Carving from Belgorod

[HAIIAPHNK]

Good afternoon. My name is Alexander.
Once I started this topic and posted my works. But a lot of time has passed since then. I have had a lot of changes in my life. For a long time was not able to engage in my favorite hobby, as before because of health. During this time me and my family moved to another place. I have been living in Germany for seven years now. Recently, I have gradually returned to an active life and started carving again. New works started to appear and I wanted to show what I do again.
Unfortunately, I have lost access to my former account on this forum and also had to get a new mailbox. So I have to start from scratch. 
Well, that's all, what I wanted to tell, at the same time this message will be a test for me to see if I have set up a new account correctly and if after a break I will be able to send messages correctly. I will try to continue posting my new works in the near future. I will also start a new thread where I will try to tell you about the new project. There I will have something to show, as well as need help with advice from other participants.
Well, give up the moorings, keep to the wind, out of the harbor.

[allanyed]

Welcome back home to MSW Alexander!  Looking forward to seeing your latest carvings!

Allan

[druxey]

Welcome back, indeed!

[HAIIAPHNK]

After a long break, I'm slowly getting back to modeling.
At least in some form. I came up with the idea to occupy myself with one small project. And it will be connected with lions (who would have thought). Namely, to make a series of lions. Of course, marine, in stripes, everything as it should be.

Pluses a lot (bending fingers). First, the work is not so long, not to compare full-fledged with the model of the ship, should not drag on for many years.
Secondly, in my present circumstances, I am left with a minimum of technical base. Machines and tools have to be built up again from the very first level. And the fact that I have precious sets of cutters I take no less as a tremendous luck. The rest will slowly appear. And for this project table, chisels and a couple of simple tools are more than enough. So there are already two pluses.
And thirdly, I am interested in it.
Total: I see no reason for the noble don not to start an interesting pastime for himself.

I'm going to carve some figures. They'll all be lions. But different ones. British lion, Dutch, Russian, French and so on. That's the end of this introductory post. Slowly I will post what has already been done. Ask questions and advice too. So I invite you to participate in the discussion. I hope to have an interesting topic in the end.

[HAIIAPHNK]

The first in the series is the British Lion.
You could say that this character has become like a family member to me over the last few years. A few years ago, I had one made to order. A couple of them. The first one was taken away halfway through, not finished. By the will of circumstances it turned out to bring this figure to the customer, just to show how the work is going, how the lion looks like. There is little chance that there will be changes or something else. And to my great surprise, I liked the lion in the very rough form, when the features are just beginning to be drawn. And the figure never went back to the workshop. And I was ordered another one, so that the second one would be in the final execution. Which was done in the end.

So now I was already carving the third brother. That's the story. And it really felt like meeting an old acquaintance again.

Maybe....  No, it's not. One hundred percent, it was that same couple that set the tone for this project. It was decided to make in the same enlarged size, and not in the standard, small, in which more often worked in the "shooting" on the landing on the model. So that it would be possible to work out small details to the maximum. And that later it would be possible to consider without a magnifying glass in hands, since the main thread, so it will be "tastier".

[HAIIAPHNK]

There won't be much in the way of pictures. I photographed the first couple carefully. It was interesting for me, and the customer needed to be shown how the process was going. And now it doesn't matter so much. It turned out like with children: the firstborn appears and with him a sea of photos and video, with the second already less. That's how it is with me. By the third is already a very small amount. There is nothing new for myself, everything has been worked out for a long time, so the photos for memory are not particularly important, and I did not know then whether I would show on the forums at all. That's why I didn't take pictures. 

The only thing I photographed was the very beginning. Just because I suddenly thought, how to dissolve a solid log? It is dangerous to stick such a round log into the circular saw, the slightest misalignment and the log will spit right in your face, for the glory of the laws of physics, and in the name of safety. It is possible, of course, somehow by hand: with a saw or an axe. But it was too long and inconvenient, you can't clamp it in a vise or in your hands. The problem was defeated in half an hour. I don't think I invented any particularly clever device. But just in case, I decided to take a picture, so that it will remain as a memory for the future. In case I need it again.
Here's the device:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I do not remember exactly how exactly made a groove under the kniavdiged, but most likely just a hacksaw and chisel. True, this stage completely melted in my memory, and therefore there is a chance that I fell asleep, and when I woke up the magic elves had already managed to saw through everything and hollow out. The chance of that being the case is slim, I agree. But let's face facts - it's too early to reject this version, we still know very little about this topic. What if the stories aren't stories at all.

Well, as I warned, the intermediate types of carvings are quite scarce. It may even seem that the frames duplicate each other. But in fact, the inquisitive eye will see how the Lion's appearance gradually changes.

 

 

 

[HAIIAPHNK]

Final photos of the British predator.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

to be continued

 

 

[HAIIAPHNK]

2 hours ago, allanyed said:

Welcome back home to MSW Alexander!  Looking forward to seeing your latest carvings!

Allan

 

1 hour ago, druxey said:

Welcome back, indeed!

 

Thank you very much for the warm welcome. It is a pleasure to be back again. 🙂

[mtaylor]

It's a joy to see your work again and you back.    Love that lion as it's a great work.

[HAIIAPHNK]

Thank you. I love him a lot too. The previous ones have gone to new owners. And I really wanted to keep him. Now I do. And he's going to live with a whole pride of other lions. 

[Dziadeczek]

Awesome!!!

What scale is the lion in? (Judging by the size of your hand holding it, I am guessing it might be in 1:24 or even 1:12...) Wow!  👍

Edited August 18, 2023 by Dziadeczek

[HAIIAPHNK]

That's a good question. 
Unfortunately, I can't give an exact answer as to what scale this lion is. Of course, I can take a ruler and measure it and find out, no problem. But the scale will most likely turn out to be not standard, not with that step, which is usually adhered to in modeling. It could very well be 1: 14,7 or 1: 27,75. It's just that in this project I didn't try to stick to any clear figures. 
As I have already written, it will be a whole set of different lions. And from the very beginning I realized that they will be from different ships. One lion in real size was 2 meters, the other almost 6 meters. And if they are all in the same rigid scale, there will be too much difference. So I made the decision that they were like sculptures on a hand, they should be about the same size so that you could see the details of each one equally well. And you don't need to take a magnifying glass to do that. And just looking at the final dimensions of the figures so they would be about the same. And therefore the scales will not be beautiful.
 

[Jack-in-the-Blue]

Your lion is beautiful, a genuine work of art. I particularly admire his eyes.

[HAIIAPHNK]

The next lion was a very famous Swede with Dutch roots. Of course, I am referring to Vasa's ship and his lion. It is simply impossible to set out to make a collection of Mufas and Simbs and bypass this lion. 

I've been thinking for a long time about what exactly my.... it's not very interesting to write the word "lion" in every sentence. I'll name this lion.... Gustav. I think it's an appropriate name for a Swedish royal lion. Now, where was I? I've given it a lot of thought. Uh-huh, I remember. 
I thought long and hard about what Gustav's final appearance should look like and thought, why don't I try to replicate exactly the kind of lion we're all used to. The one in the Stockholm museum. Let it look more like a lion that has been underwater for a long time. Why not? It's decided, let this lion be a drowned man. 🙄I think it's an interesting experience to try to replicate the museum original. 

Now we can begin. However, I'm going to start the story of the next lion from the side. An unexpected side. Maybe it will be interesting and useful for someone. 
I will purposely end this post halfway through, and I will post the photo in the next one. There are some people who are too impressionable. Then it's better not to look below. I warned you!

[HAIIAPHNK]

 

 

No, no, no. This is not ground meat. So you can relax, I'm not going to tell you about making a minced meat figurine.

Then what is this suspicious stuff and how can it be linked to Vasa?

It's my experiment. Not a good one. But that's what experiments are for, to find bad solutions.

The impetus for this experiment was my son. The thing is, he had an interesting drawing class at school. When I saw his sketchbook for the first time, I was very interested in how their teacher conducted lessons and what tasks he gave. There was a lot of interesting stuff in there, but I'll mention just one example. One day I saw a drawing in this sketchbook where my son was drawing an eye. It was the eye of a lizard or a snake. I can't remember exactly. It turned out that the students drew different eyes, some drew a bird's eye, some drew a fish or a cat. My son got a snake. 

I think it's a very interesting task. You can try to achieve several tasks at once. How to show a spherical object. How to make it feel transparent and shiny. At the same time you can convey how one color in the iris of the eye flows into another. I liked this task so much that I sat down next to my son and started drawing too. It had been ages since I had picked up a pencil. And I haven't used colored pencils in over a thousand years. 
When my son had his next class the next week, I went into his room and asked him how the assignment was completed. To which my son showed me this.

 

 

It's soap. Regular soap. Their teacher decided to continue the eye theme, but now all the students were making little sculptures of their eyes like this. That's brilliant. It doesn't require any complicated or dangerous tools. The soap is easy to work with, just some chopstick from a Chinese restaurant, for example. Or a spoon.

[HAIIAPHNK]

And now I'll finally explain how all this relates to my Gustav. Before I started carving, I decided to do some preparatory work. To make a rough figure to see how best the shape should look. It was a bit scary to take on wood right away. And that's when I remembered about that eye from the soap. And I thought, why not try to do the same thing? Only a standard bar of soap is not as big as I would like it to be. You don't have to make the whole figure, just the head and the chest and the paws. That'll be enough. But from one piece of soap will still turn out too small. How to make it bigger?

 And why not go the following way: grate a few pieces of soap, melt them and pour them into a mold of the desired size? That's what I did. 
I will not describe the whole process, there is no point. According to my calculations, the soap should have hardened again within a day or two. And it would be safe to work with.

But the next day the soap was still soft. You couldn't scrape or cut it. I sighed and put my experiment aside. But on the second day and on the third day, the soap was still not in a form that I could work with. It was getting harder, and the hardening process was underway. However, as soon as the hard surface was just a little touched, a viscous and soft body reappeared deeper down. 

 

I waited a few days and eventually abandoned the idea and took up wood. Only after a long time, when I started to plan the first posts about carving I suddenly remembered that somewhere there is a soap monster. And I wanted to see what became of it. 

These pictures were taken at that moment. The soap is now solid. Whether it has dried up to its full depth or whether the soap magma is still beating somewhere inside, I don't know. I didn't cut or pick, what would be the point? Also, I still can't share how long it takes for the soap to become solid again. Maybe it happened the next second after I abandoned the experiment, or maybe it took a month to harden? I can't say for sure.

So is it okay to use soap for prep work? Or is this method not worth considering at all? It's hard to say. Maybe different grades of soap behave differently. I know there are kits for making your own soap. And it seems that such kits produce regular hard bars of soap. So maybe if you use something like that, the result will be better. 

Alternatively, you could just try heating the two edges of the bars of soap and while they are hot join them together. Then you will get a large sized blank. Or maybe not. I didn't bother to check.
One thing I can say for sure is that if there is no special need for a large size and the size of one bar of soap is suitable, it is not a bad option. If you have uncertainty and need to try to make a practice figure, then this method may be useful.

What to look out for? For me, the most important factor turned out to be the smell. While my son was working with his soap eye he had a strong soap smell in his room. And it can't seem to be called a stink, but over time it became a nuisance. So if you are allergic to some strong odors, try to make sure even in the store that your preparation is not one of those that give you a headache or something else.

 

Why didn't I use plasticine (clay)? I will answer this logical question right away. It's simple. I really wanted to quickly start something to do, soap took from my wife, and for plasticine had to go to the store or order online. And I didn't want to wait. In addition, I have a strange attitude to plasticine, I have already tried to do preparatory work in the form of molding. But I was deduced that it is very hard and while you knead it, your fingers start to hurt. And when it is soft, then from a light touch can lose shape, crumple, flatten. I spent half an hour to mold a face, and in one second all the work is mangled, and I am like a furious monkey jumping in anger on the walls. So I wanted not to build up layers in the preparatory work, but to cut them off like in carving. That's why I decided to try soap.

Are there any other ways that can help with practice work? Yes, of course. People have been sculpting for thousands of years and have come up with many different ways. There are also methods that have only recently emerged. So this topic can be a very long time coming. But I'll stop there. So, this is a very big digression.

[TBlack]

Aleksandr,

You may have digressed, but it’s fun to read. You have mastered the English language! Soap for practice is a great idea.

Tom

 

Edited August 21, 2023 by TBlack

[HAIIAPHNK]

Thank you. I'm glad you're interested. They say that if you tie an Italian's hands, he can't talk. Roughly the same thing would happen to me if I limited the number of words I could use to communicate my thoughts. I know for a fact that I am not a Spartan, and there I would have been executed long ago for being verbose. It's my curse 😌. 

And about English language skills, your praise should be forwarded urgently to the people who are trying to improve translators. It's a full credit to them. I, unfortunately, know English no further than "I love you", "to be or not to be" or "I'll be back". Just don't let anyone in on this secret. Please. 🙂

[druxey]

Apart from your carving skills I like your safe method of squaring a log. Once seen, it is so obvious!

[TBlack]

I think “I love you” will get you a long way. How’s your German?

[HAIIAPHNK]

21 hours ago, druxey said:

Apart from your carving skills I like your safe method of squaring a log. Once seen, it is so obvious!

 

Yes, it is true that working with logs should be done with care. Once, when I was very young, I worked in a carpenter's shop and saw several examples of how important it is to observe safety. And one of the cases happened to me. I was sawing a board that had a screw, it got jammed during the movement and the saw threw the board in my face. I didn't have time to do anything, it was so fast. Good thing I got off easy, it was just a small bruise. My teeth, eyes, and the rest of my face were intact. After that, you realize very quickly how important it is to take everything possible into account, then it's too late.
I'm sure I haven't invented something new with a log mount like that. Most likely those who often encounter such operations know ten more ways how it can be done quickly, qualitatively and safely. But for myself I decided to keep it. It has happened more than once that after a long break it is necessary to repeat a rare procedure. I remember exactly that once already found a solution how to do it, but now I do not remember. I'm glad if it was useful. That's what we learn from each other for.

[HAIIAPHNK]

3 hours ago, TBlack said:

I think “I love you” will get you a long way. How’s your German?

 

Unfortunately, I can't brag about it. My wife and children speak good German. I can hardly speak German. Because I can't work and am practically at home all the time, I have no practice in speaking. When I am in hospitals, I gradually get used to it and can even communicate on simple topics, but it is not enough, and it is quickly forgotten when I return home.

[TBlack]

Your English is excellent. Can you get along with that?

[HAIIAPHNK]

Talking about languages is a very big topic that could be talked about at length. And not even half of what you want to express can be said. 

[HAIIAPHNK]

Getting started. 
So far this is just a preparatory part. There is nothing to write about the process of work, everything is clear.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Hubac's Historian]

Your carving skills are impressive.  This has me excited for the Fulminant project!

[HAIIAPHNK]

13 hours ago, Hubac's Historian said:

Your carving skills are impressive.  This has me excited for the Fulminant project!

 

Thank you for your appreciation. I too hope the project with Fulminant turns out the way I would like it to. In the future, there will be many things that I will try for the first time. It's a big experiment for me. I'll be discovering new things myself.

[HAIIAPHNK]

Well, here comes the carving.
On the one hand it is always a very impatient time, you want to start getting to the most interesting things as soon as possible. On the other hand, it's also the scariest stage. How much to cut so that it doesn't come out too much? I don't want to mess up. That's why it's always the most difficult and hated period.

I always start at the head. I won't tell you exactly why. I'm used to it.

 

 

 

 

Model ships are inextricably linked to history. We make something that existed long ago. And sooner or later many craftsmen face the question: what is the right way to make a model? What is better, when every smallest detail is made with machine precision and all identical elements cannot be distinguished from each other? Or it is more correct to do so that the flaws were visible. Irregularities, roughness in processing and so on. What is the best way?
Especially these reflections arise under the influence of modern historical films. If the plot is related to the Middle Ages or other eras, one thing often catches the eye. It has become very fashionable to show knights, Vikings and so other of our ancestors in coarse clothing that looks more like rags than clothes. If it's a castle or a house, it's all rough, too, between the logs of the slots in which even a hand can slip through. And so on. But this is not how our ancestors were shown. On the contrary, old movies about history, children's fairy tales were filled with beautiful characters. Even if they showed some peasant girl in a fairy tale, she was clean and well-groomed. Her hair didn't stick out in different directions like an explosion in a pasta factory. Knights wore shiny armor. 
So what was the right thing to do?
Sure there was dirt and cheap plain clothes, but can we say that people lived like characters from Mad Max?

And going back to the topic of modeling, that question would be: what did ships actually look like? And since I'm primarily interested in carving here and now, I'll move the above to carving quality. What is the right way to do carving so that it is as close as possible to what was done back in the day? What was it like? And there can be two camps, two opinions here.

The other pole may say that it is not so. Yes, it is silly to talk about the lack of skill, there were very good craftsmen. But as a rule, they worked in other industries. For example, a very talented blacksmith did special orders for kings and rich persons, making some armor with fine artistic chasing and decorations. Stonemasons and carpenters who were especially gifted were employed somewhere in the design of temples or the same rich people. Ships were made by other people, here in this time period it was not so important to have perfect quality in decoration. And they did it with axes, roughly and quickly. All the same, all the decorative elements will be high up, who will look at them closely?

So who's right? What's the right way to do carving on a ship of this period? Rough or precise, with perfect symmetry? With good detailing or only slight hints to show features on the form?

And now I had a unique opportunity. To examine what ship sculpture was really like. Not theoretical, based on drawings. but the real thing, preserved under the dust of centuries. You can not just admire it, you can study it. And not only you can. You must! And it is an interesting occupation. 

And what can we say, who is right? In short, we can say that on the example of Vasa both points of view proved their rightness. Those who claim that ship decorations were really masters can easily show examples of fine work. For example, lion faces on the cannon hatches. Or the stern carvings.
On what to point a finger will find another camp: here crooked, there obliquely.

My vested interest is Gustav. And I was interested in looking at him and thinking which camp to join? For example, I suggest you look at this photo:

 

 

I showed what I was interested in. See the curvature of the eyes and the different construction of the cheekbones? 
When you have photos in front of you, and you use them for your work, you want to have more of them. But that's where the problems arise. Because the photos were taken in a museum where a special light is on display, it interferes with the "drawing" of the form. You look at two similar photos. It looks like a similar angle, but still on one frame you can make one conclusion (where there are complexities, and where concavities), and on the neighboring frame everything looks completely different. It's enough to make the shadows lie a little differently, and already impressions about the shape will change. In the same way here, I am well aware that in this shot the whole problem may be in the light. And in fact there may be no curvature there. It's just an impression.

Or maybe there is. Maybe Gustav has a crooked face.  And it's not just the shadow play that gives that impression.

 

 

[HAIIAPHNK]

So I had to wonder if I should keep the asymmetry myself. The figure is small, you do not need to run around it, all the irregularities can be clearly visible. I'll take a picture, people will look at it and say that you have, say, hands from... your back.

In the end, I decided that I'll do it the way I see it. And different eyes with a crooked fit. And asymmetrical cheekbones. And the rest of it. First of all, that's how it is in real life. And second of all, I figured the curvature wouldn't be so jarring in the end. Each of us has our own asymmetry in the face. Eyes slightly different, mouth slightly angled, and so on. But we look at each other and don't notice these disadvantages. And even on the contrary, if you accurately reflect the right half of the face, it will be perceived unaccustomed.

And with this conclusion I started the first elaboration of my Gustav's face or muzzle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Hubac's Historian]

In the end, I think it is always an effort at interpretation, and perfection is not a reasonable end-goal - in fact, it is impossible.  If you manage to capture the spirit of the thing, while imbuing it with some sense of your own spirit, then you have achieved art.