Day 2 Rick Jensen Carving Seminar

Today was another long day.  It included a lot of different steps.  First there was laying out the windows and any doors.  Later on after glue up (more on this later) we had to set in the doors and windows  which is essentially exposing the frame and making sure there's enough room between other details on the house to get a gouge in since.  Exposing the frame is done by taking away the background which is why you need that room.  Then there was overall shaping: shaping of the mushroom base so that it as more realistic (and fit on the base), plus  the shaping the roof.

After laying out the windows, Rick gave his final thumbs up on each design (i.e. we won't get into trouble during the "setting" phase) and we split the bark pieces apart.  The next two pictures show the front and back.  You can see that if its split apart correctly the cardboard is what splits.  This is later taken off with a Jointer before the final glue-up.  The next step is to hollow where needed and then the glue up (third picture).

The next four pics show where the carving was at the end of the day.  The door is the only feature not completely set in.  Tomorrow should bring other details such as steps, rocks, siding, etc. plus final finishing.

Over lunch I decided to stay behind and start another carving and seek Rick's advice on ladders.  I've made a few but this one is probably one of the best thus far.  I also tried a different technique for carving the shingles that makes them less rigid/ordinary and more of a feature of the carving.