Geislor Trip Day IV & IV Veiled Lady

Day IV was a turn the corner day but very late in the day. Day V, on the other hand, was the day it all started coming together. I'm down to the final rasping and finishing stages. I discussed the final finish with Pascal and told him I had done a little research on the original carver of the this veiled lady in stone. Monti (the sculptor) would leave a duller finish on areas that were in shadow and put a high polish on areas that were closer to the surface of the body. Pascal recommended rasping over the whole thing and then using a sanding and burnishing technique to put the final surface on it. Once I am finished I'll give it a good coat of wax and buff it up.

This is the carving at the end of Day IV. Lots of refinements left.

Ed is moving along. Very complicated piece.

Day III Geislor Trip Veiled Lady in Wood

The process is very slow. Dig down to the top of the fold and try to reveal the face in between the folds. Sounds easy enough but unfortunately not. Looks like I will be finishing this one at home. We'll see after two more full days on it.

Day II Geislor Trip Veiled Lady in Wood

The carving is always bigger than you think. I feel as though it is nearly life size. A lot of wood to take off. Can't approach this one traditionally at all. You can throw away everything you've learned about setting up the face. You work down to the folds and dig in between them to get to the face. Extreme challenge.

The block of Linden. Not much could be removed with the bandsaw.

First cuts in front of the shoulders. I started this on my own and Pascal stopped me and said "Start at the top and work down".

Starting to emerge by days ends. Off to schnapps tasting!!