Scott Ingram, Wood Spirit (ART, OBJECTS 2022)

Photos:

Scott Ingram

Hand carved Wood Spirit wall hanging sculpture. I have been carving wood for just over a year, and decided to try wood carving and a bit later some chainsaw carving. My inspiration comes from old movie special effects fantasy characters that are generally sculpted in clay then recast into latex, silicone or foam rubber. Prior to woodcarving I used to watch clay sculpting tutorial videos online. I found clay an easy medium to work with, but not challenging enough, and I also didn’t want to have to make moulds of everything. I enjoy stone carving but find it too slow and heavy to be practical so I then tried woodcarving –mainly wood spirits, owls and bears. To my surprise, even though I thought they looked terrible, I was able to sell my basic wood spirit carvings which was encouraging. That focused me to develop my wood carving skills, as wood had the right amount of challenge and ease to work with, and also the finish and warmth of wood was appealing to me. I have tried power tool carving and chainsaw carving but liked the idea of hand carving with chisels as it is cleaner and more controlled, so I purchased a set of Indonesian carving chisels and also a 25-piece set of Pfeil chisels from Carbatec. However I also use whatever is required to get the work done with as little fine dust as possible. So for larger pieces I may start a block out with a chainsaw or power tool, then I will use my chisels and files for the main shaping and detail of the carving. I usually use a Dremel and very small diamond burrs for very tight places and some finishing. Most of my carvings are wood spirit faces and are created dynamically as I carve with no pre-planning but I want to do more planned pieces as my skills develop. I’m still experimenting and learning with faces and their structure but have plenty of ideas for future works. At this point I am still very much learning and just enjoying the process and seeing the end results. The Wood Spirit I have entered is made from reclaimed wood. I like to use old repurposed wood, if possible from fallen trees, or wood cleared from houses and yards; both hard and soft woods, as long as they aren’t rotten or have a lot of worm tracks. This piece was carved mainly with chisels and a die grinder used for the hair along with a small Dremel here and there. I then burnt the carving with blowtorches and then sanded it back whereever I wanted shading or a different colour. It was sealed with varnish and afterwards waxed to add colour or shine. Sometimes I use oil paints thinned to be like a stain. Wood Spirit is about 820mm from top to bottom and about 160mm wide cheek to cheek and hangs on a wall. I hope this gives an insight into my overall process for this carving.

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