Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 9, 2012 9:38:46 GMT -5
Hi all. I have been spending a lot of time working on the dragon/fairy carving but it is hard to see the progress. The fairies hand and the dragons arm over her hand was quite difficult for me to figure out. At one point I thought about just eliminating the dragon's arm but I finally got it to look right. There is going to be a lot of difference between the picture and the carving because some things in the picture just would not work as a carving. The biggest difference will be in the dragons fins. I have not done any fine detail on any of the carving because I am afraid I will damage it when I am working on other areas. A common thing in art is to just put three fingers on hands. Most people do not notice it and it keeps the hand from looking too wide. The picture has three fingers but I managed to get all four in the carving and they seem to look ok. I am putting up the picture again for comparison.  I took several pics in the shade but the detail did not show up very well.  So I took some in the direct sun and it worked better.   I hope you enjoyed the show and please stay tuned for volume 8 when the face shows some progress. Jim |
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Post by kk on May 9, 2012 10:04:52 GMT -5
FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!
Say, what are the dimensions?
Keep going!
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Post by FrogAndBearCreations on May 9, 2012 10:07:00 GMT -5
Wowzer, looking good!
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Post by Deleted on May 9, 2012 10:56:39 GMT -5
Thanks KK and frog. From the top of her head to where she enters the water is 5" Just big enough so that the detail will not be extremely small. I finally got up the nerve to start on her face yesterday after I had taken the photos but I am not quite to where I want to show it off yet. Shouldn't be too long though. After that will be the hair which should not be too big of a problem
I did find out that I am going to have to do the sanding with the sand paper glued to a stick. When I sand with the foam pads that I like the soft parts of the stone undercut real bad. If anyone has any suggestions on the sanding I am all ears. It is going to be a beeaaach. lol
KK is there any chance that you can get some of the oil that the Chinese use on their carvings? It would do wonders for finishing this carving.
Jim
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Post by FrogAndBearCreations on May 9, 2012 11:30:17 GMT -5
How about those silicon carbide rods that you shape to do the fine detail sanding?
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Post by NatureNut on May 9, 2012 13:26:38 GMT -5
Oh so cool...
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Post by kk on May 9, 2012 17:09:54 GMT -5
Do you have a name for the oil?
Have never seen it.
If yes, then there should be no problem.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 9, 2012 17:31:08 GMT -5
KK I have no idea what the name of it is. A friend that owns a stone carving store gave some of it to me in a small plain bottle. He told me that it was first used as a hair oil until someone figured out that it worked really well for making stone carvings shine. Especially in the little tight corners where it is impossible to polish. He had to get it where they do the carving when he went to restock his store. Are there any carving places in Hong Kong? That would probably be the only source for it.
Thank you for any time spent on this. Please do not go out of your way to find this oil. I will come up with another solution if you can not find it easily.
Jim
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grayfingers
Cave Dweller 
Member since November 2007
Posts: 4,575 
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Post by grayfingers on May 9, 2012 18:01:24 GMT -5
Jim, your carving is looking great! At the site linked below, they talk about "On the piece above, we have used what we feel is the best treatment for an old carving, a mixture of coconut and camellia oils, which allow the stone to “stay alive” and yet be cleaned off in minutes if a re-verification should ever be required. It is discussing a Beautiful Ming Dynasty Nephrite Jade Courtesan Figure, ... "This quality of stone sells for in excess of of $100.00 per gram in China today" and the page has a lot of other Ming carvings and some great info too. Looks like a big site with lots of stuff about Jade. Bill www.timelessjade.com/page/2/ |
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Post by kk on May 9, 2012 18:41:55 GMT -5
Got lots of jade carving workshops here,
but no access to it as foreigners are rarely admitted
and are not supposed to indulge in this art. LOL
I have come across wax-sticks that are used for this and other purposes,
But there are numerous qualities, so I might just end up with the wrong one.
I have to get some cuttingwheels on Saturday anyway. The guy there speaks reasonably English
Will have a try if he has something based on oil.
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Post by Toad on May 9, 2012 21:27:05 GMT -5
Wow, got quite a bit of depth now. Very cool.
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Post by kk on May 9, 2012 22:04:30 GMT -5
Bill: that is an outstanding article on the subject.
And should serve as an excellent lesson to anyone who
Thinks they can buy old jade just about from anyone .
There is a good reson why i have stopped even trying to do so.
In the early 90's, I bought quite a few pieces from smugglers, but even then the ratio between real old and looking old/ fakes was 10 to one. Got lucky though a few times and have a bird confirmed from the hungshan period (1500 - 2300 BC). But this was pure Luck.
Thanks for sharing
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Post by helens on May 9, 2012 22:40:28 GMT -5
Beautiful!! Jim did you try carving the face into something else first? That would be a confidence builder... the nose and eye positioning is going to be rough. Also, keep in mind that asthetically, the best faces the 2 eyes and mouth form an isoceles triangle.
Grey, that's a fantastic article, thanks for linking it!!
Oil... if it's only coconut and camellia oil, I can make it for you, I have both on hand. If you can find a formula or close for it, I already have or can get the raw ingredients to make nearly any hair/face product. I just thought of something... I wonder if it's some type of silicone... like a dimethecone 20 and 80, as well as several denser silicones. Hrm. Without a formula, it's impossible to guess what a hair oil might contain, or what they try to accomplish with it (stiff like hairspray, or just oily?). If you can find one, I can try it:).
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 9, 2012 23:38:11 GMT -5
Great article gray. I am going to contact them to see if I can get a formula for the oil.
If I get a formula I will let you know Helen. Thanks. It was oily oil that would not dry out but soaked in really well.
The face is carved. Started a couple of days ago and finished tonight. Not as beautiful as the picture but it looks pretty good. I did not carve it in something else first. Just went for it, took it slow so I did not get anything to low. The hair is also finished more or less. I may do some changes to it because it is too smooth at this point.
Thanks for all the compliments
Jim
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Post by Donnie's Rocky Treasures on May 10, 2012 14:43:02 GMT -5
That is looking sooooo good! Great job carving!
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Post by Pat on May 10, 2012 18:27:26 GMT -5
I thoroughly enjoy seeing your progress.
Re coconut oil, I use it around the house. In the jar, it solidifies and turns white under 76 degrees F.
Here are my notes re oil from a Matt Glasby (jade carver) demonstration:
Cook finished piece in veggie oil on warm. Crock pots work well for this; it seals fractures and makes the piece appear to have no fractures. He cooks all finished carvings in oil from a half-hour to several hours. Don’t use mineral oil. You want the oil to gum up as the veggie oil will do. This speeds up what the body will do naturally eventually.
I should add that Matt doesn't use fractured material.
Hope this information is useful.
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Post by helens on May 10, 2012 19:02:04 GMT -5
Just found an article on hair oils: thegreenbeautyguide.com/oil-hair/If the reason for the coconut is the small molecule size... then I don't know why the camellia oil, which is not small at all. Grapeseed is smaller ('drier') than coconut, and I have some of that too. When you are ready to polish, let me know, grapeseed has a VERY short shelf-life so I keep it in the fridge. You can also try warmed olive oil as a test first, maybe in an inconspicuous corner? (tho it will wash off with soapy water, so shouldn't hurt). That way you can see if the oil helps much. |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 11, 2012 9:15:47 GMT -5
Helen - When you say that grape seed oil has a short shelf life does that mean that it will spoil in the stone and smell bad or something other. I figure that I will have to apply the oil eight or ten times before it quits sucking it up. The alabaster is way more porous than jade and nephrite so it will soak up a lot of oil probably over a period of months. I am wondering about cooking it in either the coconut or grape seed oil. There are no fractures in this stone, just a lot of pores. lol
My guess is that the thicker oil was used to fill the pores and seal them and the thinner oil was there for the shine but I am no expert
Jim
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Post by Deleted on May 11, 2012 9:18:33 GMT -5
BTW Thank you for the info Pat. I have the entire back of the stone to do some testing so all of ya'lls info should be helpful and it is appreciated.
Jim
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cardiobill
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since March 2012
Posts: 881
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Post by cardiobill on May 11, 2012 10:11:16 GMT -5
Agree with Donnie. Way cool. I have loved watching it "come to life". Do you watch game of Thrones on HBO? It reminds me of one of the characters who has baby dragons.
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