WOUNDED FLOWERS SERIES - WILTING FLOWER
WILTING FLOWER
WILTING FLOWER I
THE PROCESS
Amber is what I consider to be one of the most challenging materials I’ve ever carved. It is classified as an organic stone. Each piece of amber has different properties, depending on the conditions it was exposed to during its formation. It will fracture easily, both internal and external fractures. Heat of any kind is also very problematic. Its nature is highly temperamental and requires a sensitive hand throughout the carving process.
There may be inclusions of various kinds, such as insects, plant life, and even water within an piece of amber. A piece may be opaque, translucent, completely transparent, or a mix of those properties. There are also different colours of amber, even blue; although I’ve never acquired a piece of blue amber to carve (it’s rarer).
This piece of amber has no inclusions and is transparent. The size of the finished piece is approximately 1.0” x 1.25” x 0.5” (2.5 cm x 3.175 cm x 1.27 cm). I primarily use hand tools exclusively when carving amber, with the exception of some piercing work with a power carver to make the initial opening. With this particular piece, I carved it completely by hand, including piercing it. Size was a factor in this decision, since any slip up means most likely destroying the piece and beginning again with a new piece of material.
Tools that I use to carve amber include variety of micro chisels, gouges, knifes, files, rifflers, scrapers, specialized Japanese carving tools, some tools of my own making, and sandpapers of varying grades for finishing. I’ve found that it’s absolutely necessary to make tools of one’s own, or alter existing tools for carving, to make the cuts, shapes and texturing for any sculpture. It becomes a very individual process in developing one’s way of working.
Often, I use water in the finishing process with wet/dry sandpapers to keep it cool. Even when hand polishing, there is too much heat. I also work slowly to avoid building up heat. Static electricity occurs with amber carving, most notably when filing and sanding, so water is the most effective way to removed “sticky” amber particles.
The whole process requires being in a balanced state and a great deal of patience that has superseded patience required for all the other materials I’ve carved. That said, amber is within my top favourite carving materials. It is unique in its qualities, right down to each individual piece.
WILTING FLOWER II
WILTING FLOWER III
WILTING FLOWER IV
THE INSPIRATION
In my approach to beginning the series, I was searching for a symbol that would have the ability to reflect qualities of human beings. I chose not to work directly with the human form for this exploration, since I felt a symbol would allow for more open expression of the direction I wanted to take with this series.
It took some time to settle on a symbol that resonated and I found it to be quite a challenge. I’ve worked with the human form for a long time and whatever symbol I chose had to have elements that express the human experience. I stumbled on it quite by accident. I often have a lot of these “accidental discoveries”, when diving deeply into the creative process.
My mother has an incredible sensitivity with plants of any type, can grow any kind, or revive dying plants. I grew up surrounded by the natural world and she has taught me about plant life. Her flowers always seem to “sing” with happiness and grow like crazy. At one point, I was studying one of the lilies she was growing and it occurred to me how flesh-like the flower petals were, plus this sensitivity in their nature. That was the moment it clicked; I had the ideal symbol for my series.
Through this series, the intent is to explore aspects of wounds human beings experience during their growth process, using flowers as a metaphoric symbol. The impact of these wounds alters the growth process for each human being. Often, we are unaware of these hidden wounds, unless we choose to look inwards and go on that healing journey to wholeness.
WILTING FLOWER V
All photos taken by Nine with a Pentax digital 35mm camera and 90mm Tamron Macro lens.
Damn I really wish this was one of my rings, I'd love to use it lol. This yellow is so beautiful here, this is a color I'm fond of somehow lol. I'm no expert carver but this piece looks really flawless!
I think flowers are a really beautiful symbol of human beings that expresses very well how growing can go.
So, is this what we are to you?? Flowers??? 😝😝😝 hahahah
Awesome post. Looking forward to see more of this series!
Cheers 🍻💙
HAHAHA! Well, I do have a ring (I didn't make it) of amber that you can have to wear, just the little problem of getting it to you safely.
It's been polished to remove every scratch and imperfection. This is a very time consuming and tedious procedure; but, anything less will detract from the quality of the finished piece.
Yes, this is what human beings are to me, in one sense, flowers. I've actually said this to a few friends and described to them what kind of flower they appear to me as. 💮 😆
There will be several more in this series, once I organize them to post. Thank you for your lovely comments.
Cheers 🍻💙
That is amazing!! Any pics of the raw Amber, have never seen what it looks like
Thank you! I did not have any pics of raw amber until a few minutes ago. I pulled three pieces from my stockpile of carving materials and took a photo so you can see.
There are three pieces, the first on the left is Brazilian amber, in a partially polished state (how I purchased it). The center piece and the one on the right are both Baltic amber. The centre one I placed on it's edge so you can see it's fairly opaque and this type is called mutton fat amber. Both Baltic pieces are completely unpolished.
Thanks!!
You're most welcome!
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This is absolutely stunning! What a superb sculpture with a gorgeous, vibrant color! Your words were a lovely tribute to your mother, too! The workmanship is quite skilled and you've created a fascinating piece, definitely! BRAVO! 💛
Thanks for you lovely comments. I'm really glad you enjoyed seeing this piece and I appreciate it that you've noted the tribute to my mother. I'm grateful to her for a very long list of things. 😆
Wow that is an incredible sculpture, its color brings out all its qualities. Its meaning has a very high value.
Its design completely matches everything else, its color, its meaning, simply splendid.
Excellent post! keep up the quality of your content!
Thank you for checking out my post and your meaningful comment on my sculpture. I'm really happy you enjoyed it.
More to come like this, thanks again for your support!
STUNNING. can u take a pic of it next to like a coin so I can conceive it's relative size?
Thank you! I appreciate your question. It is hard to get an idea of the scale with only measurements. This piece is not in my collection anymore, otherwise I'd be happy to take a photo of it next to a coin.
One suggestion would be to compare it to the size of a thicker, somewhat chunky ring that would fit on a finger, except the pierced part is only large enough to fit over a small child's finger.
I WANT ONE OR SOME.
LOLOLOL! What would you do with it and would it fit your finger? 😜
OMGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG i love ittttttttt.
Btw, we have A LOT of ambar here in Dominican Republic. I think one of the oldest and clearest, not really sure hahahaha
I keep saying that a video of you making the sculptures must be too satisfying, look at this video with the idea i have in mind:
HAHAHA! So many G's, LOL! Thank you!
Yes, you have a LOT of amber there! I would go absolutely wild over the amber there!
I don't have any equipment to be able to shoot video of my doing one of these miniature carvings. I would like to do that at some point, should I be in a position to aquire the equipment I need. This isn't possible right now and I don't know when it will be. I'll have to see how the world turns, so to speak.
It's a lengthy process to do carvings, for this particular carving it took approximately (I don't set a timer) 200 hours. I've watched the video link you've left and something could be done. Ascertaining how to shoot that and put it together in a video would have to be worked out also. 😆😜
YESSSSSSSSS YOU CAN COME AND LOOK FOR SOME AMBER hahahahhahahaha
About the equipement, it´s ok, don´t worry hahahaha i´m just giving some ideas (as usual)
wooow 200hours, amazing
OKAY!!! Totally up for amber hunting!
You have lots of great ideas and I appreciate it always. Yes, about 200 hours, lol. 😃
This is a @curie or @ocd niche blog. They are always looking for quality and quality in amber is here and you made it. It looks like an art ring. I know that moms can be an inspiration but this is even more. It must have cost a lot of hours but I must say the result is stunning, congrats on this blog hope it meets many eyes during the coming days
@brittandjosie, thank you for what you've said, I really appreciate it. 💜 I never saw the piece as a ring, but it appears to come across that way. A very interesting perspective for me to see it from. I really love to hear how others perceive my work. I always learn something, the spice of life for me.
My mom was a major inspiration for this series and I really wanted to touch on that because she means so much to me. It was somewhere around 200 hours to produce the finished sculpture, plus about 20 hours to shoot the photos, plus another several hours to do the post.
I'm so glad you appreciate all the work that went into this. I will see how it goes for this one. As of today, I'm re-evaluating what I will post. I'm not sure this sort of work is of much interest to most people these days, since carving and traditional art seem to be dying or dead arts. Maybe people just aren't interested in this sort of work anymore. Time will tell me soon enough.
Its incredible you are able to create this
type of things. It's so beautiful, I would look pretty gangsta if I use it hhaha
Thank you @antoniojoseha! I've invested a lot of time and effort to become skilled at carving. Maybe you'd be the "amber gangsta" if you use it? LOLOLOLOLOL
Yay! 🤗
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Omg this is just beautiful 😍
Thank you so much! I appreciate you checking out my post and my sculpture!😃
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I love this @nineclaws , I used to do sculpting in clay, but that was a different life.
I would never have imagined carving something so small. Whittling wood, yes, but amber?
Wow, well done
Thanks @jerrytsuseer! Cool that you used to do clay, that was what I started with. At one point, I would never have thought of working "small" in art, never mind carving something this small, LOL! All I can say, is that it was carving a piece of elk antler and from that and other explorations I became focused on carving in miniature.
Many thanks for checking out my carvings, cheers! 😃
You are so very welcome. Now that I have my own place, I am beginning to get my artistic vibes back, and not music either.
Here is a PHOTO of the last pencil self portrait I did back in like 1978
Self Portrait from about 1978
Oh wow!!! Thanks for posting this. Well done drawing! I love that you're getting your artistic vibes back. Maybe I'll get to see some more 😃, I'd like that.