New Carvings
I LOVE starting a new carving. It’s just so exciting!
My ideal situation is having a little overlap between carvings, so I’m planning the next piece whilst carving. I find the process of carving often lets my creative mind wander, making it so much easier to develop ideas rather than the dreaded blank piece of white paper in front of you.
Geometry
I’ve been working on geometric patterns for a few years now and find them thoroughly captivating to carve. Only recently have I really started to investigate the drawing process. I have been browsing images, mostly on Pinterest to find inspiration, but I really wanted to be able to create my own patterns.
I discovered that the Princes School of Traditional Arts was running free hour lessons every week for novice Geometry artists. I eagerly signed up and my goodness have they been wonderful!
my Thursday lunchtime geometry drawing class
Every Thursday lunchtime I sit down with my compasses ready and I’m captivated for the next hour, immersed in creating fascinating patterns and a little about the history.
Currently along side a lettering commission I have a small sample carving on the go which is the first completely self-generated design I have carved, i.e. I didn’t take inspiration from anywhere else. I’ve pulled out a small section of the design I’ve created as I’m playing with a new product.
New Product
Experimenting is another love of mine. Sometimes its just experimenting with what its like to paint the stone and carve through it, or paint the carving. Other times its trying out a new product, or at least one thats new to me. Being able to play really helps keep your work fresh and current.
The product I’m experimenting with at the moment is called Bi-Plasma and its a sort of acrylic resin with a metal powder added. (feel free to message if you’d like more details) Its amazing! You can sand the surface once dry to give it an amazing shine, making it look just like metal. I’m adding it to a section I’ve carved so it becomes part of the pattern, but I think theres going to be other applications further down the road!
I’ve got the full story of images on Instagram but here are a few images so you get the idea!
