Ball-and-Claw Foot

[Mike Henderson]

A while back, I posted asking for pointers to tutorials for carving a Ball-and-Claw foot. Several of you posted suggestions for me and I tracked down most of them.

I started by carving a trial piece ("prototype" in engineering speak, or "study" in artistic speak). I wanted to do my own ball-and-claw foot and not duplicate what others had done. I'm not completely satisfied with the way it turned out, so I may do another trial piece to try some different ideas I have. I'd like the foot to look like it's carrying the ball, instead of sitting on it, so that there's more vertical stress in the composition. Next time I'll make the ball higher than wide to stress the vertical - it looks squat now.

I'd appreciate your comments. I'm not trying to reproduce a period piece, but to take some of the ideas in period pieces and give them my own interpretation.

Mike

[Jimmy Newman]

If you're planning on using it on a table or chair leg, I would be worried about the separation between the "palm" of the claw and the ball collapsing and the individual claws breaking. The individual claws are pretty thin, and I wouldn't want to plan on them supporting a lot of weight. That may just be me worrying too much.

Otherwise, I think it looks very good, particularly for a first try... I know carving isn't easy.

[John Fry]

That is a spectacular first try at a B&C, Mike.

Undercut talons no less. If you saw the recent thread with my last set of B&Cs, I went for the taller and more narrow ball, and kept the claws more refined than usual. But I was building a ladies chair for a very petite lady.

A few folks commented that they thought the narrower ball looked wrong, but many people really liked it.

Do be careful about undercutting too much stock at the top of the ball as you will loose some structural integrity. I chose to stay with a webbed claw to increase the amount of structural strength, but I was building a chair that can be subjected to a lot of force.

My only real critique is that I would try to get more bend at the ankle. Grab a tennis ball in your hand and then bend your wrist to get your arm vertical, you will see what I mean. I think your ankle enters the top of the ball at too straight of an angle, and this results in a back center claw that has no real conformation to it. Another thing to remember that B&C's are rarely viewed at eye level, they are viewed from above, and at a an angle. It helps to keep checking the appearance from that angle during the carve.

Again, that is a wonderful first attempt you should be very pleased. My first shot at it looked like it had arthritis and was holding a deformed bell pepper. :o

[Adriaan Schepel]

Just as an aside, what is the origin of the B&C?

Cheers,
Adriaan

[Mike Henderson]

My only real critique is that I would try to get more bend at the ankle. Grab a tennis ball in your hand and then bend your wrist to get your arm vertical, you will see what I mean. I think your ankle enters the top of the ball at too straight of an angle, and this results in a back center claw that has no real conformation to it. Another thing to remember that B&C's are rarely viewed at eye level, they are viewed from above, and at a an angle. It helps to keep checking the appearance from that angle during the carve.

Again, that is a wonderful first attempt you should be very pleased. My first shot at it looked like it had arthritis and was holding a deformed bell pepper. :o
John - I was not satisfied with the look of the back claw but didn't know how to address it. I went and looked at the thread on your B&C foot but it didn't have a picture from the side or rear (of the finished foot). If you have a picture of your finished foot from the side, I'd very much appreciate if you'd post it here for me.

Thank you for your encouragement. I'll do another one or two trial pieces before I start on the real chair legs. I'll probably do the next one with webs, as yours are.

Mike

Mike

[Mike Henderson]

Just as an aside, what is the origin of the B&C?

Cheers,
Adriaan
From what I've read, the B&C foot developed from items brought to Europe from Asia in the 17th century. The Asian items featured a dragon(???) holding a pearl in its claws.

Of course, that only pushes the question back one level. The obvious follow up question is "What was the meaning of the dragon holding a pearl, in Asian culture?"

I'm just going from memory here, so someone else may want to correct my comments.

Mike

[Carl Eyman]

It looks to me as though you've left a web at the top of the ball t6o take the downward pressure. Since this will never be seen unless someone gets down on the floor with his ear on the carpet you can make it pretty substantial. It should answer the strength question and never be seen.

Your prototype looks real good to me. The talons (fingernails?) are wonderful. The knuckles are well proportioned. The grouves between the knuckles that go up beyond the ankle along the leg are a bit longer than I fancy, but that is personal preference only. My comment in a word is Wonderful!

[John Fry]

I could only find this one pic Mike, but it shows the side view of the back claw pretty well.

The chair is at the upholsterer's right now, but it will come back to me for studio photos before being delivered to the client. I will shoot some more side views if that will help.

If you decide to make this adjustment, (remember this is only a suggestion from my point of view), you would need to make it on your template, not just during the carving process.

[Robert Rozaieski]

Mike,

If my first B&C looks like that, I'll be thrilled. I think it is great. The only thing that jumps out at me are the height of the webs (how high they extend up the legs). Most examples I've seen seem to have the web blending into the ankle or leg a little lower down. Course it could just be that this is only the ankle portion of the leg and not the whole leg so my perception may be off since the rest of the leg isn't there to compare. That may be an aid as well, to try carving on a full size leg blank to see the proportions better? I don't know, maybe just me. I haven't done it yet so I'm certainly no expert. I still think it looks great!

Bob

[Calvin Hobbs]

Mike,

I think that your ball is nicely shaped, and the talons have a good form. So a good start. Probably what I think would help the most is to shape the leg and see how the transition flows into the foot. This is what I messed up with on my Philadelphia lowboy project. In my pattern the cut in between the foot and the back of the ankle looked right, but it should have been nearly straight to look more correct, but then again I am trying to match period work, which you are probably not as concerned with. I had to work quite a bit in working all the talons so they flowed better to the ankle.

Are you working on this for an upcoming project? Cal

[Mike Henderson]

Mike,

I think that your ball is nicely shaped, and the talons have a good form. So a good start. Probably what I think would help the most is to shape the leg and see how the transition flows into the foot. This is what I messed up with on my Philadelphia lowboy project. In my pattern the cut in between the foot and the back of the ankle looked right, but it should have been nearly straight to look more correct, but then again I am trying to match period work, which you are probably not as concerned with. I had to work quite a bit in working all the talons so they flowed better to the ankle.

Are you working on this for an upcoming project? Cal
Calvin - thanks for the comments. I'm taking a carving class but it turned out that most of the students are in the beginning category so the instructor allowed me to pursue my own interest. I chose to try the B&C chair leg. If I'm successful, I'll do two legs (foot and knee) and keep them for a later chair project. The instructor has done B&C legs but has limited experience with them - and limited time to give me.

Would you post a picture of the B&C foot (feet?) that you did, so I have a reference? Or if you've posted them in the forum, a pointer to the thread?

I'm going to try to do another trial piece this week. I'll try one with webs and concentrate on making the back claw more graceful, as John pointed out. I use a piece of manogany about 5" long for the trial piece to conserve wood. I can make it longer if you think that the transition into the leg is important to work on.

Thanks, Mike

[Calvin Hobbs]

Mike,

Here is the link to the thread that my b/c feet were shown:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=46617&highlight=philadelphia+dressing+table

There are pictures that show a little of the feet/ankle in posts #1 and #21.

I have the materials ready for a marble slab serving table that I plan to have b/c feet, if I can get time to do it. Hopefully they will improve.

Cal