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Yes, you're probably right. Indeed, if the head will be spoiled, it is already necessary to take a new blank. I have not thought about it, but it is impossible to do otherwise.

Yes, you're right. Any work is an interpretation of a particular person, a particular master. When making this lion, I had the opportunity to take a closer look at exactly what was actually on the ship. When you make a work based on drawings, it looks very different. There, it's about 70% personal fantasy. But here I had the opportunity to go the other way and try to make a copy. In my mind, I could follow the same path that the carvers in Stockholm once did. I couldn't miss this opportunity. Plus I like to share not just the result, but the process. For example, when we eat, we get more satisfaction from the process itself, not from being full at the end. I have different emotions and thoughts while carving. And it is more interesting for me to show what happened during the work. To describe the thoughts that arose at that moment. In some cases it was fear and anxiety, and in some cases it was joy or surprise at the discovery. I think it's more interesting that way. And for me to show. And for others to watch. Maybe it will be of practical use to someone.

Indeed, the Zeus version sounds very strong. All the available hints tie together. The name Fulminant reminds us of this character in the first place. And the details on the stern of the ship make this version even more probable. The coat of arms with royal lilies is the center of the composition. He soars in the clouds and throws lightning. The same lightning can be seen below, there are bundles of fire and lightning, which again allude to Zeus. Also below you can see eagles. And this is again a reference, because the eagle was a companion of Zeus. So everything really points to this ancient celestial.

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.

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.

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.

Good version. I write down: one vote for Zeus. 👍 Does anyone else have other versions?

Yes indeed. Forgot the link. I'm sorry and thank you for noticing this. Here: https://modelshipworld.com/topic/5412-carving-from-belgorod/page/10/

There is also another clue that can give versions in the search. If the decoration of the ship should be logically connected with the name, it is not only the main figure on the breakwater. Right? The decoration of the stern of the ship should also have the same logic. And since for this ship the sketch of the stern decoration is the only thing that can be found, the first place to look is there. What is drawn on this drawing? Can this document give us a clue? What exactly do you think is encrypted there? Who or what did the chief artist of this ship want to say by decorating the stern lock in this way?

I suggest continuing the game for imagination and fantasy. This time I will give some hints. 1. A ship gets a name when it is built. This name is its battle cry. It is its calling card. Something he himself is proud of. Try to think about what kind of symbol, what kind of figure a ship called Fulminant might have. What exactly is it that this ship is proud of? P.S. I will support the main idea of this post with a little story. There is one writer in Russian literature. His name was Andrei Nekrasov. He wrote many different books, and many of his stories were children's stories. One of these children's books was called "The Adventures of Captain Vrungel". It is a cheerful adventure of an elderly and experienced captain, who together with a young named Lom took part in a round-the-world racing regatta on a yacht. In the course of the story, the characters of the book got into different funny situations, from which they got out with the help of wit and unconventional thinking. I will not go into a retelling. I mentioned this book for one reason. The yacht on which the main characters sailed was called "VICTORY". In Russian this word is spelled like this: "ПОБЕДА". However, by coincidence, during the launching, the first two letters "ПО" in the name broke off. And now there was the inscription "БЕДА". Which means "TROUBLE". It was a game of words, a game of concepts. So the yacht, which was supposed to declare itself as a winner, on the contrary said the exact opposite. And like a prophecy, it was plagued by various troubles and adventures. Which, however, ended well, because this is a funny children's book. Such a lyrical digression. When I was a child, I loved the cartoon, which was based on this book. What else does a boy need? Adventures, chases from gangsters and behind them, spies, storms and a good friendly team that will find a way out of any situation. So I suggest we ponder how the name Fulminant might give a clue to what might be on the breakwater of this ship.

The discussion stalled. Therefore, I will allow myself to respond to the versions that have already accumulated. And we have two votes for the figure of the lion as the main symbol of the ship on the breakwater. Alas, this is a mistake. A lion cannot stand on this ship. Let me explain why. First of all, strangely enough, French ships had far fewer lions than the fleets of other countries. I emphasize: it does not mean that there were no lions at all, but fewer. This information was very surprising to me. At the moment, in parallel with this project, I am busy with the idea of making a collection of lion figures from different countries. So, the search for French lions turned out to be not so easy. If there are those who are interested in this lion theme, you can see how this project is progressing here: I post almost all of my carving work there, including now the lion theme. But I've gotten sidetracked. Back again. I stopped to mention the first reason why the lion couldn't appear on the Fulminant breakwater. There is another reason as well. The ship in question was among the ships of the first rank. It is a large, and powerful ship. Under certain circumstances, it could take the place of a flagship in a squadron of smaller ships. Which means it would have to be suitably ornate. By the end of the 17th century, the craving for luxurious decoration of ships reached its peak. Ships flaunted an abundance of sculptures and bas-reliefs in front of each other. Even if all this significantly reduced the seaworthiness of the ship. It still had to take time for kings to realize that first of all the real greatness and glory of a warship is its victories, not its decor. That moment had not yet come. The Fulminant (like other big ships) was born with the idea of showing its own specialty. What do lions have to do with it? The point is that you can't surprise anyone with lions anymore. Even private yachts have lions on the breakwaters. And if you put such a one, it is rather a reason for ridicule from the neighbors. Therefore, if you pay attention, you will notice that lions on the breakwaters, if they continue to appear, it happens on frigates or other ordinary "workers". Elite ships should have something unique. Special! So the lion versions fall away.

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

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.

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.

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.

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. 🙂

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.

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.

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!

Thanks

and how do you do that?

I suddenly have a question. Am I in the right section for this topic. Maybe it should have been placed in another place of the forum, for example, where they describe the construction of ships? There will definitely be not just one element, but the whole stern. What should I have done?

Okay. I'll write it down: There's a leader in the race! The lion now has two whole votes. And Schwarzenegger is down one. It's getting harder and harder for this character to win. 😄

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.

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.