The next project was based on an abalone shell. Abalone shells can seem very ordinary until you look at them closely, then you find all these complicated patterns on the outside with holes and ridges and on the inside swirls of iridescent colours.
I knew I couldn't reproduce all the complicated pattern details of the abalone realistically, so my shell was to be a stylised interpretation of what I saw. I had a rectangular piece of white alabaster so the first stage involved shaping it roughly by sawing off a thin slice along its length, as it was too wide, and then sawing off two of the corners (the offcuts saved to be used in future projects). Then the block had to be rounded into a more shell-like shape using rasps. | |
Now it was time for the carving to begin with lots of shaping on the outside of the shell and the holes drilled. But the hardest part was the hollowing out of the interior of the shell, which was very laborious, done with gouges and chisels and accompanied by much whinging on my part, as in "How much deeper do I have to go?!" I think it was probably at this point that I heard about wood-block carving tools. These are small chisels and gouges which can be held in the palm of the hand and whereas a vice is needed to hold the stone if you're using normal chisels and gouges, because you need both hands to hold and guide them, short palm-held ones mean that you could hold the stone in one hand and carve with the other.
(The wood-block carving set of six tools was from Tiranti's in Warren Street - see Useful Sites for link)
(The wood-block carving set of six tools was from Tiranti's in Warren Street - see Useful Sites for link)
I found it hard to get the holes (which have to diminish gradually in size) to flow in a smooth curve towards the tip, and was a bit disappointed in the result even after recarving it once, but the alabaster was by then so thin that it didn't allow for any more reworking. When the ridges and swirls on the exterior and inside were carved, there was a lot of sanding and polishing to do. The rim round the interior of the abalone shell was very thin and very shiny and I particularly wanted to get the same effect on my carving, so this is the thinnest area on the carved shell. I did actually polish it all to a very shiny finish, but it became so transparent and reflective that it was impossible to see any detail when it was photographed. So I used a coarser wet & dry paper to take the shine back a bit and although the detail is still not very clear, it's possible at least to get the general idea.
This was a very challenging project (which stretched over two terms) and there were areas of the finished carving which didn't exactly turn out as well as I'd hoped, but overall I'm pleased with the result and feel I've learned a lot more about carving and improved my technique in the process. |