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This job is for a church renovation in Philadelphia. The entire organ is being redone and they needed these medallions carved. I'm doing them in quarter sawn white oak. Two will be two feet in diameter and 5/4 thick. And the third one will be 16 inches in diameter but go from 1 1/2 inch in the center and taper out to 1/2 inch along the edge creating sort of a convex bowl shape. That's the fourth picture which is what they sent me as a general guide as to what they are looking for. As well as the other color shots with their prints. You can see my stack of wood,,it's as good a starting place as any. It ranges from 1 1/4 to full 2 inch thick. Plane it,,,joint it,,glue it up and off I go.
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Re: organ medallions
Can't wait to see the progress in all its stages........... -
Re: organ medallions
Well .. if they want them carved .. they have certainly come to the right man ..
I know you can do it .. for sure .. cant wait to see how this turns out ..
Keep us posted Mark ..
GeneComment
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Re: organ medallions
wow. That is an undertaking! I hope to see the progress as well! Best of luck to you!Comment
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Re: organ medallions
Made some progress with these three pieces.I managed to get all the wood prepped ,glued up,and the discs cut out as well as get the designs transferred ,holes drilled and start to cut out the designs. I also got the small one turned on the lathe to give it the fullness in the center ,1 1/2 inch and gradually taper it out to 1/2 inch at the edge. It has a bowl shape rather than a direct taper.
I didn't lay out the design for this small one yet simply because I don't like the design the Architect provided. I don't know if this is really the design he likes,,or if this was the best he could provide using his computer,,or if he really doesn't want it to look similar to the photo's he provided.
But in my opinion it's a really lame design.
It's too uniform in it's execution,,the leaves have nothing to offer,,there is no graduation in the thicknesses of the main stems and curves. Basically,,it's too anal retentive and sterile. I don't like it at all. So a phone call and a revised sketch is in order on Monday to see if he won't allow me to do something at least interesting looking rather than this excuse for a design. I'll carve this if that's what he wants,,but I'll hate doing it. My ideas are more involved but I won't charge him any more because that's just what this piece needs to look at least decent in my opinion.
Anyway,,,here is where I'm at so far. By the end of today I'll have the two cut out and probably the bulk of the carving started. These are no brainers with the simple interlocking designs they will go quick.Comment
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Re: organ medallions
Mark,
I hope they give you a "free hand" in working the design that you like better than the one they provided. I know they must have looked at your portfolio of work before hiring you so they should have confidence in you to come up with something better.....if not, it's their loss.
This will be a great project to follow as you do it. Looking forward to it.Comment
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Made some decent progress for a lazy Sunday. Heading out to eat now so I have to stop so here is where I'm at. I got them both cut out and the one completely carved. I'll finish the other tommorrow.Comment
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Re: organ medallions
Another interesting job and you're off to a great start. I'm glad I read all of your posts before replying because I was about to say that third part was the kind of carving I like to do. I took another look and now find it repulsive and disgusting! Smile Mike
PS, Mark, I'm off to Maine on Saturday for my two-week class with Chris Pye.MatthewComment
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Well I got what I wanted,,,that always seems to mean MORE WORK.
But I had to run it past the Architect and he said that's what they want to see. I also decided to recarve the piece I said was done. It looked too flat so instead of leaving the pieces flat I carved them round. I think it will show up much better this way than leaving them flat.Only about half is carved at this time with only a small section sanded.
I also am including the drawing. The original design is on the left and mine is on the right. I also did a bit of shading on one of the quadrants to give a better idea of what it'll look like. There is also a shot with one of the quadrants laying on the turned disc where it'll be pierced and carved.
Now I'm a happy carver!
And Mike,,,doesn't this look a bit better now?Comment
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Re: organ medallions
:-) yeah, much more work, at least twice i would say, but well worth the effort. the design before was boring, now its pleasing and interesting and has a swing :-) i like it :-)... yes, i think too, the rounding over makes the design much better read from far, the light will play on the rounding,the crossings are better to see because of the shadows, and even the outline stand out more... glad the architekt was a thinking man, and listening to your suggestions. happy mark, well done :-)
nice to see the collection of tools you used, looks like all of these are number2 chisels ... where did you use the one with the bent neck ? (i have no such one, so i have no idea what they can specially do)Comment
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Re: organ medallions
Love the design of the to-be-pierced quadrant!
RussComment
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Re: organ medallions
That bent looking chisel is actually a very deep V tool with a nice sweep to it. I do have a collection of what I believe are fairly unique shaped chisels that you don't see to often anymore.
It's not that I use them very often,,as Ive said the bulk is done with about 20 or so chisels. But every so often I'll drag one out and let it stretch it's legs.
In this case though,,the deep V didn't work well at all and didn't cut the way I had hoped. So it just laid there and watched the other chisels do the work.
And yes Doris,,I used # 2's and a 12 and 15. Of course I was thinking of you again where I did most of this carving with the chisel "upside down" The #2 chisels fit this profile well when used this way. I first take off the bulk with the chisel used in the conventional way,,then to shear the surface I flip it over and finish it off upside down . Works very well and leaves a nice finish,,,not much sanding to level it out.
Another thing I've been thinking about is the bevel. Everyone seems to believe and say you have to change the bevel in "hard woods" Well this is the same bevel I use for anything I do from Basswood to Cherry and this Oak. This carving is actually a pleasure to do. I have not been using my mallet except for stop cuts and simply push the chisel through my cuts as usual. Maybe I happen to have decent "carving muscles" doing this carving 8 - 10 hrs a day,,but I don't find ANY reason to change the bevel. To me it would be a total waste of time to do that. Let alone waste metal on a decent chisel.
Besides,, physics being what it is,,,making a steeper bevel only increases the effort needed to push a chisel through harder wood,,,why make it harder yet? I think it's one of those things that seem to make sense because somebody read about it somewhere,,,but in actuality doesn't work at all and has no relevance. At least in my shop where I regularly carve mountains of Cherry ,Oak ,Birch,some maple with relative ease I'm not going to do it. Nor am I going to listen to everyone's theories,,,I'll simply stick to what actually works. And this Oak just glistens like it's been waxed ,,cut after cut,,,And go figure,,,I've actually stropped the chisel once since I started carving this piece......Huh!Comment
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Re: organ medallions
Yeah,,,I think this looks a bit better.Comment
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hi mark, thanks for the explaining of that chisel...yes, i have one odd chisel too, never used it so far, but maybe i just post a pic of it , ... yes, the upside down carving, i am getting better with it :-) the last carving i made use a lot of it, and i like how it rounds almost automatically when using chisel this way... still i can do it mainly with the #2 or #5, more rounder i get the corners in... but i will learn that too :-)
yeah, really looks much better :-)Comment
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Re: organ medallions
Hi Mark; yes, I was confused. I thought the example they sent was what you were going to carve, not the paper design. No doubt; the paper design is lame. So I'll go back to saying the example is what I like to carve. Now it's back to my ping pong table to finish the grapevine pattern and tracing for my doorway. MikeMatthewComment
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