I carved a 4 foot high totem pole in 4 days

Frank Pellow

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Location
Toronto, Ontario, CANADA
Day1:

Along with 5 other people as well as our instructor Lloyd, I spent eight hours at the Lee Valley Toronto East store in late June starting to carve a four foot high totem pole out of an eastern white cedar log. Although the cedar is eastern, all the traditions we are following are those of the First Nations of the north-west coast of North America. Here is a photo of my log:

Totem carving 01 -My 4 foot long cedar log resting on a jig on my workmate -small.JPG

The log is resting on a jig attached to one of my old Workmate benches.

The first order of business was to select two of the many options for totems to carve into the pole. I chose two that are quite representative of the Lake Pivabiska region because the pole’s home will be on Pellow’s Island.

I chose:

Beaver –Skilled leader in industry and construction who strives for peace but will fight if he has to, Creative, artistic, and determined. Know to dig underground tunnels that cause earthquakes and landslides.

Raven –One of most important spirits, she/he is the trickster and is credited with bringing mankind to the world. Symbolizes creation, knowledge, is ever hungry, ever curious, deviant, compulsive, crooked, deceptive, but somehow always likeable.

I also chose to carve the Raven carrying the moon in her beak both because that is one of the legends I like and because of the great views we get of the moon rising over the lake at Pivabiska.

By tradition, a bird is always higher on the pole than an animal.

Here are then two patterns that I chose:

Totem carving 02 -Beaver Pattern.jpg Totem carving 03 -Raven pattern.jpg

The first step was to draw a grid onto the best side of the log:

Totem carving 04 -Log marked into segments -small.JPG

Then, I drew portions of the two patterns onto the log:

Totem carving 05 -Parts of the two selected patterns drawn onto the log -small.JPG

Finally, it was time to start the rough carving:

Totem carving 06 -Starting to remove some of the wood with a small hatchet and rubber mallet -sm.JPG

All the work today was done with a small hatchet and a rubber mallet.

Here is photo taken a few hours and several chips later:

Totem carving 07 -lots of the log has been turned into chips -small.JPG

Here is my log as it was at the end of day 1:

Totem carving 08 -After day 1 -small.JPG
 
Great project. Looking forward to seeing the finished product.
BTW, on a TV show recently (and you know, if it was on TV, it has to be right ;) ) a character said the most important person on a totem pole was the leader and he was placed on the bottom as a show of support of the rest. He was carved first as a sign of respect.
So "bottom man on a totem pole" doesn't mean (according to the TV character) anything disrespectful. Or does it? :dunno:
 
Great project. Looking forward to seeing the finished product.
BTW, on a TV show recently (and you know, if it was on TV, it has to be right ;) ) a character said the most important person on a totem pole was the leader and he was placed on the bottom as a show of support of the rest. He was carved first as a sign of respect.
So "bottom man on a totem pole" doesn't mean (according to the TV character) anything disrespectful. Or does it? :dunno:

Thanks Frank.

That may be true about the most important figure being at the bottom, I certainly respect the beaver (the figure on the bottom of my totem pole) because, over the last five years, beavers have taken down every big poplar tree on Pellow's Island.

I do know that, often, the rookie carvers are assigned the top figures and the experienced ones the bottom figures. This way, any mistakes that the new carvers make, are not as easy to detect.
 
Day 2:

Today was all about shaping and smoothing. I didn’t add any new features or any details, rather I just worked extensively improving the features that I chopped out yesterday.

Before getting into that, I will show a photo of the simple but very effective jig used to hold a log on a Workmate:

Totem carving 00 -Totem carving jig that fits into Workmate -small.JPG

The jigs were designed and built by Jennifer at the Toronto East Lee Valley store.

The first step today was to use chisels to smooth the rough hatchet cuts:

Totem carving 10 -Chisels used to smooth the hatchet cuts -small.JPG

I also used the chisels to further shape some features, such as the raven’s beak:

Totem carving 11 -Chistels also used to form parts such as the raven's beak more accurately -sma.JPG

Further smoothing was done with a wood file and with a 40 grit paper on a small sanding block:

Totem carving 12 -Smooth with a file and with 40 grit handsanding block -small.JPG

And, finally, everything was hand sanded with Festool Granat 120 foam-backed sanding pads:

Totem carving 13 -Further smooth with Festool Granat 120 pad -small.JPG

The First Nations people would not have used sandpaper. They are skilled enough with hatchets and chisels that there is no need for it. Another important point is that the Haida carve their poles so that there are no cavities in the pole where water can gather. I am making sure that I take the same precaution.

Here is a photo of the pole at the end of day 2:

Totem carving 14 -After Day 2 -small.JPG
 
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Day 2.5:

We got the day off on Thursday but I cheated and brought the totem pole home with me Wednesday in order to add a special “Frank designed feature”.

Traditionally a beaver is carved holding a log that he is chewing upon –as pointed to with the arrow in this partly carved beaver:

Totem carving 15 -Traditional stick in Beaver's grasp -small.JPG

I drilled a hole through the spots where the paws would be grasping something:

Totem carving 16 -I drilled a hole through the grasp of the paws -small.JPG

Then carved out the spot where the stick would normally be. Then I inserted a stick:

Totem carving 17 -Now the beaver can knaw on a real branch -small.JPG

I’m very happy with this modification, and I think that no native carver would mind the change.
 
Day 3:

I spent today carving details into my totem pole. First a detail was drawn onto the appropriate spot and then carved. Most of the carving is simply a V gouge as seen in this photo where I am working on the tail of my beaver:

Totem carving 18 -Carving a cross-hatch pattern on the beaver's tail -small.JPG

The small tool shown cuts these groves very well when going with the grain but, when going across the grain, I often had to resort to the use of a small very sharp carvers knife and chisels.

We learned that almost all the details on totem poles are carved using variations of these five shapes:

Totem carving 19 -These 5 shapes are used to emphasise body parts.JPG

Lloyd has made and collected several small templates that can be used when drawing on a pole:

Totem carving 20 -A bowl full of templates -small.JPG

In this photo, I am using one of the templates:

Totem carving 21 _Making use of a small template -small.JPG

Sometimes one does a bit of carving between uses of the same template as in this case where I am flattening a portion of the moon’s face:

Totem carving 22 -Flattening part of the face of the moon -small.JPG

After flattening, I redrew the parts that I had chiselled off.

I didn’t realize before just how many special purpose carvers tools there are. A case in point is this gouge that I used to hollow out the beaver’s nostrils:

Totem carving 23 _gouging out the beavers nostrils -small.JPG

I used no power tools at all my totem pole. Everyone but me used powers sanders. Only one person resorted to power carving:

Totem carving 24 -One person cheated and used a power tool to carve part of her pole -small.JPG

And she only used to tool for about half an hour in order to carve some small difficult cross-grain grooves.

Here are a couple of views of my pole taken at the end of day 3:

Totem carving 25 -After Day 2 front view -small.JPG Totem carving 26 -After Day 2 partial side view -small.JPG
 
That is taking shape quite well and very rapidly Frank!!!
I also really like the beaver holding a real stick, what did your instructor think of your idea?
Now this isn't your first foray into carving is it?
 
That is taking shape quite well and very rapidly Frank!!!
I also really like the beaver holding a real stick, what did your instructor think of your idea?
Now this isn't your first foray into carving is it?
Thanks Jonathan.

My instructor liked the idea of the hole for the stick and said that he remembers having seen one other pole somewhere that used a similar technique.

I have done a little bit of sign carving in the past and have carved small parts for projects and for repairs, but have never carved and figures before.
 
Day 4: (post 1 of 2)

The course is finished and my pole is complete. I had a really good time both working on the pole and talking to my fellow carvers and am really going to miss the activity, the place, and the people.

You can see that a bit of unused space remained at the top of the pole as it was after day 3. I had a feeling that the pole was incomplete and that it needed an addition. I did quite a bit of research on the internet on the evening of day 3. Early on, I found this description of the meaning of the Loon symbol:

The Loon symbolizes tranquility, serenity and the reawakening of old hopes, wishes and dreams. The Loon relies on water and water is a symbol for dreams and multiple levels of consciousness, therefore Loons teach us to pay attention to our dreams, wishes and hopes. A Legend says that to see a Loon is a symbol of a dream come true or an answered wish.

This is perfect! Lake Pivabiska is the home to many loons and my feeling about the Lake itself is much like above words about the loon.

So, I knew right away that, somehow, I needed to add a loon to the pole. The problem was that nowhere could I find a photo of a loon stylized for use on a totem pole. I did find pictures of a couple of poles that had loons represented on them but, on those poles, the loons were depicted as women –something that I now understand was common. So, I ended up drawing my own pattern:

Totem carving 27 -Loon pattern.jpg

Showing a side view is probably cheating but I did make use of an ovid, a circle, 2 trigons, and 3 S shapes. One can recognize a loon but it doesn’t look very lifelike and that’s what I wanted.

This morning, after checking with Lloyd to see if he thought it would be OK to do so, I carved the loon onto the spot on the pole that would normally be occupied by the raven’s forehead and eyebrows. In this photo, I have drawn the outline and am starting to carve it in:

Totem carving 28 -I added a loon to the top of the pole -small.JPG

It’s OK, but in retrospect I would extend the bottom part of the loon so that it would look more like that part also served as the raven’s eyebrows.

The carving finished, I applied a coat of Varathane Golden Pecan oil-based stain, first with the pole upside down, then right side up in order to catch all the projections:

Totem carving 29 -Staining underway -small.JPG Totem carving 30 -Stain used -small.JPG

This brings the colour closer to what one good get using western red cedar.

Of course, I had remembered to carve my initials and the year into the pole (near the bottom at the back):

Totem carving 31 -I carved in my initials and the year -small.JPG

The stain dried very quickly in the hot sun and, soon, I could start to paint some of the features.
 
Day 4: (post 2 of 2)

I restricted myself to the use of the four pre-contact colours that the First nations carvers achieved using natural materials combined with salmon eggs and saliva. These materials were charcoal (to get black), iron oxide (to get red), copper oxide (to get turquoise), and ash (to get white). The paint was “mixed” by chewing the material together with the salmon eggs.

Not having a ready supply of salmon eggs, I resorted to the use of fast-drying acrylic paint:

Totem carving 32 _Painting pallet with acrylic paints -small.JPG

I found the painting to be a lot of fun in that it brought out the humour in the figures that I had carved. In the photo below, the painting has almost been completed:

Totem carving 33 -Almost finished painting -small.jpg

The last step was to conduct a ceremony where the poles are awakened. In this ceremony, the poles lie horizontally in the middle of the room, the carvers with some of their carving tools dance slowly around the poles accompanied by the beat of drums. Three circuits are completed and each carver blows onto each totem on each pass in order to blow life into the totems:

Totem carving 34 -The poles arranged for the awalening cerimony -small.JPG Totem carving 35 -The drummers at the pole awakening ceremony -small.JPG

Here, the six students are gathered with their totem poles together with Lloyd (in the middle) and the pole that he, somehow, managed to find time to carve along with us.

Totem carving 36-The group with our poles -small.JPG

Not all the poles are quite finished, but I guess all but Lloyd’s pole (which missed the ceremony) are alive.

Here is another photo, just showing the totem poles:

Totem carving 37 -The totems that we made this week -small.JPG

After taking the pole home, I added a coat of Helmsman Spar Urethane (again oil based).

Here are two photos of my (almost) finished pole:

Totem carving 38 -Finished pole front view -small.JPG Totem carving 39 -Finished pole partial side view -small.JPG
 
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Your totem came out looking great, Frank. :clap: Thanks much for documenting the process.

I am a bit disappointed, though. I was looking forward to hearing how salmon eggs and charcoal tastes. :D
 
Hooray!!!!!! Frank, thanks ever so much for taking us along on this journey of yours!:thumb: I have learned a lot through your thread on totem poles. It looks wonderful. I am amazed and humbled by carvers and all craftsman, this forum provides me the opportunity to witness so many projects that otherwise I would never know existed. Thank you Frank, now the question, what's next? :dunno::thumb::thumb::thumb::rofl::thumb::thumb::thumb:
 
ok frank, where was copper oxide and iron oxide found naturally? and how does gray ash and salmon eggs make white? not doubting you just dont see it coming out that way.. all salmon eggs i have seen are yellow to orange.
 
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