A reader sent me an email looking for information on carving the pine cones on the bed in the post above ... I looked back and found that that was one topic I hadn't really covered in depth .... I think this was Will's first time carving them but fortunately I had saved a half carved sample cone with the layout lines shown so all he had to do was make the turning, steal the layout from the sample, find the right gouge and carve away everything that didn't look like a pine cone ... This time we actually took some pictures too ... It helps if you can find a nice fresh one in the woods that is just about to open to get the top right ... I think it's too late to find one of those this year ... Click the photos to enlarge them ...
The top photo shows the horizontal and vertical divisions ... you'll have to find (or buy) the right sweep chisel in your carving tool collection and then match the number of lines and divisions to the size/height of your cone and chisel .. Outline first as shown above in the top photo and photo above,
Then hollow out inside the outlines, getting smaller as you approach the top ... This is a learn by doing' detail and no quantity of words will substitute for some trial and error here ... Have at it !!
Same deal for the spirals except the layout for those is shown in
the original bed posts .
In this picture, you can just see a little of how the top of the cone is resolved to appear slightly 'open'.
A reader sent me an email looking for information on carving the pine cones on the bed in the post above ... I looked back and found that that was one topic I hadn't really covered in depth .... I think this was Will's first time carving them but fortunately I had saved a half carved sample cone with the layout lines shown so all he had to do was make the turning, steal the layout from the sample, find the right gouge and carve away everything that didn't look like a pine cone ... This time we actually took some pictures too ... It helps if you can find a nice fresh one in the woods that is just about to open to get the top right ... I think it's too late to find one of those this year ... Click the photos to enlarge them ...
The top photo shows the horizontal and vertical divisions ... you'll have to find (or buy) the right sweep chisel in your carving tool collection and then match the number of lines and divisions to the size/height of your cone and chisel .. Outline first as shown above in the top photo and photo above,
Then hollow out inside the outlines, getting smaller as you approach the top ... This is a learn by doing' detail and no quantity of words will substitute for some trial and error here ... Have at it !!
Same deal for the spirals except the layout for those is shown in the original bed posts .
In this picture, you can just see a little of how the top of the cone is resolved to appear slightly 'open'.