So, here is a brief peek into my little world out in the woods. I am continuing work on my marble “Gymnast.” While I have never been good about names and labels, I will try to use the proper terms for equipment here as I share with you some of my tools.
I bought a pneumatic die grinder with an extension tube at the front, as shown in this first image. Into that I added a double-cut carbide grinding tool connected to a 6-inch shaft. That is about as much reaching as I know how to do, other than to use a Fordham (and I think I broke mine some time ago). But even a Fordham might be of limited use since it has a flexible shaft. I need something rigid that not only will reach the distances I need, but help me push the tool into the marble to carve it. This is especially important since I cannot get even one finger into some of these areas between the figure’s torso and her thighs.
I hope it is obvious from this first image that the main difficulty in carving down into the negative space of the body in a pike position is that the gymnast’s head is in the way! This second image shows you what I really do not even get to see when I am carving (vs. photographing). I am reaching down between the face (upper left) and right arm (bottom of image) and trying to carve a deeper crease between the figure’s legs, just above her knees. It is like hiking in a snowy cave!
This third image shows a right angle die grinder … a Home Depot item with a great warranty. I have traded in two of these babies over the years for a brand new replacement! This stone carving tool also has a double-cut carbide tip with a 6-inch shaft on it. Fantastic helpers, but not many choices in tip shapes unless I am willing to wait and pay for a special order. Patience is rarely one of my virtues!
And even though I cannot always see what I am carving, I still like to draw on the stone to help me delineate various anatomical forms. Something to aim for! A straight pencil with a tapered tip will simply not leave a mark on the stone inside this narrow crevice. In this last image, you may see my thumb up against the figure’s eye as I am holding a specialized scissors that hold a pencil between its front claws. These teeth in the scissors are not designed to hold something as thick as a pencil, but it was all I could think to use. So, I bend the pencil in an angle that I think I want and squeeze the scissor handles very tightly so that I do not lose my pencil when I move down into my “well” of a workspace.
Really, I hope that I can pull this off! What are your favorite tools – for stone carving or any task?
Happy birthday, John! And thank you for showing me a lot about tools.
5 comments:
Kelly, if you are using pneumatics you might want to get a mini die grinder. I have one about the size of a large fountain pen with 1/8 inch collett and infinite speed control dial. Much easier to control than what you are using. If you are interested in getting one I will dig up the info on where I got mine. Very inexpensive too as I recall. Let me know. Dale
The blog is looking beautiful! Carve carve carve, while you still can the heat is fast approaching!
Thank you for sharing your stone carving sculpture supply tools. I'm currently having a short course in sculpturing and having this kind of post is detailed are helpful and useful to us. I can't wait to do my own art piece.
Thanks for sharing your experience and for this helpful information.Die grinder has a very nice trigger and valve gives nice control of rpm , Works nicely. Just have to be patient with cuts and let it do its thing.Check toolsbeat for learn more about our product reviews
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