It’s often the case that customers only have a vague idea about a design when they are commissioning a carving; not everyone can think in these terms, or can picture their ideas as a sculpture. Sometimes it’s just a matter of teasing out the ideas and forming them into an image, while others prefer to be led on what will be a pleasing design.
It’s very rare that you meet a customer, like this one, who has not just one idea, but half a dozen! It certainly made a nice change, and was a welcome challenge; luckily there are three beech trunks to work on, so I can spread the design across them all.
The ideas were as follows…(deep breath!)
Musical notes / instruments – Drumsticks maybe, or a guitar ; a double helix maybe? Symbols to represent hope, love and strength – swallows, moon or star and an eagle – or a jaguar ; an elephant, as the house is built on the site of the old zoo.
So, some really fantastic, unique ideas there ~ the question was how to mould them together.
Taking an influence from the local landscape, I thought the famous Beverley Minster musician carvings would be perfect to adapt for a drummer and guitarist, and would work on the two outside trunks ~ perhaps with zoo animals in the middle. Linking them all together would be some musical notation and a weaving pattern of a double helix (which itself has a “major” and “minor” part, again linking with the music).
After being held up (yet again this month) by the rain, I finally got to the site today and firstly took off the bark.
I wasn’t the first to attempt carving these trees!
Bark stripped.
Then the design drawn on as a guide:
The original designs of the musicians had moustaches, like the Beverley carvings, but they’ve since been shaved.
I left it at this stage today, not a bad start for the first session. The drum required some patience, trying to achieve a flat plane on a curved face.
Weather permitting I should make good progress with the head tomorrow.