Queen K Update Sept. 10th page 16 new bone &pig mug - Tiki Carving

T Tamapoutini Member Aotearoa (New Zealand) Joined: Aug 30, 2006 Posts: 1530	T Tamapoutini Posted posted on Sat, Mar 24, 2007 9:25 PM Hi Amy. The repetoire just gets larger & larger. Good to see you are still pushing yourself & taking great big bites. This will fast-track your education for sure. I have noticed that some people like to really take their time when learning whilst others leap right in and try new/difficult things: thats you! If you keep on aiming for as high as you can, your skills will improve quickly. In my opinion, the hardest part is coming up with something with a bit of novelty/creativity, finding a vision that feels fresh & unique. I have the feeling you will develop your own style/approach in due course & just need to refine some of your technical skills; the easy 'learnable' bit. The Manaia shows your potential very well, but also tells me that you are trying to achieve a lot of the larger shaping with burrs that are too small for the job. If you were to revisit that piece using a larger burr, working dry & slow (dust mask!) you would probably find that you could 'iron out' a lot of those ripples/bumps. Work carefully in order not to hit/alter any of the detailed areas & to not reinforce any of the lower pitted areas. Is this making sense? Try it on a scrap piece if you think it a better idea. Another method (a little more laborious perhaps?) to smooth those shapes out is to use 'rubbing-sticks'; basically cut-down blade sharpening/'whet' stones into small handheld rasps. These are worked wet or dry over the form to achieve the same result. Probably a better result & certainly a more authentic (neolithically speaking) technique. Once you see the difference you will never go back. You will have the same forms only they will be that much crisper/sharper, better! Just to forewarn you though: once you start getting down into the nitty-gritty of this sort of crisping up you may never stop; the degree to which you can go never ends and this is where the Master proves his/her salt... It is an unavoidable path that the real carver must face sooner or later -if they really are on a mission to push their skills. As mentioned earlier, once you 'click' to a couple of technical tricks I think we will see some exciting work from you. Hope this helps. Tama :)

Hi Amy. The repetoire just gets larger & larger. Good to see you are still pushing yourself & taking great big bites. This will fast-track your education for sure. I have noticed that some people like to really take their time when learning whilst others leap right in and try new/difficult things: thats you! If you keep on aiming for as high as you can, your skills will improve quickly. In my opinion, the hardest part is coming up with something with a bit of novelty/creativity, finding a vision that feels fresh & unique. I have the feeling you will develop your own style/approach in due course & just need to refine some of your technical skills; the easy 'learnable' bit.

The Manaia shows your potential very well, but also tells me that you are trying to achieve a lot of the larger shaping with burrs that are too small for the job. If you were to revisit that piece using a larger burr, working dry & slow (dust mask!) you would probably find that you could 'iron out' a lot of those ripples/bumps. Work carefully in order not to hit/alter any of the detailed areas & to not reinforce any of the lower pitted areas. Is this making sense? Try it on a scrap piece if you think it a better idea. Another method (a little more laborious perhaps?) to smooth those shapes out is to use 'rubbing-sticks'; basically cut-down blade sharpening/'whet' stones into small handheld rasps. These are worked wet or dry over the form to achieve the same result. Probably a better result & certainly a more authentic (neolithically speaking) technique. Once you see the difference you will never go back. You will have the same forms only they will be that much crisper/sharper, better! Just to forewarn you though: once you start getting down into the nitty-gritty of this sort of crisping up you may never stop; the degree to which you can go never ends and this is where the Master proves his/her salt... It is an unavoidable path that the real carver must face sooner or later -if they really are on a mission to push their skills. As mentioned earlier, once you 'click' to a couple of technical tricks I think we will see some exciting work from you.

Hope this helps.

Tama :)

Post #294357 by Tamapoutini on Sat, Mar 24, 2007 9:25 PM