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Yes, you are right, Chinese lions bear some resemblance to the Russian lion I chose for my sculpture. However, there was no single canon in Russia. There were also "skinny" lions on Russian ships, which looked more like European versions. I chose this particular image for several reasons. Firstly, the original museum figure of this lion has more elaborate detailing. And secondly, it is much more interesting to choose different styles. It would be possible to trace a connection with the Dutch school and the British school on the basis of Russian lions alone. You should have seen how many disputes arose on the Russian forum. There is a ship that is considered the first Russian ship. It's called the Eagle. And of course the first ship was built during the reign of Peter the Great. Not a single image of this ship has survived. Only small descriptions. And since the Russian language of that time has changed very much, and during the construction of the first ship has not yet come into use ship terminology, it is impossible to say exactly what the ship was now. Some believe that it was a flute, others are inclined to the fact that it was a galleon or some other kind of ship. And since it is difficult to determine even with the forms, it is even more difficult to guess what exactly was the sculpture on the breakwater. And there was also a lion, although the ship had the name "Eagle". So the debate was very heated. It's a very interesting subject. Someday I will make my own version of the lion from this ship and it will definitely be very different from this "wide" version.

I know about the Chinese lions, of course. If you are interested in how images spread in different parts of the earth, there are already such studies. They're not hard to find. The lion came to China with Buddhism from neighboring India. It is difficult to meet lions in India itself, other types of feline predators are more widespread there. But the world even in ancient times was quite intertwined. And people did not live in isolation from each other. Traders and merchants swam or walked. The silk road across almost all of Eurasia is worth a lot. Silk was transported from China to Europe, spices from India. From the north of Europe, traders from Scandinavia traveled or sailed to Byzantium along the so-called Varangian-Greek route. So there were a lot of different things. It is quite likely that lion skins. It is very easy to imagine ancient "bloggers" who told amazing stories about distant countries and showed drawings. Including lions. Well, wars also "helped" to learn about foreign symbols. For example, Alexander the Great brought to India ancient images from Greece, Africa and Persia. So one should not be surprised that China knew lions. If people in different parts of the Earth know dragons that never existed, they could certainly learn about lions.

I'm sincerely glad the topic is of interest to you. When I thought about this project, my thoughts started on a different path. I have been carving ship decor for a long time and I was primarily interested in this particular direction. Agree that carvings come in many different types. It can be a volumetric sculpture, bas-relief and even in the form of engraving on a flat plane. And each part of these styles easily overlaps with other types of creativity. Flat carving is very close to a drawing or fresco. Volumetric sculpture flows just as easily into stone sculpture, bas-relief into architectural types of decoration. And here it is very difficult to find clear boundaries. Everything is interesting. I decided to limit myself to ship sculpture. Even this narrow part of carving can be very diverse and have its own nuances. And I was interested in comparing exactly how jewelry was made in different countries. The best option for comparisons is to choose one common image. It seems to me that in ship sculpture it is difficult to find a more universal and more common image than the lion. That's why I settled on it. It would be possible to take another image as a basis, for example, some anthropomorphic character - a man or an ancient deity. There is also someone to choose from. However, this option will lose. Because there are a number of countries where people were not depicted at all, such as in the Turkish navy or another Islamic country. The lion has a distinct advantage here. This is how exactly I was thinking about it.

Hello, druxey. I know that there are several species in paducah. Probably the active odor has some other species. The kind of wood I am working with now does not smell. Maybe it's the fact that I just don't smell it. My sense of smell is a little lower than usual. There are times when I'm baking something in the oven. My wife comes in and asks me what I've burned, because it already smells burnt. And I don't even know it (that's a hyperbolized joke, although I really don't smell as keenly). Or maybe it's simpler than that, and my paduk really doesn't smell.

Hello, Keith. Welcome to this thread about carving. I'm glad you enjoyed this short story. And thank you for leaving a comment.

And so the day came when I would finally start torturing my red-faced Pinocchio with saws. It started out kind of normal. In the morning I took a shower, sent my home T-shirt to the laundry basket, put on a clean and fresh one and went to breakfast. And apparently I got up on my left hind leg that morning, because I spilled coffee on my fresh t-shirt. I hissed, yelped, wiped up the spill, fell into melancholy on this occasion and was completely upset when I saw that there was nothing else to wear. The shelf with T-shirts was empty. Who knew it would go like this? My wife reacted to my lamentations about the vicissitudes of fate. - Why are you so upset? What do you mean there's nothing to wear? What's that? - It's a white T-shirt. It's white! - So what? - What do you mean, so what? How can I wear white for home? - Are you saying you'd actually wear it for another occasion? Going into town in it? Or go out? I hesitated. Yeah, I probably won't. - So just take it and wear it. - All right. But I was going to go to the basement to do some sawing. - So? I did not have time to answer something about the fact that white is white, will get dirty, as the wife struck a preemptive strike: - Put on your work jacket, it's cool in the basement. If you want not to get dirty, you won't get dirty. I didn't say anything. I don't like it when adequate arguments are given. I look like a man. like a man again. just another man. And the wife's right again. In any case, the white T-shirt is all that's left, so I don't really have any other options. I'm not going to cancel everything, I've already prepared myself. I've already ironed a wooden log and imagined how the circular machine will wail. There's no turning back. So I went downstairs. It was right after breakfast, I was fed, satisfied and ready to work..... I had lunch without a T-shirt. It was in the same hamper with the dirty laundry. And if in the morning the T-shirt doused with coffee felt like a loser, the next morning it hung and dried with an expression of infinite bliss and considered that it was extremely lucky to be doused. White, however, could never again be called white. And so, I'm sitting there having lunch. Then my son comes home from school. He walks into the room and the first words he says instead of "Hi" are: - "What's wrong? - I don't get it. Why such a question? - Have you seen yourself in the mirror? I go to the nearest mirror and see this looking back at me: or more like this: I'm covered in red-brown pigment. All over! My face, my neck. I look like some Zulu or Maasai, rubbed with red clay and ready for marriage. I'm sure you've figured out what it was all about. But I'll write it anyway. The first thing to do was to level the timber. That is, to run it from all sides through the machine, to remove a millimeter to equalize the geometry and remove irregularities. I knew in advance that there would be sawdust, there was no way to get rid of it. But still I didn't expect the result to be exactly like this. And that's even though I had the vacuum cleaner hooked up to the machine. This is after just one pass. And it was the very last pass, I decided to remove an additional fraction of a millimeter, I didn't like the remaining untouched bald spot on one of the sides. Up to this point I had already vacuumed and cleaned everything up. But changed my mind and decided to do a little refinishing. Can you imagine what was there during the rest of it? I was standing in bloody snowdrifts. Such is the tale of t-shirts and first impressions of paducah. It has a very active pigment, it gets in and doesn't wash out well afterwards. Very fine fraction, almost powder, resembles red brick dust. And in the following days I, already knowing all this, came home from the workshop only through the shower, that is, immediately went to wash. I even had the feeling that this red dust was following me everywhere. Here, in Germany sometimes on the roads they use some red fraction, it looks like ceramic sand or small granules. Usually they sprinkle it on the road after accidents. I do not know the exact meaning, maybe to absorb spilled oil or other liquids. So in the evenings, I go to pick up my wife from work. I take the same route. The usual footpaths between residential neighborhoods, there are no highways, roads and constant car traffic, at most I meet cyclists or dogs on leashes. Suddenly I see that the road is red. At first I thought that I could already see my paduk dust on the street. Then I realized that the road was really red. For some reason they'd spread that road sand around here. Maybe it was slippery or something spilled. I don't know why. And the thought came to me that I'm always in such dust that after me half the city is in red dirt. I'm walking, and it just keeps coming off me. That's the extent to which this paduk got me with its color. In my life I have had to deal with all kinds of wood. Both at home and at work. Before that, the most extreme consequences were probably oak. My hands were always black with tannin, as if I worked as a locksmith, not in a carpenter's shop. But paduk can easily compete with oak. If it were bigger in scale, there would be more significant consequences. Maybe you'd always look red-faced, like you've had a self-tanner, no matter how much you rub yourself in the shower. P.S. In fact, any wood with active color has similar nuances. When you have to saw some red wood, everything around you will be red. If you saw black wenge, you'll look like a chimney sweep. And so on. So if you decide to mess with this kind of wood, keep this in mind. At home, there can be very unexpected reactions from the household. Better have a separate room, and very preferably a vacuum cleaner. That's the way it is. I don't know if this story will be really useful. I just tried to describe these nuances in the form of a little light first-person narrative.

One of the features of this lion, which can be clearly seen in the photos of the original figure in the museum, is that it is not quite a standard breakwater. Usually on ships or models it is straight or reduced in thickness. On the model of "St. Andrew" the breakwater has a shaped profile, it changes in thickness, and not just becomes thinner, but as if a woman's waist after the hips goes to narrowing and then widens again. And it looks very elegant and beautiful. This is definitely one of the highlights of this particular model. On all the previous sculptures, I only worked on the figure itself. Somewhere a groove for the breakwater was made, somewhere the lion just has to lie down on a gentle breakwater, as for example with the lion from Vasa. The breakwaters themselves I left for later. This part of the ship (and in my case the breakwater is also a stand for the sculpture) is not so important. Now, however, this approach will not work. It is necessary to go in the opposite direction: first make the akhterstevnoy, and already on it to plant the figure of the lion. This is the only way to achieve a qualitative and accurate juxtaposition of the two objects. The solution is logical. The only problem is that I decided to make my breakwater pedestals from transparent plastic. According to my calculations, this will be better. Firstly, all breakwaters will be in the same style and it does not matter which lion will sit on it. Secondly, the transparent material will be absolutely neutral and will not distract the viewer from the sculptures themselves. And if on the other sculptures the task I have in mind looks quite simple, what about this lion? So how do you make a waist thin waist thick waveguide? Use a hand tool to pick at the plastic? Doubtful. And if using machines, the plastic will melt from heat and again the result may not be the best. And then how to proceed? I had an idea. But again everything is possible only with practice. The method itself has long been very much wanted to apply. It consisted in the use of a standard cycular machine. I measured the radius of the disk on my machine and was pleased to see that its radius perfectly matched the curve that should be on the breakwater. I lowered the disk so that it was peeking out just a little bit, tried it and it worked. If it's not clear from the photo, I'll describe it a bit. The saw blade practically turns into a router on a milling machine. And if you move the workpiece perpendicular to the disk, it will chew through the plastic in the form of an arc. Only you need to start work with a very small "look out" disk, so that he did not tear the material and not cause injury. Well I didn't need to make several passes for my task. I need to have a very small bend. In some shots you can't even see it at once. The last photo is already after sanding the disk marks. In the future it will be necessary to polish the wave cutter to a completely transparent and shiny state, but this is not in the frame. I did not have the necessary grain size of sanding paper, I had to go to the construction store for it separately, and I wanted to take photos now. It is not yet known when I will be able to take me to the store, this task is not so important and can wait. The main thing is that I already have a starting point to start working on the wooden blank itself. I will have to repeat the step with the cubes, but already from paduk. to be continued...

I have a small amount of news accumulated for the new issue. There is nothing to describe here. The vertical side frames have just appeared. And now it's time for not so simple details. I mean the shaped ledge at the very top, on the bow, which crowns the stern transom. Adding another layer with the wenge background. And these photos show a failed first attempt at making a cornice. What happened? I decided to make the cornice profile from a straight lath. The manufacturing technology was the same - with the help of a homemade figure scraper. And this part of the work turned out without problems. Then the resulting cornice should be bent to the required radius. The technology of this stage is also not new. I boiled the lath in water, and then began to fix it in the necessary position, using a template. And here was the problem. The lath was not everywhere the same thickness, and even after the bath it bent reluctantly. It didn't help that I made long kerfs on the underside of the lath to make it easier to bend. In addition, the cornice was difficult to press against the template, as you had to rest the spacer wedges on the face of the cornice, and any careless movement crumpled the shaped profile pattern. This is a glance at what I got. Or it is more correct to say "it didn't work out". The profile is all crumpled, the curves are not smooth. Added to all this was the fact that after cooking the lath swelled and the profile pattern became bloated, and the wood texture itself became rough. In a word, it is impossible to use such a product. And the method is absolutely wrong. It should have been done differently. In particular, the way I did when I made the radial edge of the background layer. It worked out very well then. So, you just have to repeat the same technique. First, I made the cornice itself the desired shape. And then, using a fixed centering cyclic, I gave the workpiece a shaped profile. To the last picture I will leave a small description. Let it be a clue for me, just in case I ever forget this little detail and this picture will be remembered. In Russian there is a simple expression: everything ingenious is simple! This lath with a cut out window turned out to be very simple, but a very nice addition that makes the work a lot easier. When you hold a hacksaw in your hands (from which I make shaped scrapers), your hands get tired very quickly. Holding a more solid bar with the scraper inside is much more comfortable. It is comfortable to hold in your hands. When the scraper is hidden inside the magazine of this rail, it can't be angled, which means the shaped profile will always be perfectly level. There are a couple other advantages, but I won't detail them. A small addition, which greatly contributes to the work and makes it better. But this is not the biggest problem with the cornice. The main difficulties awaited ahead. The thing is that this cornice should "run" in different planes simultaneously, and to the sides, and down, and with a slope. Plus after a few millimeters there should be a new joint and new directions. So each new section was tiny and difficult to hold and handle. But that's why we love ships. Here, every new task is a challenge. It seems like you've only made a couple of small parts, but there's a sense of satisfaction and pride in the fact that they've turned out. Just now you are happy, and already you need to go further, where again new challenges await. How to correctly calculate the joints, how to make, how to hold these little things.... Which means you can't do without boiling the blanks. So I have to boil them first and then glue them together. Otherwise the glue will be destroyed by welding. And there's another problem. I need to glue thin laths with their ends facing each other. And such a joint will be very brittle. Any movement will break the joint. So what do I do? I had to think about it. The first attempt was a failure. No matter how hard I tried, the parts tore, the thin end was too small to hold the parts together. And the bent profile had too much tension to avoid the pressure in the thin seam. A different solution was needed. Finally, on my second attempt, I decided to make quarter kerfs on the laths. This gave the gluing points a much larger area. Maybe this will be enough for a strong seam? And practice has shown that this solution turned out to be correct. The rest was quite simple. It remains to give the glued in a single board laths the necessary geometry and put them in their place. This is how the next stage was completed. It seems that not much has been done. As my wife once said: you spend so much time that it should be enough to build a real ship. I don't know, maybe that's true. But I don't have a better option yet. At least at this rate, the work is moving forward.

Thank you. Yes, I read about this wood and some other woods when I was deciding which one to choose. Now I try to describe everything that I have seen new. Maybe it will be useful for someone. In the future there will be many different discoveries, both positive and negative. At the end it will be interesting to compare the final result with expectations.

Well, it's time to cover the work on the Russian lion. I'll call him Peter. For some time I have been thinking about what kind of lion he will be? What color? What kind of wood? Usually I use pear or apple wood. But now I've decided that I won't use those woods. The museum's original is made of oak. It's not an easy wood. It's not always suitable for model ships. The grain of this wood is too distinctive. In addition, the veins are not just colored, they have pores. So a small sculpture runs the risk of becoming too rippled. And that would be very distracting. But that's true on a small scale. I want the sculpture to be large. So an active wood grain might not be such a big problem. But I don't really want to go with oak anyway. So I've been thinking. I looked at ads on amazon selling wooden blanks of different types of wood and tried to imagine how it would look like in the finished form. In the end I decided to go with wood that I haven't worked with at all yet. And I don't know at all what to expect from it? Will I be able to cut it well with cutters? Will I like the result? No matter how much I imagine these questions in my imagination, only the work can give me the exact answer. If I don't like it or there are problems, I'll just throw away the unsuccessful attempt and look for another material. And then we'll see what happens. So what did I choose? Paducah. It came to me like this. I ordered two blanks just in case. In addition, I bought another small bar from the same supplier. Also red, but in a different color. Just for fun. Just in case. The moment of unpacking has already given unexpected discoveries of this wood. The photos show that the different sides are very different from each other. You can also see stripes across the length of the board. This is not dirt. Apparently the wood reacts differently to light. In the shade and in the light, it darkens with different intensity. And the stripes are traces of wooden laths, which are placed between the tiers to ventilate the wood. Is it that much different in places that are completely hidden from the light or is it from contact with some other kind of wood? I don't know that. It looks very epic. Strong and active color. It's very representative of African flora. There's a lot of red pigment there in general, for example, the ground is very brightly colored, and many species of trees are also red. It was already clear beforehand, so it didn't surprise me too much. What I did notice was something else. In some places the wood crumbled very easily when pressed. It was as if it was not a fresh body, but had already started to rot and turn to dust. In the photo I even showed the pieces that were easily separated by touching them with my fingers. It's still hard to say what condition the blanks I bought are in. There could be many reasons. It could just be a fluke. Or maybe I really did get a bar that was already starting to deteriorate. I'll know for sure when I start sawing. But I'm not sawing now. I'll get to the wood a little later. First of all, I will start working with other material. But about that in the next issue....

As I warned, the posts will be a bit non-standardized. I spent a lot of time even before the work itself. And I dared to mention it. But without all that, it would be hard to show exactly what I want to do. What thoughts were in my head during the period I was carving. Now I have completed the preparatory descriptions. That said, the description of the work itself will also be a long story. This time I first began the work with a rough period. I mentioned once before that such a stage has always been a weak point for me. Usually the rough stage for a carver is modeling from Plasticine or clay. This allows one to create the image one wants to get. And modeling allows you to make changes, to try several times. And then, while carving in front of your eyes there will be a clue to look at. And being able to take the time to sculpt is a skillful approach. Which I've never been able to do before. Molding has never worked for me in any way. I'm too impatient, and the easily crumpled material always threw me off balance. That's why I've never been able to do preparatory modeling... Nor could I do it now. I didn't even try to do it now. I needed the rough work for something else. I decided that this sculpture would be assembled from segments. Like I was some kind of Gulliver. And I live in Lilliputian country, and I've got tree trunks cut down that fit on my desk. And I have to assemble a billet out of those tiny trunks. But before I start doing this with the actual blank I need to do a similar thing on the roughing bars. I will not stretch this stage over several issues. Although I have a lot to tell about this period, how I thought about segments, layers. But it will be a long story. So I'll just show the pictures. No explanations. Just to show that this stage took me a lot of time and effort. Although even in this period I got the satisfaction that a hobby should bring. Of course, this "Rubik's cube" is specifically made for certain purposes. For example, I made only one half of the construction, and in some places the blocks are specially made so that they do not block the parts that will be inside. After all, in time, when it comes time to do the final construction, I can simply forget about how the layers look. I constantly recalculated the scale of small cubes and looked at what sizes could be in real life. There has to be a balance. What do I mean? Today we are used to wooden blanks being some kind of standard. A log is sawn into boards or blocks. They have clear dimensions. You just go to a store or to a construction base and buy the right size blanks. And in modern ship reconstructions we also see the influence of the modern approach. And it's clearly visible in modern sculptures. It's much easier to build that way. Here: But that's not how things were done in the 17th and 18th centuries. Why spend a lot of effort sawing wood into thin boards and then gluing them together? But completely whole logs won't help either, it might break. As you can already see, the construction of this lion is not a very simple shape. At the bottom is a very thin layer of wood, and on top hang very bulky and heavy layers. How do you attach them? After all, even long ties may not help if you hang a layer that is too thick. How did such a large mass affect the ship at all? Was the figure inside hollow or monolithic? Each step had to be studied separately. It all took a lot of time and there were a lot of options. I leave the abundance of questions behind. A lot of things I've already managed to forget. And here you can already see the latest version.

Thank you for your words of encouragement. I try to do my best to make the result worthwhile. You are right, I have done a lot of work. I can imagine how much effort it took. And I am very sorry that the work was not up to its final form. Originally it was supposed to be a classic Admiralty. And a series of lower decks built with all the interior spaces mentioned. But they are not finished to their final form. The upper decks are still missing. It takes a lot of patience and persistence to get this ship "off the slipway". My role as a decorator is a drop in the bucket compared to the huge amount of other work that has yet to be done.

Yes, I absolutely agree with you. It would probably be easier for me to do some jobs on the machine in the future. For example, I have window frames ahead of me. Or other parts of the structure. I haven't thought about them yet and how exactly I'm going to make them. But in this task, hand tools are enough. And the future will show which way I will go. Maybe I will buy this machine after all. Or maybe in the future there will be alternative solutions. Thank you for your support 🙂.

The first layer of the background is complete. We need to move on. The next phase began with a mental tragedy. And it was my own fault. What happened? I knew that there would be a lot of details in this project that would require a milling machine. And it is needed now, because the next layer has shaped edges. And they need to be made with shaped milling. At some point I tried to replace this machine with a vertical drilling machine. But it turned out to be a bad solution, the drilling machine still had a backlash and the cutter cut not evenly. And the idea of doing without the existing equipment did not work. So I gradually saved up money to buy an MF-70. This is the most budget option, maybe you can find something from other manufacturers, but I have not met a suitable option. Buying a new machine is still too expensive for me. I don't know how often I will perform projects of this level in the future, so I don't really want to spend money on something that will just stand on the shelf. But I can't do without a machine either, because I need to do the work now. So the most logical option is to look for a used machine. Yes, there are also a lot of questions and problems. What condition it is in, suddenly it will be caught after a breakdown or with serious errors? From the photos you can not always understand it. But one day I saw an ad that I really liked. The machine was sold as brand new and had not been used. The photos show that the machine is straight in the packaging, the mounting bolts and nuts are in separate bags, the work table is not attached to the machine bed. In short, everything is just like a brand new tool. And I immediately got in touch with the salesman and bought this machine... I've always considered myself a balanced and calm person. I'm not prone to ventures and rash moves. But now I acted exactly like an unthinking baboon. A vague doubt arose as soon as the money was sent. Why didn't I think about it an hour ago? Why didn't I pay attention to the fact that the buyer asked me to transfer the money as a parcel to a friend, not as payment? You've already figured out what happened. An hour later, I decided to search the Internet photos of this ad and very soon saw them on a completely different site, and this product has long been sold. I got on the scammer, who simply put in their ads someone else's photos. So after an hour I realized that I would not receive any machine, and I would not get back the money I sent. Needless to say, my mood was disgusting. So what do I do now? The task remains. And I have to do something about it. I couldn't spend more money looking for a second machine, the very thought was impossible. There is only one option left. To work in the same way as shipbuilders did in previous centuries, when it was impossible to imagine any milling machine even in dreams. You have to make shaped planes by hand. I don't know if the translator's translation of this tool is correct. In my language, it's called a cyclay. In my case, I made a shaped chicle with the cut I wanted. That's what I used. Now I needed to mill radiused areas, so I decided that it would be easier to make a mold on the very edge. The small radius was quick enough, but the larger radius took a bit of work. I decided to make the parts in the form of segments, if to do, so to do as close as possible to the real manufacturing. But because of this, the edges of the segments interfered with the passage of the cutter. In these places it went jerkily and I did not like the result. The solution was simple. I am lucky that I am making a radius and not a wavy line. That means I just need to find the center of the radius and make it so that the cyclic moves strictly along the desired arc tied to the center. Like a circlet. And now the result is much better. There is nothing to write about the rest of the work. It was only necessary to measure and cut accurately. And to join them.

Yes, the lions of the Russian navy of this time had great distinctions. That's what got me interested in it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJ9700uWjFM&t=172s (short clip about building a ship) It is good that there is an opportunity today to see what the ships looked like in full size. It is a pity that there are not as many of them left as we would like. There's still the Dutch Lion ahead. I really hope I can get to Amsterdam and see the Dutch style of ship sculpture in person.

How is that possible? In fact, everything is simple. The fact is that on May 27, 2018 in St. Petersburg was launched the ship "Poltava", which was a recreation of the ship of the same name of the beginning of the 18th century. I won't spend a lot of time to review the construction. It would take a very large volume. I will only allow you to show a few photos of this sailing ship. I will make the main urop on the sculpture of the lion. To be honest, in my opinion, it is not a very successful work. It is different from what I would like to see. But that's my personal opinion. I realize how difficult a task this is. There are no exact laws that define what a correct figure should look like. But this example shows well how difficult it is to translate images into a three-dimensional sculpture. A lot of work was done during this project and the initial sketches were quite far from the image of the 18th century lion. Subsequent changes clearly improved the situation, but still fell short of perfect execution. Again I emphasize that this is just my personal opinion. I would like to see something different. Speaking of which, this variant, which became the basis for the final sculpture is suspiciously similar to this image. This is a working sketch from the reconstruction of the Russian line ship Gangut, which is performed by one of the Russian modelers and published the process of his work on one of the Russian shipbuilding forums. He certainly did not take part in the construction of Poltava. But it seems to me that it was his interpreting taken as a basis. That's how it happens, you are quietly engaged in your favorite hobby at home, and then suddenly see that your work has turned into a real ship, even if it is a replica. But I got distracted again... And even though the appearance of the lion I have some reservations about, there is a huge plus in the fact that I was able to see how such a huge sculpture looks in the material. And I looked with great interest at the specifics of the construction. How exactly the individual wooden segments were arranged, what size they are, how they are connected to each other. And of course, I was separately affected by the size of this lion. What was the result? After working on Gustav, I liked to see my reduced figure as a real sculpture. To try to convey the traces of time. Why not continue something like that this time?

So, I told and showed how Russian lions look like in the ship sculpture of the reign of Peter the Great. A little traced the origins of canons in the appearance of these animals and even described the allegorical meaning that is embedded in the multi-figure composition. What more could be added? This issue I will begin with a problem I have encountered. Two sculptures have already appeared in my collection. There are more to come. They are all representatives not only of different schools of art, but they all stood on different ships. Both the ships and the sculptures themselves are different in size. And quite different. I wondered, what should be the basic rule for my entire collection? I could go by scale. In this case, my lions will be very different sizes. The larger ones would outshine the smaller ones. And I wouldn't want that. So I won't take scale into account. I will make all figures of approximately the same size, so that they were equal to each other and the human eye could not be distracted by extraneous factors and just look at the beauty of the forms of each style, each lion. But this little task aroused in me an interest to compare what were the sizes of the lions. And first of all I began to find out the size of the ship "St. Andrew". And then I found out that the real dimensions of the Russian lion must be simply colossal. Next to the other lions it must be a Giant. Especially funny would look neighbor with small and skinny Gustav from Vasa. These are the dimensions that the Russian lion should have in reality. While working with Gustav, I paid particular attention to the way this lion was constructed. That he was made up of several fragments, he had separate paws. And if several logs had to be combined for such a slender figure as Gusav, what was the Russian lion supposed to be? What were these logs combined in this case? And from that moment there arose in me not only the interest of the artist, who is interested in appearance. In me woke up an engineer, a carpenter, who had to see the drawings with these dimensions and decide how such a sculpture could be assembled. At that moment I could say something like: ah, what a pity it is impossible to see such a figure in real size. What a pity that somewhere in the waters of the Baltic there is not a Russian ship preserved that could be lifted and made into a museum. Yes, it's impossible. Such a museum does not exist... Only instead of "Ah, what a pity!" I will say another thing: "How great it is that I have an opportunity to see such a sculpture, I can see the whole ship of Peter's epoch. to be continued

As I said in the last post the next step is a series of jobs that are easier to do before installing the balcony. And first and foremost are the planking boards on the transom of the ship. The old ones had to be removed as it was decided that the background should be wenge. Next will be some photos from this stage of the work. It is simple and easy to understand. The only thing that had to be considered was what kind of wenge wood I had. If the ivory plates were extracted from an old piano or grand piano, it makes perfect sense that the same source was for the wenge. They were black keys. They were also provided by the customer. It's a good idea. If he has access to old instruments, it was a sin not to take advantage of it. The only downside of these buttons is their size. It is not difficult to cut the key bar into thin slats, but they are obviously shorter than I would ideally like. The solution was simple. Just place the seam of these laths right in the middle of the transom. In the future, a decoration will appear on this background, which will cover the joint. That's all. In the future, the black color should be found in other places. And most likely sooner or later I will find myself in a situation where there will be nothing to cover the unwanted seam. But let this task remain for the future. Otherwise I will solve all the problems now, and tomorrow there will be nothing left. And it'll be boring. And then there are the pictures. There are not many of them, as the process is simple.

I hope you find my experience useful. I also want to try Elforin, but it will be in another project, with lions. And much later. Thank you for your comment and for following the process.

After publishing how things went with the glue experiments, we need to move on. But what exactly should be shown and what should be omitted? The thing is that in addition to the work with the ship itself, a lot of time and effort is spent on what should be done next to it. And it's a long chain. To make a certain part you need the right tool. To get that tool, you have to make it. And then you have to find a place for it to stand. And so on. It's kind of like the story of the house that Jack built. And what exactly is worth mentioning in these adventures is the question. I've already mentioned that now I have to start from scratch. Neither the accumulated fleet of machines is practically gone, nor the workshop. When I do carving, that work doesn't need a lot of input, just an edge on the table, a set of hand knives and chisels, and patience from family members who periodically see shavings on the dining room table. With building a model ship, things are already different. So I've gone down to the basement where I can get more of both dust and noise. I won't go too far into the stories about the workshop. There's nothing new here, I have completely standard tasks. First, you have to figure out where to get furniture to set up a workspace. And then I have to find tools and machines to work with. It's a long process. I suspect it doesn't have an ending at all and every time something needs to be added or changed. So the writing about the workshop is endless. The only thing I'll still mention is the mini loom I needed right now. Urgently. Without it, it would have been impossible to get to work. When working with wood, the first place is occupied by a circular saw. Without it is nowhere, because everything begins with sawing the material. And I already had such a machine. But it's not enough. As I did not try, I still have a saw leaves traces on the laths. And they need to be further processed. That's normal. And in any carpentry workshop, the second most important machine is a jointer. But I don't have one. And since I am not engaged in large serious works, I do not need it. Moreover, since in ship modeling the material is laths, the dimensions of which are measured in millimeters, it can be too dangerous to level the surface of such laths with the help of a jointer. Both for the laths and for your hands. You can, of course, find mini machines, such as Proxxon, but that too comes with additional issues. I won't bother explaining these nuances to you. I decided that I needed a sanding raismus. Pondered and decided that it is easier to make it yourself. There is nothing complicated about it. And it is. But it's not. Very soon I realized that I had taken on a task that was much more difficult than I had anticipated. And the problems were very different. One machine design wasn't as convenient as I wanted it to be. I had to redesign one part or the other. I've also been plagued by strange dimensional mismatches. For example, I ordered bearings. But when the package with them arrived, it turned out that the diameter was different from what was stated in the description. Instead of a diameter of 20 mm these wheels were 19.4. It's a very small difference. But it turned into a problem, because the drills come with a certain pitch. And in the 20mm hole the bearing was hanging out. I tried to put it on glue, measured to make sure that everything was aligned evenly, but in the end there was still run out. I had a similar situation when attaching a drill to the machine. The diameter of the place where the additional handle is attached to the drill was made 43 mm as if on purpose. Not 40, and not 45! Where can I find a drill bit with this size? Again I have to think of something. And each new problem seemed to be solvable, but for this again it was necessary to go to the construction store and look for other options for solving problems. I have to go to a neighboring town, and drive me can my son, he has a lot of his own things to do. So it took me a lot of effort, nerves and time for a homemade machine. The only thing that reassures me is that in the end everything works as I would like it to. The gap adjustment between the table and the sanding drum is the same, no misalignment. And I am even proud of the fact that I managed to solve this issue, because initially those options that were offered on the Internet in practice turned out to be very far from ideal. I can change the dimensions within tenths of mm. Everything works, even if the machine looks unpretentious and simple. Well, now we can move on to what I did with this mini grinding machine? What did I need it for? The first thing I decided to do was the deck decking on the transom balcony. It's supposed to be made of slats from an elephant ivory piano. But there's one thing about them. The thing is, they're not flat. One edge of the bar is slightly thicker than the other. And that means that first of all you need to use sanding to equalize the thickness, to make it so that the slats were even. Otherwise, the differences will be noticeable. And with this task my new machine coped perfectly. I was prepared that this procedure will be associated with odor, but to my surprise there was no bad odor. Well, that's great. I definitely won't be upset about it. The work itself is clear, there is nothing to explain additionally, so I just show the pictures. This is an intermediate result. In the future it is still necessary to remove the ribs, which give the floor plane the desired geometry, and on the reverse side to make a planking of wood. But at this stage I put the balcony aside. Making the balcony was directly related to the bone glue. Before the cooked portion went bad, it was important for me to make something where it could be put to practical use. So decking the deck was also an experiment to show what this glue could do. Whether it would hold the thin plates securely. Whether it would shrink and bend the thin paper backing. I originally thought it would just be a practice version, after which I would remake this piece out of plywood. But over time I gave up on that. The paper soaked in glue became quite stiff yet flexible, so I decided there was no point in plywood, especially since I need to split it into layers to make the backing thin enough. And plywood that thick can change geometry too. Further work on the balcony will continue later. I'll put it aside temporarily. At the same time, I will see what will happen to this part, whether it will not become deformed over time. In the meantime, I will deal with those parts of the transom, which are easier to do without a balcony. And first of all it concerns the very base, the background, on which the decor will be located. And about it already in the next post.

I will now go in a little more detail on the Russian lion I have chosen for my lion project. This lion has differences from the other predators of this company. In addition to the unusual proportions, what immediately catches the eye is that this lion is not alone. He is surrounded by an entire company. And today I will pay attention to who is depicted next to the main character. For what reason these companions are there and what kind of story they are "telling". It's going to be interesting. And before I start developing this topic I want to give a huge thank you to the people who helped me during the work. I learned a lot thanks to the hints and help. And this material is entirely compiled by one of the participants of Russian language community of ship modelers, who publishes his posts under the nickname Antiq. He is a wonderful person, a great artist. And also a very deep researcher of many topics related to wooden shipbuilding. Now let's go step by step through each character on this multi-figure composition. I'll just add a translation, all the laurels of research rightfully belong to Antiq. Crown. Definitely not a wreath!!! The circumference is decorated with two edges. The upper one is wavy, with alternating heraldic signs on the tops, such as an acanthus leaf (not sure) and a cross of four pearls. The lower edging is straight. The upper part is probably not finished intentionally by the master. To this translation I will allow to add a small explanation. The thing is that on the Russian forum there was a very heated discussion about the headdress of this lion, as well as other Russian lions. Since the crown is a heraldic attribute and each country has its own peculiarities, there were also questions about how to interpret the semi-distinct details of the carving. For example, on some lions the crowns very much resemble British crowns. And on this lion we can talk about a crown and a wreath. This has caused a lot of opinions. A czar. King Just a czar. Putti. Messenger, Messenger. A child with wings. With his right hand the angel holds the crown, with his left hand rests on a club. This is important!!! The king can be both a tyrant and an angel of kindness, everything is accepted with gratitude, based on the idea that he is a Messenger and anointed of God. If he is good - it is a favor from God, cruel - punishment from him! Bearded man wearing a loincloth and carrying a club. Hercules/Hercules Mortal demigod. Familiar, companion of a lion. The presence of a familiar clarifies the properties and qualities of the lion. Triumphantly he raises his club above his head, on which rests the hand of the messenger - with God's help Under his feet is a defeated animal with a number of heads and characteristic notches on the body. A defeated animal Cerberus or Hydra Personally, I am inclined to the second option, as several heads are preserved on the right side, and they have a beak-shaped end. Also the characteristic notches on the whole body of the bestiary can mean a snake body. Detail with whorls to be continued

Yes, I know about this material. Never worked with it until now. I will try it for sure, but not in this project. I am sure that the customer will be against the use of artificial material.

Another part of a long story about the Russian Lion. In the post about searching for references in ship models I did not mention one model. It is different from the others. I did it intentionally. I didn't want to show too early the prototype I chose for my work. This is the lion I have stashed away until the right time. This lion is very different from the others. First of all, it is made with a lot of detail. It is perfectly preserved. To top it all off, this lion has been photographed in great detail. Such an abundance of angles would be the envy of many runway model girls. So there should be no doubt why I chose this particular lion. What kind of ship model is this? Wikipedia lists this model as the St. Andrew. However, there is still no firm belief in the correctness of this version. The fact is that the dimensions taken from this model do not coincide with the archival data. Immediately several different ships can fit the appropriate parameters. And at the same time, each of the contenders has differences in something. There are no one hundred percent matches. So even now, the questions remain, what kind of ship is this? Someone is inclined to believe that this is a model of the ship "St. Andrew", someone believes that it is "Friedemaker". And there are those who call this model "68". Because of the fact that on the model itself there is an inventory number with this number. You can continue to get acquainted with this lion in the next issue...

Human beings want the best all the time. When there is no information, any scrap of data is perceived as a great fortune. When there are drawings, one wants to look at ship models and what figures stand there. But even here human nature does not stop and continues to want more. It would seem, live and be happy. But my brain has not found peace here and expresses dissatisfaction. What claims can appear now? Everything is simple enough. The found figures are very small. After all, I make my lions big. And I want to show more nuances and details. How can I find larger samples of Russian lions? What can help in this? It's really not that difficult. You just need to shift the focus of the search a little to the side. After all, the masters who were engaged in ship decoration did not exist separately from the rest of the world. They were also influenced by the same trends, the level of knowledge that influenced other carvers. For example, those who made decor for buildings or interiors. Yes, a carver-builder may make a different material, say stone or marble. But it is more likely that he or she will embody a similar image as a wood carver. And what is even more likely is that it could be the same author altogether. Say, at the royal court worked a certain team that made decorations for palaces or fortresses. And they could have been sent to make sculptures on a new ship. After all, and the ship, which represents its king should be decorated as well as the royal palace. So it makes sense to look at other kinds of sculptures of the right era. And to see what Russian lions looked like in architecture or interiors. I mean, it's a chance to see lions at a larger size. And that's a good idea. Considering the Russian architecture you can see how the traditional stylistics developed, what roots had Russian sculpture. And even understand why Russian ship lions are so different from their counterparts in Europe. Why they resemble human faces (albeit ugly) rather than animal faces. Here are examples of Russian lions in architecture. The same trend in style that we could see in the drawings of ships is readily apparent. Russian lions have something between a human face and animal facial features. And they look very funny. And where did the first images of lions come from in Russia? What was the original source? Here, look at this lion. You'll agree, he's a clear relative of the lions I've already shown you. But this is not a Russian lion. This is the Byzantine lion. And Russia, and before that Ancient Russia took a lot of things from there. And the manner of depicting lions, among other things. It seems like a simple enough task. Just make a few lions. But it is an interesting way to see how different people see the same animal in different ways. It's interesting to see how different styles were formed. Byzantium is the Eastern part of the orgomous Roman Empire. Over time, one common country divided into parts. Rome and its classical style took a lot from Greek painters and sculptors. And the Byzantine style absorbed many features of southern features in drawing, from Phoenicia to Persia. Later, after the fall of the Roman Empire, Western styles were adopted by various European schools of drawing. And Vizania after the collapse continued its pictorial tendencies in Russia, Turkey and other countries. And when I get to the Turkish ship lion this topic may get its own continuation. Unfortunately, I don't know much about the styles and trends of this country. But it will be all the more interesting to learn new things. It is also interesting to notice how the degradation took place. And if we compare the blossoming of ancient culture with subsequent examples in drawing or sculpture, we can see how people first learned to very accurately convey the resemblance to the original, knew the anatomy and plasticity of movements. But then they gradually lost a lot of things. And in the place of that: there was this: And only decades later people were able to regain the lost level of skill again in the Renaissance. But that's a whole other story.... to be continued...

Most likely the glue you mention is similar in composition to the one I bought. It's based on the same principle, just extracted from different animal species. In your case, horses, in my case, rabbits. Other than that, it should be very close. I don't know if there is a difference, for example, one applied in some conditions and the other in others. Maybe a specialist with experience has both of these glues, and a few others on top of that. And he could tell us what he uses in which cases. I have no experience either. When I first started searching, I came across recipes with the following content: Glue for gluing ivory items together Ivory is glued with a paste of slaked lime and raw egg white. A solution of albumin in water with quicklime can also be used. Glued parts are firmly squeezed and left to dry in a cool place for 24 hours. Small items of ivory glued with an alloy of equal parts of wax, rosin and turpentine. This composition is not particularly strong, but it is very convenient to work. I have met other variations. And compared to this recipe, simple dilution and heating is a great relief. But even with this one I managed to do something wrong. No matter what you say, experience is a necessary thing.