Art Nouveau Style stone carving
20 October, 2008 – 10:22 amWell here they are, the final photos of my stone carving of my Art Nouveau style woman.
As you can see, the final stages are about creating more depth within the stone carving and refining features.
I use for this are the small tungsten carbide chisels for this, However it is at this stage that I can start using my Firesharp chisels, I have more of a range in these chisels and can create more precise features,
As I reach the final stages I start using my small rifflers files and rasps, The valuable lesson that I learnt from the stone carving, ‘Dancing in the Wind’. As you can see, I pierced through behind the Knee, starting with my small chisels and then moving on to my small rifflers to reduce the vibration on the carving. I used my firesharp gouges to develop the folds around her torso, then finished them off with my small rifflers. Portland stone is alot harder than the Tetbury limestone, so it was more difficult to file away at the finer areas. But it is easier to create finer details.
At the moment she is on my work table, I find it important to leave a carving that I think is completed for a while and look at it to see if there is anything else that needs to be done. But it’s that thing we artists get when creating, knowing when to stop, I tend to stop when I start fussing!! That is when mistakes happen. So yes she is finished.
I have started another carving, but you’ll just have to watch this space!!