Pipestone Rose ii

I couldn’t help but start carving this rose. It just kept nagging at me every time it caught the corner of my eye. No matter that I had in mind to try out some of the new stone and a new design. I can’t leave things unfinished... especially when they manage to yell about being unfinished every moment they are in my sight.

This was the other rose that I shaped out with the dremel tool at the beginning, and it’s been sitting on my computer desk, giving me fits since I got close to finishing the first one. It has a more complex design in some ways, with one petal curving out and away from the main body. However, the interior design will look simpler, as the petals don’t actually curve out and down like the first. Instead, I will be taking away quite a bit of stone to the petals cup and curve near the tops.

Thursday, March 30, 2006

The rose yesterday. You can see the harder spots that run through this piece randomly.

This bottom row of pics show where the rose is today. It’s interesting that the side shots make it seem that the tops of the petals curve up or down where they are truly still level with one another. Could be an interesting piece to work with, as it’s personality is already asserting itself, even in the photos.

At this point, I am simply working on putting the correct curve/shape to the outside petal and defining the locations/shapes of the others. For this one, I have three different photos of roses I am using for light reference, but think I won’t be looking at them often.

There is no real formula that I follow when carving. I don’t do one thing first every time, followed by a proscribed next and next. I tend to do what the stone demands in order for the piece to do what the image and stone want it to do for the final image to emerge. What does not belong to that final image needs to be removed, and I often “jump around,” doing part of one thing, then part of another, until I can more clearly see where the piece is going.

Although this rose is calling me, I may not be doing much with it today because the weather is about to change and my head is really feeling it. Had a monster of a migraine yesterday, and want to do what I can to avoid the same today. (I say that, but am ultimately stubborn and can’t stand to be idle for any reason. :) )