Carving from Belgorod

[HAIIAPHNK]

And the final view of the shield:

 

 

[HAIIAPHNK]

The epic about the lion from the Vasa ship has come to an end. Here are the last photos.

 

 

 

 

As long as the appearance stays that way. The figure is coated with oil and needs time for it to soak in. I already know that gradually the color of the wood will change. 
It is still an open question whether I will tint the sculpture with something or not? Maybe I will, but not now. I will decide when I gather a small group of other lions and see how they will look. On the one hand, I want to bring this lion closer to the original with the help of color, so that it would be darker, as on the ship. But I'm not sure yet. The darkening may hide the scuffs and scabbiness that I tried to show.

[druxey]

Lovely finish, Aleksandr! Beautifully rendered.

[Hubac's Historian]

This really came out well, and is an interesting  execution to show the degradation of 300 years under water.  I am excited to see what you do with Le Fulminant.

[HAIIAPHNK]

59 minutes ago, druxey said:

Lovely finish, Aleksandr! Beautifully rendered.

 

57 minutes ago, Hubac's Historian said:

This really came out well, and is an interesting  execution to show the degradation of 300 years under water.  I am excited to see what you do with Le Fulminant.

 

Thank you for the high praise.

I too am curious how the carving on the Fulminant will turn out. It's going to have its own nuances. Its own interesting points and its own challenges.

[HAIIAPHNK]

It was interesting to compare.

 

 

I'll have to shoot it again later in the evening light, so that the shadows would be deeper. Compare it with artificial light.

Edited October 23, 2023 by HAIIAPHNK

[HAIIAPHNK]

One last thing about Gustav. 
That's how the two lions lived for a while. Temporarily took from my wife her cake box ( I don't know what to call this thing exactly, it's a case for cakes). Now instead of cakes, a couple of lions live inside. Convenient. For the lions - protection from dust, for the wife - protection from the smell of oil. I don't understand her, how can she not like the smell? Good thing misunderstandings are rare.
But once a neighbor came in and almost fainted. The distortion made her think there were rat bodies in there. I had to calm the poor woman down. Then we laughed for a long time...

 

 

 

 

[HAIIAPHNK]

I would like to publish the story about making the next lion in a broader form. Even wider than it was done when publishing the material about the lion from the Vasa ship.
I think it will be more interesting, as the next lion is likely to be from the category of less familiar. And the additional information will introduce something new.
At least for me the period of work on the next sculpture was connected with new searches, I do not just sit next to the photos of the source and try to repeat the features of what I see. It was immersing myself in history, looking at several possible candidates for references, studying sculpture from the same period as the chosen figure, and much more.
But I don't know if such a long narrative would be of interest to readers? Maybe it is superfluous and just photos will suffice? Is it interesting to watch the stages of work at all or is it easier to show the finished result. Which is better?

 

[mtaylor]

I'd say go for it.   There's two choices... continue this topic with the new figurehead, or start a new one.  Your choice.

[HAIIAPHNK]

On 10/24/2023 at 11:06 PM, mtaylor said:

I'd say go for it.  

 

Mark, thank you for your words of encouragement. You always respond very actively to all my publications. It means that you are really interested in what I do. And I really appreciate your attitude and support.
Right now I am in a state of bifurcation. On the one hand, I really want to publish in more detail. But on the other hand, I'm not sure if it's necessary for others. The material is quite specific, and not everyone may find it interesting and useful. Which is evident also because you are the only one who responded to my question. I don't know, is there any point in publishing in this case? Sitting for many hours at the computer to compose a text, to make corrections in the translation, there is a desire only when you see the benefit in it. But to go to such a thing without benefit for the readers? I don't know. 
I guess I won't waste my time. I apologize if I have upset your expectations. 

 

Quote

There's two choices... continue this topic with the new figurehead, or start a new one.

I'm not quite sure what you were trying to say. What "new chapter" means. Did you mean to suggest that each individual work should be done in a new topic? Or something else? I have very little knowledge of computers and a lot of things are not clear to me.

[mtaylor]

28 minutes ago, HAIIAPHNK said:

 

Mark, thank you for your words of encouragement. You always respond very actively to all my publications. It means that you are really interested in what I do. And I really appreciate your attitude and support.
Right now I am in a state of bifurcation. On the one hand, I really want to publish in more detail. But on the other hand, I'm not sure if it's necessary for others. The material is quite specific, and not everyone may find it interesting and useful. Which is evident also because you are the only one who responded to my question. I don't know, is there any point in publishing in this case? Sitting for many hours at the computer to compose a text, to make corrections in the translation, there is a desire only when you see the benefit in it. But to go to such a thing without benefit for the readers? I don't know. 
I guess I won't waste my time. I apologize if I have upset your expectations. 

 

I'm not quite sure what you were trying to say. What "new chapter" means. Did you mean to suggest that each individual work should be done in a new topic? Or something else? I have very little knowledge of computers and a lot of things are not clear to me.

You have not upset my expectations.   I'm just enjoying and learning from what you are posting.  As for the "new chapter" I was suggesting maybe a new topic for each carving.   But then a gain, it's your choice.  Yes, I agree that it's frustrating to put in the time to write and then no one reads it.  The only answer I have is for you to do what you feel like doing.  If you decide writing posts isn't worth it, then don't.

 

[HAIIAPHNK]

On 10/29/2023 at 10:35 PM, mtaylor said:

You have not upset my expectations.   I'm just enjoying and learning from what you are posting.  As for the "new chapter" I was suggesting maybe a new topic for each carving.   But then a gain, it's your choice.  Yes, I agree that it's frustrating to put in the time to write and then no one reads it.  The only answer I have is for you to do what you feel like doing.  If you decide writing posts isn't worth it, then do

 

Mark, you got me thinking.
Indeed, why do we publish our own work? First, we do it when we need help and advice. And then the modeling community provides help, guidance and advice. 
Secondly, we do it for ourselves. Maybe even this point is the first and more significant. Every creator needs not just a viewer, but a positive response. 
An artist can draw pictures and hide them from prying eyes. He has the right to do so. But if a person does so, it may speak of problems. The artist wants to hang his work on the wall. It is important for someone to have it on a wall in a museum, and for someone it is enough to have a wall at home. The desire to share with others is a normal desire.
In this case, I also hang my work on the wall. I feel emotions when I work with wood. And I want to share these emotions. 
I thought about the fact that I like not only to look at finished paintings or other works. I experience pleasure when I observe the process of work. I have channels in my bookmarks where authors make videos about how they paint, sculpt from clay, carve from wood or assemble some machines. I am interested in the process itself. That's probably why I'm also interested in showing my work, not just as a finished result, but as gradual progress. I have never thought about it before. It even became interesting to analyze it.

It's my version of enjoying a hobby. I hold in my hands a wooden blank on which there is nothing yet, or there are only the first plowed traces. It is impossible to understand what the image is, but in my imagination I can already see how I want the sculpture to look. And I like to look at the new steps every time and compare the actual appearance with what exists in my fantasies.
I thought of this as my personal option. Other people may have a completely different opinion. Each of us is different, special. And that means that not everyone can be close to what is close to me.
What if everyone else on Earth sees the world differently? Is that enough to decide not to show my version? Maybe it really is. Then I'm like the person who paints pictures and hides them. After all, even someone who hangs his paintings in his house still shows them to others. To his family, to his guests, they can be seen by the letter carrier bringing the mail, by the neighbor who came to borrow salt. On this forum I also have "my own apartment" - this thread. I can put here what is interesting to me. And the rest is already a separate matter. People come here. I see that people leave badges under posts, showing that they liked something. There are those who write comments.
And the fact that you wrote that you are interested in watching and reading and that you are disappointed with me made me think. 

 

Do I get personal pleasure from preparing large texts? Yes. 

Do I want to write in detail about my personal discoveries, even if others may have known it for a long time and have not found anything new? Yes, I want to share. 

If only one person reads me, is that enough for me to consider my costs too high and my feedback too small? 
I will try to prepare the material so that you will continue to find it interesting to read. I know that many more people read silently, otherwise the visit counter would show different data. 

We live in crazy times. I feel better when I focus on the ordinary stuff. When I reflect on hobbies, art, how people have been creative at different times. Not writing would be much harder. And if people get at least bits of positivity when they read it too, I'll be nothing but happy.

[Hubac's Historian]

I think the greatest value in sharing what we do here, is re-enforcing each, our own understanding of process and the many different ways to approach a problem.  That is what I find personally satisfying in the hobby - the how - and the thing that I enjoy reading most in other people’s projects.

 

Before your Gustav lion, it would not necessarily have occurred to me to model the under-water degradation of the statue surface.  Now, though, I find that a cool idea that I might incorporate into some future project.

 

Also, personally, I find that maintaining build-logs is a good motivator for actually getting the work done because I am simultaneously motivated to share the process as it unfolds.

[HAIIAPHNK]

1 hour ago, Hubac's Historian said:

I think the greatest value in sharing what we do here, is re-enforcing each, our own understanding of process and the many different ways to approach a problem.  That is what I find personally satisfying in the hobby - the how - and the thing that I enjoy reading most in other people’s projects.

 

Before your Gustav lion, it would not necessarily have occurred to me to model the under-water degradation of the statue surface.  Now, though, I find that a cool idea that I might incorporate into some future project.

 

Also, personally, I find that maintaining build-logs is a good motivator for actually getting the work done because I am simultaneously motivated to share the process as it unfolds.

 

Thank you. It's very nice to realize that. 

[HAIIAPHNK]

Episode 1

 

So, I'll start a long story about the next lion. As I wrote earlier, I really want to devote more time to it and describe not only the work itself. 
One of the reasons is that for this information platform this school of marine sculpture is not as widely known as the French or English.
I am talking about the Russian school of shipbuilding. And specifically about what features are characteristic of the sculptures on Russian ships. And it seems to me that acquaintance with this school will be curious not only for me, but also for others.

Where does acquaintance with the peculiarities of the shipbuilding school usually begin? Of course with drawings. Preferably with historical primary sources. It is good that we live in times when such information is available and anyone can find enough information: from books, archives or the Internet. Except that looking at drawings, engravings or sketches has one nuance. It is quite easy to draw the design of the hull, engineering features, show the form. And to understand what exactly is drawn on the drawing is also simple. So it's easy to repeat it. But when it comes to sculptures everything becomes much more complicated. Sometimes it is very difficult to understand from a sketch what the artist wanted to draw, how his drawing can look in reality, in life. For example, try to understand what is drawn here? And how can you turn it into a three-dimensional sculpture?

 

 

 Looking at historical drawings of Russian lions it is also difficult to understand them accurately. During this lion project it has already been mentioned that people in the 16th-17th centuries imagined very roughly the appearance of animals. And sometimes drawings of horses, lions and other characters look strange. And this trend applies to different countries. And in ancient Russia the situation was exactly the same. Russian lions of the 17th century are still those amazing freaks. For example:

 

 

And if you put next to lions from other ships, you can even note that they are relatives:

 

 

 

So for a modern craftsman, the desire to replicate ancient ship sculptures seems to be a very interesting task. And looking at ship drawings alone is not enough. Something more is needed.
Unfortunately, the example of Vasa's ship, when we have the opportunity to look at a real ship is a single exception. Not a single sculpture of the Russian lion has survived. Which leaves us with only one option. To look for preserved models of ships and to look how lions look on them. Fortunately models of ships have reached our days. Among them there are quite ancient, built during the early development of the Russian fleet. Here, for example, are some examples of surviving Russian sculptures of lions.

 

 

 

 

 

to be continued...

[HAIIAPHNK]

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...

 

[HAIIAPHNK]

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...

[HAIIAPHNK]

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

[HAIIAPHNK]

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

[HAIIAPHNK]

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?
 

[druxey]

Certainly is a very wide lion!

[HAIIAPHNK]

5 hours ago, druxey said:

Certainly is a very wide lion!

 

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. 

[HAIIAPHNK]

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.

 

 

[HAIIAPHNK]

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....

[mtaylor]

I took a look here (https://www.wood-database.com/african-padauk/    Interesting wood but perhaps the descriptions may not the wood you want.   

[HAIIAPHNK]

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. 

[HAIIAPHNK]

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...

 

[HAIIAPHNK]

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.

 

 

[Keith Black]

 Aleksandr, great post. Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year to you and yours.......Keith

[druxey]

I once built a desk from padauk. That crumbly orange-red dust gets everywhere! However, isn't the perfumed scent when you cut it wonderful? I wonder how much detail it will hold, as the grain is not particularly fine.

 

Seasons greetings to you and yours.