Let there be dragons

[Bruce Jones]

LET THERE BE DRAGONSOkay everyone the drawings are complete. These are only pencil guide lines for the carving and more detail will be added while carving. This will be a combo of piercing and 3-D carving and there will be coloring added, I'll go into that later. This is not the name of this piece and all of the drawings are my own design hand drawn on the vase.

[Jim Morgan]

Looking forward to seeing your progress on this!

[Bruce Jones]

Looking forward to seeing your progress on this! Thank you I started the outline carving with the detail knife today, I'll post some photos in a few days.
Bruce.

[Eugene Dixon]

It's gonna be great!

[Bruce Jones]

Carving up date: most of the day was spent cutting in the lines then I did some cut trough open air work. I got some new gouges that have been very helpful already.

[Bruce Jones]

Photo carving up date: I didn't get as much done yesterday, that JOB thing got in the way. So I'm making progress lots of outline cutting and now boring to remove large sections. I also started some 3-D carving in a few places. If you have any questions please just ask.

[Bruce Jones]

I was able to remove the large sections that had been drilled and added some details.

[Bruce Jones]

Phoenix & Dragon update Now that I have the large pieces removed around the first dragon I've started adding some 3-D details. I'm showing this now because by the next post it will have changed quite a bit. For those who are wanting to do this type of carving you can see how it changes from the last post to the next post.

[Bruce Jones]

Okay everyone I've now covered the first section with tape and moved to the other dragon. This was done because the first part was getting a bit thin in areas. So here's what I've done so far today.

[Robert Hayward]

Looking really nice. Thanks for posting the progress. What is the overall size? The wood appears to be maple? Did you turn the blank and hollow it?

[Bruce Jones]

Looking really nice. Thanks for posting the progress. What is the overall size? The wood appears to be maple? Did you turn the blank and hollow it? Thank you Robert I missed posting the start here on the creek because I posted 86 photos of the making process. It takes to long here to show all of the photos but I will show some and the writeup.
My new canvas I'm posting how I glued up the kiln dried Ambrosia Maple blank from 3" thick slabs I bought from my wood supplier. The vase is 7 1/2" x 13 1/2" Turned from two sides with my carbide shear cut and scrapers no boring bar was used. Now comes the fun part drawing out the design to be hand carved. If you have questions about how I did something please just ask.

[Bruce Jones]

Dragon & Phoenix
The carving continues when I have time. I had to change a flame at the bottom of the tail on this dragon the material was not thick enough to make 3 layers work. You can see in the photos as I'm correcting this, also I've removed a great deal more bulk material.

[Bruce Jones]

Looking really nice. Thanks for posting the progress. What is the overall size? The wood appears to be maple? Did you turn the blank and hollow it?Ambrosia maple and it's 7 1/2" wide and 13 1/2" tall I posted the lay up and some photos on the lathe.

[Bruce Jones]

There is still a long way to go on this project, I've done some refining this evening. I have not even started on the Phoenix's or the flames. To give you an idea the size of this piece I've taken a photo with a 1lb 7oz can of coffee beside the vase.

[Bruce Jones]

Dragon & Phoenix
I did more refining shaping & sanding, this time around the dragon's head. I also removed more bulk and smoothed the body.

[Bruce Jones]

Dragon & Phoenix
I continue to refine the details in the image and now have move into part of the Phoenix's wing and some of the open air flames. You should also see more distinction in the Dragons face and eyes.

[Bruce Jones]

It's gonna be great!Thank you I've posted some new in progress photos.

[Eugene Dixon]

Thank you I've posted some new in progress photos.

And I keep being awed! You rock!

[John Kananis]

Nice progress, Bruce. Can't wait to see the finished piece.

[Bruce Jones]

Nice progress, Bruce. Can't wait to see the finished piece.Thank you John it will still be a few weeks before this one is done.

[Bruce Jones]

Dragon & Phoenix
Okay everyone most of the Negative space parts are cut out. So now a great deal of fine tuning, refining and smoothing. Once I complete that I will start to add the color. This will most likely be my last post on this piece until it is completely finished.

[Robert Hayward]

What do you use to color? Ink, dye or what?

[Bruce Jones]

What do you use to color? Ink, dye or what?Thank you for responding, Robert that will be revealed when i post the final piece along with some photos of me doing the process.

[Bruce Jones]

Okay everyone I continue to carve and refine over the whole project. One of the main things I did was remove a good bit around the head of large Phoenix. I have also have added a great bit of detail on the lower section flames. If you look closely you can also see I have removed the pieces in between the very fragile thin parts.

[Bruce Jones]

"Rising From The Ashes"
This piece is made from Ambrosia Maple that was first laid up from three pieces, consisting of three inch thick slabs 9" x 16" and then turned on the lathe. Once the form was achieved, it was turned to various thicknesses to accommodate the carving that was to be done. After sanding the form. my design was hand drawn with pencil and sealed with lacquer. The entire drawing design is my own original creation. Then the carving began using knives, gouges and a Dremel with bits and burs. The color was achieved from a product called Rub N Buff. The piece's final dimension is 7 inches by 13 inches tall.

[Eugene Dixon]

Bam! plus other words to meet the minimum

[Bruce Jones]

Bam! plus other words to meet the minimumThank you.