Carve Til You Drop

One of the truths in life is that in order to improve at something, you have to practice.  The more you flex the muscle you're using, the better you get. This applies to everything from athletics, to reading, to painting...so this weekend I had a chance to flex my carving muscles.  Steve Luck arrived Sat. morning and we jumped in.

I went through the process of cutting pocket cuts, profile cuts, v-carving, prismatic letter carving, 3D model importing (scaling, slicing and carving), and some very general painting tips.  I tread carefully because some of my knowledge comes from my friend Dan's workshop, and I encourage anybody who wants to take what they are doing a dozen levels up to attend his workshop.  I feel like what I showed Steve is the kind of stuff I wish I could have known before I went to Dan's workshop...only because knowing the basics would have let me go even further at the workshop.

So....I had Steve make a bunch of files..we carved and in some cases recarved. Our first attempts didn't always succeed. That's ok...learning how to recover from a mistake is just as important as succeeding.  I tried to keep up with his questions, and guide him through the process of making toolpaths (those tell the machine how and what to carve). 

We started with a recreation of a little sign I was given by another Sign Painter, Dave Correll.  The rest were things Steve wanted to try.  We really only spent 1 day working...with breaks for food and a little wrap up today...I think he did great.  I also learned a great deal, and flexed my carving muscle.  It's not even sore.  Ready to carve more..

This is the reproduction of the "signs" piece I was given...and below is a carving
of a 3D model of the "cricket" gun from the original "Men In Black" movie. It is a two-sided carving.

In addition, there is a copy of the monkees logo, a reproduction of a "Rustees" sign from the Pixar film "Cars", a v-carving of the "Green Hornet" hornet and a prismatic lettering sign of "Sign Magic".  I know Steve enjoyed watching the pieces appear as if by magic from the HDU powder left behind from the carving, and I enjoyed it too.  In the middle, we ate some birthday cupcakes as this weekend was also the time chosen for my daughter's 10th birthday party.  Cupcakes and Carving.  That's what I call a good way to spend a weekend.  Happy Birthday Elena!