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Posted by Dave Bull at 7:48 AM, September 21, 2010 [Permalink]
So it's to be 'Show & Tell', is it? Very well ...
Here's the block area for print #7 - you can see the yellowish boxwood inlaid, with the tracing pasted down, and partly rubbed away with a finger ...
That was taken just around 8:30 this morning ...
Here's the next shot, taken around 8:30 this evening!
Couldn't quite finish it today, but it'll be done tomorrow morning, and it'll be time to move on to the colour blocks ...
Following comment posted by: Dave on September 21, 2010 11:34 PM
I didn't spend all 12 hours on it, of course. I think I must have done around 3 hours in the morning, then another 3 or so in the afternoon, with perhaps an hour and a half in the evening.
Following comment posted by: Annie B on September 22, 2010 1:03 AM
Beautiful carving and image. I presume boxwood is softer than cherry? (I've only ever used shina and birch ply.)
Following comment posted by: Mark Mason on September 22, 2010 5:24 AM
What optical aids do you use to be able to see so small? I think I recalled seeing a magnifier of some sort.
Following comment posted by: Dave on September 22, 2010 8:05 AM
softer than cherry ...
No! It's the other way around - for detail like this, I need a hard and dense wood! The 'pores' in a typical cherry block are much too prevalent (and fat), and would interrupt thin lines like these.
optical aids ...
Absolutely! I'm looking down through a circular lens about 4~5 inches in diameter. Here's an (old) pic of what it looks like:
Following comment posted by: Mark Mason on September 23, 2010 1:07 AM
Thanks for the image reminder of the magnifier you use. I thought I'd seen it somewhere.
I've looked in to (no pun intended) various magnifiers but most craft shops only seem to sell ones with poor plastic lenses. I've taken to using a pair of good quality 'reading glasses' that come in various magnifications for my close-up work, but what I can see from your image is that you are able to keep at a comfortable distance. I'm in awe of your ability to cut so finely.
There's an amusing little image in one of Hokusai's Manga that shows one figure with a knife cutting a block, very intently, and another next to him clearing the waste off another block with a mallet and chisel.
This second figure is wearing a huge pair of comedy glasses and is swinging away with gay abandon with his mallet. I've always thought it was a comment on the relative skills of the 2 figures, but also having fun with the idea (myth) that the experienced block carver would never have used any optical devices and that they were only for the less skilled.
Following comment posted by: Dave on September 23, 2010 7:44 AM
experienced block carver would never have used any optical devices and that they were only for the less skilled
I think it's pretty clear - those guys would have used whatever was available. They were trying to make a living! There was also plenty of competition between different workshops, which would lead to technological 'arms racing', but the main reason I'm sure - which is where I fall on this scale - is that having a lens available means that an experienced carver can stay in the business longer, instead of being shoveled out the door once his eyes start to go.