I
always promised myself that someday I would concentrate on making
miniature figures.Going back to my boat building days I always admired
artists who could do this.
My approach to carving has always been
to subtract material to get to the finished product as woodcarvers
do.Most modern day figure makers tend to use the built-up approach as
you would do in clay modeling.
I think that I may approach this
from a little different angle.I feel more comfortable with the idea of
doing the basic anatomy carved from wood to get the pose and action
right.There is a very interesting wood out there used by bird carvers
called tupelo.It is very light and easy to work.It has hardly any grain
and can be carved without regard to the grain (with power tools)It can
be worked down to feather thin pieces and then soaked in crazy glue to
harden.For detail work (and I have done this on birds)you can add a+b
epoxy and carve it right on the wood.I usually overbuilt an area in
epoxy and then carve it down.I have never had the glue-wood bond
seperate.
Until now most miniature woodcarvers have used very hard
woods such as boxwood for their carvings and I think that this may have
discouraged a lot of people from giving it a try, as it can be slow and
difficult to work with.Boxwood heads and hands maybe a good idea
though.I think that in the beginning I will cheat and buy the heads and
hands and leave the scratchbuilding of these features till last after I
gain a bit more confidence in the method.
I have seen some
wonderful miniature birdcarving work done with tupelo wood and I know
that it will hold the the finest of detail as I have worked with it
carving my own birds.
Should be interesting to give it a go.
Cheers! John.
