By way of a diversion from my on-going Green Man project, I have been carving a design inspired by the triskele-like designs on the Newgrange Tomb entrance stone, onto a mandolin. I first stripped back the original sunburst finish to the bare wood, before carving the design using a Dremel tool.
The surface was then dyed (English Light Oak) before being polished using beeswax. I feel the mandolin now has a well-used, almost antique look to it.
Two sides completed in the wood carving project – the block is a 75mm cube of limewood and has been carved with a mixture of hand tools and power tools. It is still a bit rough but getting there.
Continuing the theme of boxes showing letters and words, I have been trying to ‘soften’ up the font to be more appropriate for the word definitions. Words such as ‘joyful’ and ‘gentleness’ need to be less geometric in their design. However, a box with the letters cut out isn’t robust enough so I have decided to mock up a box with the letters ‘carved’ into the faces. This will be developed using wooden blocks and letters standing proud from the background.
Wood Doodling – all carving finished, sanded, stained (rosewood) and varnished. Placed “in situ” on a background made from varying shades of denim.
I’m currently working on two projects: standing structures made of words and some wood carving.
The standing structures, made from cardboard, spell out the words Statistics Manipulate Truths – my reaction to the relentless (and futile) insistence that statistics and data are going to have a huge impact upon the education of young children. Building relationships and a genuine desire to fully understand every individual is what will make the difference…
The wood carvings are based around patterns and shapes found in nature. The theme is “Fishy Tales” and the intention is to have appropriate story starters etched on the back.
grooveware art 