Sculpture of the week 22nd March 2019

The sculpture of the week is a selection of orbs made from Scottish hardwoods. The fused glass inserts inject so much colour into each sculpture.

Turning the back of the orb

The first stage in making an orb is to turn the back of the wooden blank to shape, then I sand it to a fine finish ready for it to be oiled. I turn the wooden blank over and start work on the face of the orb. Once the orb is turned to shape it is then ready for the finer detail to be added.

Adding the carved texture detail

I mark out the all the detail to be carved. I always draw my carving on freehand with a pencil.  I then carve the detail into the wood by hand and by using different chisels I add different textures to the carving.

Fitting the fused glass insert

Once the orb has been removed from the lathe it is now ready to fit the fused glasss insert. There is a special glazing system fitted within each orb to allow for any expansion or contaction within the kiln dried wood. The fused glass insert really enhances the natural beauty of the wood. The final stage is to add several coats of oil to the orb over a period of 4 days.

Thank you for following my work and please look out for next weeks sculpture of the week.