dervishcarving

no.. ash = great green-wood-working material

definitely interesting. anyone know where the word is from (without resorting to google)

Wow! ok, so its a new word and i do like new words but for gods sake, lets not go back to using Mercuric chloride! that stuff will seriously do you harm. One of the most toxic forms of Mercury. As an aside i THINK its also water soluble, so the protection would be reduced if the wood is outside in the rain. Could be wrong about that, some years since i did much chemistry (I specialized in DNA a long time ago)

no idea, never tried it. But when i get asked 'whats your favorite wood to carve' i give this answer... Free wood! beggars cant be choosers

like it. But DAM! that wood is great looking

A few of this years bowls. All elm. A simple one from a 4inch plank, a small burr with acrylic center (with that glow in the dark blue powder) and a lovely piece of heavily burred elm. The burr elm was a piece that was going to be put in the firewood pile but i thought it might come out nice. I call it the firewood bowl

at least come down and say Hi if you dont get a spot this year?

That one can Ian is an appealing form whether its possible or not, should sell easy. Im starting to think about woodfest now, only a few months to go!

v nicely done

elm is a buggr to mill but that is a splendid matched pait, hope you get to keep it for something good?

liking the new style owls si

thats not elm. lime Id guess the orange underbark says it is

great wol

a nice blue powder is turquoise color and particals, called Inlace. you can get it from Turners Retreat. they have a good range of it

I got 2 part epoxy off ebay and have used it to fill the bottom of a bowl i hollowed too far have tried the glow in the dark powder (also from ebay). lessons i learnt was to fill deep cracks (or holes in my case) in 2 stages. Seal the bottom of the crack (i used 2 layers of duct tape, worked ok but you then have to sand off the sticky residue it leaves) then Fill the bottom of the crack with a very think layer of silicone sealant, just enough to keep the epoxy from finding any gaps under the tape, 1mm will be enough). then fill deep cracks in 2 stages. first one quite thin to just seal it. when it has set you add a second layer. second one can be thicker and its in the second one you add the metal flecks or powder otherwise it will all settle to the bottom. in my way it forms a layer on top of the first layer you did (make sense? been a long day in work, brain not workign too well). temperature is critical, i brought mine in after the first failed attempt set too slow, cloudy and leaked out past the tape (i didnt put the silicone in first time). think if you try to set it when its too cold it goes cloudy. not got any pictures yet but if you want ill try find teh ebay details of the 2-part epoxy Hope that helps a bit Dave

Realised i haven#t posted on here for ages so this is something i have been playing with for past month. Has taken a while to get photographs of these together. My photographic ability is pretty limited. This familly group of dolphins surfing on waves is carved from a single piece of sycamore, about 6 foot at the highest point, weighing a fair bit. I have kept the areas of bark-inclusion and wood-colour as I think that is how the wood wanted me to to. They still need a few more coats of oil and a chance to keep an eye on one small crack, after that I might be persuaded to sell them.

lovely plums mate :0 did you turn it or hand carve it? id be a tad nervous about turning something with that much overhang. does it balance ok?

even a 30 quid metal detector from ebay will save you a lot of sharpening. I use one when I am carving stumps. lost count of the number of times i am told 'no nails in that tree' and then i find several. house owners always seem surprised

better to carve it rather than mill it

Elm turns lovely, I use it a lot. But let it dry properly or it will warp a lot.

better to worry when you didnt than the opposite. Danish should dry to a nice non-transfering finish. but if the wood isnt quite dry its gonna be a risk

Well mate, its not a bad piece at all. Raptors are not awlays easy. we all have an idea of what a raptor is (in our head) and that dosnt always match what is real. Yours aint bad at all. if you want some comments i would say: one of the reasons for the slightly 'cartoon' stle of teh head is the forehead/eye-line (as already mentioned) but also teh solid block of yellow dosnt help, the beak is a tad heavy and too wide (as you probably know) plus missing the 'nostril ridge'. It works on this piece thougha s it fits the overall character. eyes on a raptor are bigger though, check out raptor skuls, the eye sockets are huge feet are good, proportions about right but the legs maybe a little high at the hips (have a look at a few skeleton-pictures to see what i mean). when a raptor raises his feet that way it has to arch its back more, which would bring the tail downwards... which is what they do when striking to an extent anyway. i like them but open them next time, raptors 'strike' with the hind talon usually so the toes are opened. good proportions though and excellent detail of the undersides, the ridges and folds wings.. hell, we have to workw ith the available wood but you got the bend in the right place (many dont). next tie try thinning them, in general they are much thinner after the 'bend' (which is .. i guess.. the wrist if you want to think in terms of human arams), from then on downwards its effectively just feathers so needs to be thinner. great work on the feather arrangements and going for a more 'blocked out' than just lines drawn on. next time stagger the blocks, its more work but worth it. also, when you make the cuts hold your saw on an angle so you are cutting with the corner of the tooth, not the flat of the tooth, that way you can undercut each feather (or block of feathers). it lifts them out a bit. check out the work of scott Dow (american carver), he masters the whole pop-out feathers thing. I try to emulate him but i stil have a long way to go. hope some of that helps? if you facebook, drop me a line and ill try show you what i mean. not surprised it sold, it has personality and often thats worth more than detail