This morning, while eating breakfast I heard the distinct call of a raven. Grabbing my binoculars, I went outside in time to hear another loud call, and then see a raven flying low, out of the fog over the field behind our house. An inspiring sight!
Here is a shot of the sculpture showing clearly how it is mounted to my carving stand. In the hopes of reducing the amount of checking, or cracking that occurs when carving a log, I decided to try hollowing out the sculpture from underneath.
I first drilled a series of holes down to the depth I wanted to hollow, then used a chainsaw and chisels. The hollowing went considerably deeper than this photo shows. While I wanted to reduce the mass, I also wanted to be sure to keep enough wood there to carve what I need to carve and to allow the lag bolts that attach the carving stand's base plate a good grip.
The hollowing is completed and a new base plate is mounted.
The Raven's head taking form...
Beginning to define raven's wings...
Raven's left wing taking form...Note the footprints on the floor. The roughing process, in which most of the wood is removed, creates a lot of dust from the angle grinder! Also, a lot of large chips of wood from the roughing gouges, which make good kindling for the wood stove....
Beginning to define some of the feathers. And now, back into the studio!