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'Refining' here means focussing, means subtly modelling the head down to the mouth so that we are close to a finish. (We might add last 'details'.)
Joining everything together has the fish really coming to life!
| 30 October 2019 20:30
Aha! Great. I've just tried it out and I think I get what you're doing. Yes, that's certainly a very useful technique. I'm already hooked :)
| 30 October 2019 20:25
Jof - It's a sort of mixture of both guiding and pushing with both hands.
It's also true to say that although I start everyone off with the 'low' and 'high angle' grips, the reality I use combos and variations which have arisen with familiarity and practice - and your observant eye has spotted one of them!
| 27 October 2019 18:12
Hi Chris. In this video at times it almost looks like you are *pushing* the tool with the fingers of your right hand - with a pinch grip - as opposed to *guiding* it with your right hand and pushing it with your left. Am I seeing it correctly? Or is it just the way you're holding the tool? Example at 10:09.
| 26 April 2017 07:24
Marilyn - Although they are of the same species, it seems to me that Basswood is drier, less oily and more brittle than Limewood. But the best Basswood carves like good Limewood - though the best Limewood is something else.
I have carved quite a lot in Basswood, quite happily. When you buy Basswood, get the densest you can, the most slowly grown with the tightest rings. As it grows quicker, so it becomes more 'wooly'.
Glad to hear you are having a go at the 3D carp. In many ways 3D is easier than relief as you don't have to worry about perspective and flattening etc. Everything is where and how it should be!
| 25 April 2017 07:04
Chris what are the differences between Limewood and Basswood. I have worked with Basswood. Limewood is not readily available in the Rocky Mountains. It appears that Basswood might be a softer, less dense wood the way you are going after the Limewood in the videos. I like carving mahogany and walnut but they are certainly tougher on the tool edges. I have carved two Basswood Koi Carp each a different thickness from 1/4 inch relief to 1 inch raised, each 2-D. This 3-D style will be challenging and fun. I'm working on a similar fish this summer, but with a twist toward the native Colorado Brookie Trout. The final piece to be displayed outside along the lake where my Mother-in-law taught me how to fly-fish.
