were certainly near the upper layers there so it looked tricky to squeeze a lot out of it.

I agree on the legs, but I'm not really sure how you could have done them better either given the constraints. There is probably some trick of light and shadow to make it work somehow but its well past my understanding :D Its kind of interesting because at some angles they look really great, imho the third picture the legs look fantastic and the flatness seems to largely disappear. I'm still trying to wrap my head around why that might be.
 
Ryan...I have no ideal myself...Maybe Tony could explain it.....I'm sure that Light and Shadows have a lot to do with it....I once had an old preacher tell me without darkness there is no light...That could be the answer.

Also...I would think that undercutting would also have somewhat to do with it.
 
Steve I saw this earlier and still cannot find words to express how cool is think your carving is. Yeah Ryan made good points for next time. But u so captured the mom and baby image and in 1 inch wood I think you did incredibly well.
More important it just struck me how cool your design is saving taking the surrounding area down to the lower level. It nicely frames the carving in my opinion.
I would love to hear Toni chime in with a review.
 
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