Processional Cross and Candle holders

This is a project for a Lutheran Church that I was commissioned to do. It’s a processional cross with a pair of matching candle holders to be used at the opening and closing of  their mass. It’s made of Mahogany with Maple ends on the cross. In the center of the cross, since a corpus isn’t generally used in these churches, I carved the symbolic Lutheran Rose instead. It’s applied with a bit of outlining on the cross itself.  And this Rose appears on both sides of the cross so it’s seen coming and going. The ends of the cross represent the Trinity. These are done in Maple and are mortise and tenon joints to fit them in place. The staff of the cross is generally square but has on the corners four “columns” that represent the four Evangelists.

I also built boxes to act as stands for the three pieces which will stay at the Altar . The candles will flank the Altar and the Cross will be off to one side after the procession at the beginning of mass.

Finish is oil stain with multiple coats of Lacquer.  Carving is minimal and was primarily done with a band saw and a scroll saw. The cross as well as the points in the ring are all half lap joints.

From the base of the staff to the top of the cross is 7 ft. The candle holders (2) are essentially the same as the section where the cross meets the staff. I used the same moldings on all three pieces. The only difference is there is a small turning where the candles are inserted in place of the cross. They stand just under 4 ft tall.

The main sections of the cross are 2 inches wide by 1  1/2 inches deep.

Here you can see the minimal carving done on the whole project in the Rose. It’s approx. 1  1/2 round by 1/2 inch deep.

gentle whisper 2

i reworked and refined his face, reworked the lips, and the area between lips and nose. improved the skull shape, and tried to texture the skin to make it look less plastic… still alot work to be done… i only hope i can keep him young … lol

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When I’m not Carving….

We all have some sort of hobby I’m sure. I do as well. But usually my hobby IS carving along with it being my job. But when you have a shop full of tools, and I love to play with them, well, something is bound to “turn” up. I collect vintage razors both straight razors as well as DE’s. And naturally  as collections expand there are other accessories you end up collecting. Antique shaving mugs, brushes, bowls , hones, stones, blades,,well the list goes on. If it’s razor related I’m game.

Now I have restored several brushes as both Boar and Badger knots ( the brush part)  are available. But since I get a kick out of making things I had to make my own brushes ( the handles) as well as a variety of brush stands, bowls , razor stands etc. Now some are in wood but  I’ve found other sources of stock that mimic Ivory, Horn, Bone and others. But in this niche market is a demand for what is called Butterscotch. It’s a particular color that develops in early plastics or celluloids that were once nearly white, or another creamy shade but due to light and other factors it develops , well, a butterscotch color to it which is highly prized by collectors.

So not to be outdone or try to find these particular pieces I decided to make my own Butterscotch as well. Now I not only make the handles, but I can make any shade or color , including a wide variety of butterscotch hues ( there is not one particular shade, it varies) to then turn my own handles.

Some as I have said I made out of wood. Others are bits and pieces left over that I combined into one brush.

This is only a start as I have more ideas for a variety of products to make. Now my hobby has turned into another job. Great,, now I have to find another hobby.

My first razor stand/bowl. The wood is Cherry . The bowl holds a puck of shaving soap. I didn’t make this brush as this was my first week or so with this type of shaving. Also shown is a Marble as well as a Porcelain lathering bowl. Whip up some lather and it stays nice and warm in these.

My second bowl/stand and razor. This too is cherry. I turned it then carved the design then built the rest of the stand. The brush is suspended by hidden magnets buried in the handle as well as the support.

See,comes off easily to use.

A vintage to be restored including the knot.

Restoration complete. Didn’t photograph well but the paint is Pearlescent, both the white and the blue. The knot is Pure Badger hair.

Another Cherry brush and stand. Here too I used the magnet trick. Turned then hand carved.

Ivory.

From here on I’ll just show the photo’s with a brief note of the material.The list is extensive of what I’ve made so this is only a sample of the brushes.

Butterscotch ( commercial stock)

Ivory stand with Ivory /horn handle.

A sample of the butterscotch stock I made.

Wood and my stock.

My stock with natural Padauk wood tops.

Faux Horn and a Black and orange swirl.

Coco-Bolo.

More of the butterscotch I made.

Cherry with inlays.

Cherry, Walnut, Maple.

A before shot,,,,,,,

and after I restored both the blade and the handles.

another before,,,,

,,,and after I restored it.

Another resto with handles as well as pins I made for it. The  handles are Rosewood.

and yet another restoration before,,,

And of course,, after.

You get it I’m sure,, I love doing these pieces because, well, they’re just fun and it’s a challenge to figure it out. It’s an interesting hobby with many facets. I like the history of many of the pieces I collect, researching them, finding ones that were made the year I was born and what was “new” at the time. How the economy affected the razors , steel etc. during that time.

Besides the fact that I have my Grandfathers 1908 razor,,that he gave to my father,,  and my father then  gave to me and I use it to this day. You can’t beat 102 yr. history and all the stories that razor could tell. And my face is as smooth as the proverbial Baby’s behind!

Thanks for bearing with me and taking the time to look .

Mark

Altar and Tabernacle

Well since I’m on a roll I may as well post another project that left the shop just last week or so. It’s an Altar and Tabernacle for the local Bishop’s private chapel.

I built it out of Cherry ply with African Mahogany ( white) trim. The altar is 24″ deep X 48″ wide. The total height of the Tabernacle is 36″ and is designed to fit into a corner to take up less room. It’s loosely based on a Gothic style of ornamentation but is my own design. He wanted something “simple” and this is the design he picked out of  the five choices I gave him. So much for simple eh?

Construction is pretty much straight forward. Interesting things I found to do on this though was to make the 3 inch cove moldings on my table saw. It’s not routed,, the cove is literally made on the saw,, by the saw. Neat trick!  And since I couldn’t find a decent door pull for the Tabernacle that was the proper size or scale,, I made that too out of a piece of brass, turned it, threaded it and there you go. Clean and simple.

The finish is your basic oil stain,,but using two different colors on top of each other followed by two coats brush on lacquer then followed with 4-5 coats sprayed on.

The carvings of the Alpha and the Omega as well as the carving on the door of the Tabernacle were Gilded.

Here is the Altar basically finished but not stained

And another view

And the Tabernacle. The slot under the main body is for the Mass book.

And here they are finished.

Wisteria Desk

It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything. So with the new format I decided to give it a go and see how it works.

This piece was finished some time ago but I thought the photos’ needed a permanent home. It’s a carving for the face of a custom made desk which resides in a clients home office. I used Basswood to glue up a  series of blocks which ultimately got glued together into one carving. It measures 5 ft across, 9 inches deep and 30 inches high.

gentle whisper

this work in progress is inspired by tamara´s “whispers of the dawn” ,,, and by a youtube movie where philippe faraut sculpted a young man.

my sculpture is almost lifesize, so my biggest head i have done so far… and, i must say, “bigger is easier” at least to judge proportions…

(please click images to enlarge)

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blog in new theme

as our blog had recently its first anniversary, i feeled it is time to contemplate the design and underlying structure, and improve if possible. … and so there it is, our blog in a new color scheme, and with added functionality. now it should be easier to navigate, with all the information and fun stuff easily accessible 🙂 please, check it out, and let us know what you think ! …

new blogdesign to come

hello everybody, this is to inform you, that this weekend, from june 5th 2010 through june 6th 2010 our blog will be completely re-organised, and gets a new “dress” as well 🙂 … we apologize in advance for any inconvenience you might experience during the reconstruction time.

we hope you all will enjoy the new setup, as we intend to improve several things. we sure look forward to it…