Methods and Techniques

The majority of my work has its origins in some form of stimulus. Perhaps it’s a strong image stemming from a photograph, television screen, picture book, newspaper article or something I’ve seen in the real world. It can also come from a meeting with someone or something heard on the radio. At some point the image merges with some thought I have in my head and the creative process begins.

I keep a sketch book and often record these ideas as thumbnail sketches. Sometimes I’ll manipulate these thoughts allowing an initial thought to generate other ideas. One page might have ten thoughts on a particular sculpture, working out the best option. At this point I’ll leave the sketch often to return to it later when other layers of thought can be added. Because I work slowly this process can take weeks or months until I feel I have refined something as far as I can.

At this point I tend to revert to my original training as an architect and work on a drawing board with pencil and tracing paper. The first drawing often ends up with multiple overlays before it’s been refined enough to put aside a scale drawing.

I tend to work in batches with working drawings for maybe 5 or more sculptures done at the one time. This stage still gives me the opportunity to make minor adjustments. For example, a human ear might become a leaf or an ass’s ear.

The next stage is to transfer the tracing to a wood blank. Although I originally experimented with pine I work now almost exclusively in lime. Traditionally this is the wood most associated with carving due to its stability, lack of knots, ease of sanding and general ability to hold a chisel line. The lime I use is either kiln dried or naturally seasoned from my own stock. This is in the form of slabs 50mm, 100mm or 150mm thick by 600mm wide and in various lengths. A surprisingly small sculpture can come from a large piece of wood as the off-cuts prove.

Once the design has been transferred to the wood the shape is cut out on a large band saw. If the design is complex I will make decisions on where joints are to be. In common with carvers from the earliest days, hands, heads and feet are usually worked on separately and laid aside to be assembled later.

Actual carving is done with a wide variety of tools from chisels through to power tools which cut, sand and file. After the initial carving I will assemble, dowel and glue the components together. With this technique arms, legs, hands, feet etc can be articulated upon to give more realistic or evocative positions. At this point there is often additional carving needed. Thereafter the whole piece will be sanded down to a smooth finish.

The next stage involves the centuries-old technique of applying gesso. Rabbit skin glue is heated over a double boiler and used to size the piece which is then left to dry.  Gesso is made from the glue heated up with a white powdery chalk called whiting. A number of coats of gesso are applied to the piece which is then set aside to dry for a day or more. The piece is sanded with various grades of sandpaper to give a smooth finish after which at least two coats of commercial primer are applied.

When suitably prepared, sculptures are often given 5 or 6 coats of acrylic or oil paint until I am satisfied with the result. As a final finish a matt sealer or wax is applied for protection.

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