ORCAS IN THE PASSAGE

Well...I've just completed the final protective sealing coat on my second stone carving, "Orcas in the Passage". Project complete.  I am incredibly excited to continue the exploratory adventure of carving stone.  What a fabulous pleasure!

Orcas in the Passage is 21.5" diameter x 2.5" thick, carved into Indiana Limestone.  I used the traditional "V" carving technique as taught to me by Tracy Mahaffey.  I recently learned this technique while attending one of the worlds greatest stone mason, carver, sculptor events; STONEFEST.

This piece of work is inspired greatly by my life and location living in Victoria, BC, Canada on Vancouver Island.  As well as my heritage, friends and family.  It is with great pleasure to carve such lovely stone, gifted to me by some amazing people at Marenakos Rock Centre in Preston, Washington.

I feel this piece of stone art is meticulously rendered, with all "V' grooves terminating seamlessly at their deepest infinite points. WHAT?  It's hard to explain until you've done this method, but the carving will create itself in some ways.  It's only done when it's done.  the grooves cannot be halted prior to their exact termination points. It won't look proper. Nor can the grooves go too deep.  They won't keep their 45 degree angle without the top finished plane of the carving opening up beyond the desired shapes.

My first carving was done without any preconception, where the "V" grooves were used (with imagination) to create a symmetrical mandala in which the image itself lies within the "V' grooves, as you can see here.

Orcas in the Passage was done through a preconceived illustration before I started.  It was also done in the reverse method, relief carving, where the image lies outside the "V" grooves at the plane of the stone.  The preparation for this was simple, yet time consuming and you can see the whole process here.

Please enjoy the photos! I look forward to showing you my next piece. Good things come in 3's....

PEACE...

Another method of preparing to carve stone

First, I begin with a blank piece of 12"x12" paper, compass, ruler and pencil.  I find the centre of the paper.  Using the compass, I draw circles radiating out to the edge of the page to use a guidelines.  Starting in the centre of the page, (and using my imagination) I work my way outwards in symmetrical design to create a complete image.  Once completed in pencil, I trace over it in .03 fineliner ink and erase all the pencil lines.  I end up with an image such as this....

I then photograph it and using photoshop, add colour similar to the stones colour to see what I am working with more accurately.  I get an image such as this....

The Indiana Limestone slab I want to carve is 21.5"W X 21.5"T, so using photoshop again, I split the image into 6 pieces and print each one to 1/6th of the finished carving size such as these...

Using a cutting matt, X-acto blabe,  and ruler, I trim all the edges to get these....

Using cello tape, I then carefully tape them all together to get a full size copy of what I will carve....

I spent a while sanding down the face of the stone to remove any blemishes and saw blade marks from the machining process. (elbow grease)  Once ready, I place graphite transfer paper on top of the stone and the full size image on top of the transfer paper....

Then they all get taped down into place. Using a pencil, I copy the lines on the image, which transfers onto the stone.

Once the pencil work is complete, I remove the paper and transfer paper from the stone and end up with this!......

And now, using a brass bell hammer and lettering chisels, I get down to some real work of slowly and meticulously removing stone to give the image I want.....

LOVE THE STONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My First Stone Carving

This is my FIRST stone carving.

I attended STONEFEST 10, May 12-16, 2014 and decided to learn the completely new skill of Lettering. Carving letters in Stone. Upon learning, from Tracy Mahaffey - Stone Carver, I had the idea to carve a piece similar to my symmetrical mandalas I usually create in ink or paint.

This piece of work took 3.5 days to finish on a 21.5"W x 21.5"T x 2"Deep piece of Indiana Limestone that weighs approx. 100 lbs.

The two colours were achieved by sanding the face flat. Then, I mixed Whidbey Island clay, (being used to build a 1600's replica of an irish church outside by some other friends) with water. I filtered the clay and water through cloth to get a clean fluid that I then applied 3 coats with a cotton rag to get the darker area around the outside and the centre circle. I intentionally left the top of the piece raw where the stone broke when it was split to size for me. The curves almost matched the hills outside the location identically.

This piece has been carved in the traditional "V" groove method you would see on elegant gravestones or memorials. The back of the piece is carved with the title: FIRST, my name: daniel john poisson, and my signature logo: DP2014.

I was sent home with some tools and another 300lb slab of Indiana Limestone and I look forward to creating the SECOND. Thank You so much for all the instructor, mentoring and guidance everyone!

PEACE!

— at Marenakos Rock Center.