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!!

Day I Geislor Trip Veiled Lady in Wood

First day was very long, cramming to finish the clay model. Worked through the lunch break and after dinner. The clay model is half the size that the wood carving will be. Wood should be glued and ready to hack into this morning. This is going to be a challenge. Thanks to Raffaelo Monti for the inspiration.

This is the original sculpture in Marble by Raffaelo Monti.

Wood armature for sculpture. Head can pivot so as to play around with head positioning.

Finished Clay Model

Head in Stone Day III

I missed my post last night due to extreme lack of progress followed by extreme fatigue. (Although I did muster enough strength to go shoot some pool with Pascal and the boys) Didn't think I had much to share. Today was definitely turn the corner day and it is beginning to look like the model. Pascal loaned me his small air hammer with a small tooth chisel that worked great. There is still a long way to go and I will be surprised if I actually finish the carving. Bit off a little more than I could chew this time.

Day I of Carving the Head in Stone at Geislor Moroder 081511

I had three things to accomplish today: Sketch my idea, create the clay model, and pick out the stone. I managed to get through all three of these steps and am now wondering, "how the hell am I going to finish this carving in 4 and 1/2 days?" I'm reasonably satisfied with the clay model. It's not perfect, but then again I'm not Antonio Corradini. I don't think I did all that bad considering I've not done this kind of thing before. The goal here is the following: Create a carving in Marble of a veiled woman that gives one the sense of a very sheer fabric draped over the head of a woman. (Google Antonio Corradini and you'll see what I'm talking about) Pascal (our esteemed instructor), of course, knew exactly what to do: Sculpt the head without the fabric, and focus on building up the wrinkles and subduing the details on the other areas. It kind of works. Let's see if I can now do it in Marble!!

Final Blog Entry from Elbigenalp 010811

Wasn't a whole lot of time to work today, but I spent the last three hours refining the Acanthus Leaf and getting a lesson from Pascal in carving an S-Scroll. He of course made it look very easy, but it was not. It is very hard to get the long cuts that look so good when a master does it. He did show me one trick where you push down hard on the middle of the tool when coming up against the grain. It is a way of cheating the grain to finish a long cut. I tried it out and it kinda works, but kinda didn't. It worked for Pascal so I am assuming it is something I am doing wrong but I will practice the technique and see if I can figure it out. I am including some pictures of Ed finishing up his carving and a few pics from our two hour walk this afternoon.

Looking forward to getting home to my beautiful lady and cat.

Eric