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Description
The carving known as 'maple dancer' has found a new home and now sits in the home office of a civil engineer. It stands a bit over six feet tall>2 Meters<.
This carving 'block' was literally laid at my door during a hurricane in 2015>2013?<. For years while relieving myself behind the building, I had looked up at this particular intersection of branches and thought how perfectly they were spaced... I was in the shop that day as the storm passed, and heard a thud and a scraping noise. This tree had snapped off about twenty feet up and fallen right against the building, not five steps from the back door. The cinder blocks and roof edge were unharmed, and the next day I sawed this new 'girl' out and brought her under a roof. The rest of the tree was bucked and stacked for burning.
Like all my stick dancers, the subject is 'pre-destined' by the form of the material but even then lots of decisions have to be made. the first id one of setting her proportions. I cut the branch to about the 'right' length and started to shape her lower leg. Once that form was decided, I drilled her foot to let in a 12" steel spike which protruded from a bulky glued up plywood base. From this start the rest is brought into 'compliance'. On and off I worked on her over more than a year and gradually what started as an almost cartoony figure became more and more graceful. As she dried splits opened up here and there, as most parts were slimmed but left in the round, with the pith of the tree contained. These were consolidated with wood slivers fitted into the cracks, smaller cracks were filled with polyurethane glue, the smallest were left untouched and will open and close as the seasons pass. Structurally she is sound. Perhaps the weakest point now is where her foot is drilled and her weight rests against the steel pin. As a precaution I soaked the inside of the drilled hole with thin cyano acrylate glue to seal any small checks that might have developed. The steel spike is unhardened so can be bent to make small adjustments to how she stands.
The familiar path of chainsaws to grinder to chisels.. then rasps more chisels and sanding was followed here. The Husky 395XP makes short work of chopping up the tree, a Stihl 180 electric completes the rough out. A 4.5" angle grinder with arbortech cutters further refines the shape. Several days of rasp work was required to smooth and fair her. For this work she is laid on a bench or the floor and flipped around as need be. Sooner or later you reach a point where you can go no further and add no more detail without switching to chisels. This is were the least amount of wood is removed but the smallest changes can have the biggest impact. If one can make the face and hands look 'OK' then the mind easily overlooks a myriad of other faults. The tiniest chips can make the eyes look aligned and the mouth comfortable.
I left her feet generalized as if she had dancing footwear, to carve toes might have weakened the supporting foot as well as starting up a whole new set of proportions to study and adjust. 'Clothed' means I don't have to agonize over how detailed to make her genitalia. I don't need to worry about wether her nips are inverted or too pointy. Her fingers are indicated but left full and gradually brought into line. When all is said and done, they are never perfect... but if they are 'passable' you win! If her face is kind you double win!
Once she is 'done' then she is sanded smooth enough for the subtle wood grain to make itself know and for the hands to roam freely without fear of splinter. Round and smooth is the only way to make a girl, rounder and smoother is better. Success at this stage can only be determined in a way that, these days, might open me up for harassment charges. All I can tell you is that 'her-ass' 'meats' the tests applied! Smooth and round! When I grabbed her by the pussy.. it was to steady the workpiece, nothing more! If you are starting to foam at the mouth... take a chill pill... it is only a block of wood!
The day I waxed her up for her trip to her new home, I set up other carvings in the shop around her in a way to suggest she was giving a farewell performance, I'll put a shot of that in scraps.
Who knows when I'll have another chance meeting with a dancer of this stature!

Description
The carving known as 'maple dancer' has found a new home and now sits in the home office of a civil engineer. It stands a bit over six feet tall>2 Meters<.
This carving 'block' was literally laid at my door during a hurricane in 2015>2013?<. For years while relieving myself behind the building, I had looked up at this particular intersection of branches and thought how perfectly they were spaced... I was in the shop that day as the storm passed, and heard a thud and a scraping noise. This tree had snapped off about twenty feet up and fallen right against the building, not five steps from the back door. The cinder blocks and roof edge were unharmed, and the next day I sawed this new 'girl' out and brought her under a roof. The rest of the tree was bucked and stacked for burning.
Like all my stick dancers, the subject is 'pre-destined' by the form of the material but even then lots of decisions have to be made. the first id one of setting her proportions. I cut the branch to about the 'right' length and started to shape her lower leg. Once that form was decided, I drilled her foot to let in a 12" steel spike which protruded from a bulky glued up plywood base. From this start the rest is brought into 'compliance'. On and off I worked on her over more than a year and gradually what started as an almost cartoony figure became more and more graceful. As she dried splits opened up here and there, as most parts were slimmed but left in the round, with the pith of the tree contained. These were consolidated with wood slivers fitted into the cracks, smaller cracks were filled with polyurethane glue, the smallest were left untouched and will open and close as the seasons pass. Structurally she is sound. Perhaps the weakest point now is where her foot is drilled and her weight rests against the steel pin. As a precaution I soaked the inside of the drilled hole with thin cyano acrylate glue to seal any small checks that might have developed. The steel spike is unhardened so can be bent to make small adjustments to how she stands.
The familiar path of chainsaws to grinder to chisels.. then rasps more chisels and sanding was followed here. The Husky 395XP makes short work of chopping up the tree, a Stihl 180 electric completes the rough out. A 4.5" angle grinder with arbortech cutters further refines the shape. Several days of rasp work was required to smooth and fair her. For this work she is laid on a bench or the floor and flipped around as need be. Sooner or later you reach a point where you can go no further and add no more detail without switching to chisels. This is were the least amount of wood is removed but the smallest changes can have the biggest impact. If one can make the face and hands look 'OK' then the mind easily overlooks a myriad of other faults. The tiniest chips can make the eyes look aligned and the mouth comfortable.
I left her feet generalized as if she had dancing footwear, to carve toes might have weakened the supporting foot as well as starting up a whole new set of proportions to study and adjust. 'Clothed' means I don't have to agonize over how detailed to make her genitalia. I don't need to worry about wether her nips are inverted or too pointy. Her fingers are indicated but left full and gradually brought into line. When all is said and done, they are never perfect... but if they are 'passable' you win! If her face is kind you double win!
Once she is 'done' then she is sanded smooth enough for the subtle wood grain to make itself know and for the hands to roam freely without fear of splinter. Round and smooth is the only way to make a girl, rounder and smoother is better. Success at this stage can only be determined in a way that, these days, might open me up for harassment charges. All I can tell you is that 'her-ass' 'meats' the tests applied! Smooth and round! When I grabbed her by the pussy.. it was to steady the workpiece, nothing more! If you are starting to foam at the mouth... take a chill pill... it is only a block of wood!
The day I waxed her up for her trip to her new home, I set up other carvings in the shop around her in a way to suggest she was giving a farewell performance, I'll put a shot of that in scraps.
Who knows when I'll have another chance meeting with a dancer of this stature!