WIP Garden sculpture.

[George Foweraker]

After my recent first making a turned and carved sculpture Mark Sanger suggested i make a large piece as a garden size sculpture.
I thought i would make it three pieces the base the body and the head.
The first piece will be the body and if that turned out alright this will give me the proportions for the stand and head.
This piece is going to be made from green Oak.
The first picture shows my nova all set up for off centre turning.
Note the chain this tensions the lathe to the floor to reduce vibration.

The next pic shows the 30" piece of Oak ready for roughing down.

This pic shows the beginning of the removal of wood ready for shaping.

This is the spindle roughing gouge i use to remove the bulk of the wood.
It is 2" wide and ground to a semi circle and removes material very quickly.It is carbon steel and takes an edge like a razor.

 

[George Foweraker]

The body is now roughed out a mixture of lathe and arbortech.
I am not sure about the thickness of the neck or its length.
I will make the head next and try it against the body and see where it looks best.

 

[skeetoids]

Hi George,

I'm really watching this thread with great interest. I love WIP threads.

That is a massive chunk of wood BTW! :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock:

 

[Bodrighy]

I can see why you need the chain. A lot of off balanced wood there. If I tried tat my shed would be half way down the garden after about 4 revolutions :lol:

Pete

 

[mikec]

Great WIP George.

How wet is the oak?

No wonder I felt the earth move turning an off balance lump like that.

 

[George Foweraker]

Thank you Lee Pete and Mike.

This Oak was cut about a month ago.

Regards George

 

[Paul.J]

Looking good so far George
How has the lathe coped with such a large off center log George.
Would it have been better to cut the log down to a rough shape with the chainsaw to save the lathe a little :?: :?:

 

[George Foweraker]

Hello Paul.

The lathe copes easily with this.
The biggest i have turned on this lathe is a wall sculpture over 5 feet long.
I have turned pieces olmost a cwt.
It bit unfair on the lathe but there we are.
I could have used a chainsaw but i lent it to Mark Sanger he has broken his own i expect he will break mine now :lol: :lol: :lol:

Regards George

 

[George Foweraker]

I have now refined the body and made a head what do you think.

 

[mark sanger]

Hi George

I like what you have done. The head for me seems out of kilter I do not know why. It may be the size or the contrast with the base/main body being very organic in form with the head being more contemporary in shape.

The head on my last one I also was not overly happy with. I guess adding a head to a form will automatically make people think of a human or other wise form. Then they will equate that to what has been programmed in the brain.

It may be of interest that for a human form/proportions the head is normally just over 1/8th of the body ( I think any how). But there is loads on the internet about human form/proportions. Not that you are aiming for a human for here.

I feel the head needs to be greatly reduced and the form carved so that it is more organic/relates more back in relation to the base.

A very good lesson I learnt from an artist a while ago is that it is good for everything to relate somehow to the other and visa versa, even if it is only a small amount. That way it will all be in balance.

I hope my waffle helps in some way. But at the end of the day you need to just play and see what happens. This I feel gives much better results than sticking to any rigid format.

 

[mark sanger]

One other thing.

Research birds on the internet ( the feathered type) I know what you are like.

See how the bodies and heads interact, take the shapes. One way to look at the shapes and to just get the form is to squint your eyes as you look at the picture. the more you squint the more the detail will disappear and the form remain.

 

[George Foweraker]

Hi Mark i am not happy with the head i dont think it is long enough on the front,
I dont want it to look too much like a real bird.
I want it to look sort of preistoric.

Regards George

 

[Bodrighy]

Can you move the head George? Try it angled down more than up as at the moment. There is definitely something not quite right
Pete

 

[George Foweraker]

Hi Pete the head is in the burning bin.
I will try again over the weekend.
I am happy with the body.

Regards George

 

[Bodrighy]

You put things that big in a burning bin? :shock:

Pete

 

[George Foweraker]

All of my waste wood goes to a lady neighbour for her wood burner and all my sawdust and shavings go to another lady for her chickens.
Nothing is wasted.

Regards George

 

[stevebuk]

watching with interest, however i am amazed at how you put a log of this size onto your lathe, particularly as it doesn't look fastened down at all, i also have this lathe in a similar fashion to your own there, and i know mine would be all over my cabin in no time.. :lol:

 

[George Foweraker]

Hi Steve if you look carefully the lathe is chained down,

Regards George

 

[George Foweraker]

I have started working on my new head i think it is going to be a lot of shaping and sanding.
This time it is going to be like a real birds head a seagull i think.

 

[johnny.t.]

Enjoy the sanding George :lol: Looking forward to seeing the finished piece.

JT