For Kiwi John- current stone sculpture project

[cliffrod]

Thanks Cliff for sharing your carving world with us. Neil and I both appreciate your contribution and insights. PS You should have told Gary the piece was beyond you as well ! I assume the challenge was greater than the risk ? Good on you.

John- if you're interested, here's a link to news article & video interview Gary did in April 2018. https://www.wcax.com/content/news/A-...479806803.html. Even though my cousin Andy actually taught me more as his apprentice & legacy, Gary is the man who opened the door for me and let it happen.

I've got a lot of links in my website, trying to be as transparent with everyone as I can be. There are direct links to all so my real competitors because I want to get work because I'm good, not just because they couldn't find anyone else. I'm also trying to combat all the crap from china, which is simply economic warfare meant to destroy our domestic capacity. There's a lot about that on my website as well, including my fight to keep a major national memorial from being outsourced to china base upon claims it couldn't be done in the USA. No need to discuss the politics on here, but it's really sad watching this way of life die.

[cliffrod]

Pics from 30 minutes ago. Aside from schedule, I'm happy with how it's coming. He looks good.

Most carving of front has been resolved. Pointing machine is very helpful for checking dimensions, even if dimensions need to change. Many times I'll find small things in the model that I want to change to improve the job. Ideally, the job will always look better than the model.

Bulk behind head has been removed, which involved some pointing. Tops of shoulders have been developed and now I'm working on hair detail. Looking forward to finishing and selling more work soon....

[Rex_A_Lott]

^^Awesome work Clint

[dennis]

Nice job Cliffy
Regards Dennis

[cliffrod]

Thanks, guys. The support is much appreciated. Here's a little more insight into my world-

Before posting here, I sent the same pics in last post to the manufacturer because I thought it was looking good She's very happy. but right now, the patron is apparently not happy and has asked "if I was done with the eyes." As explained & agreed before carving, the iris area is carved as a concave partial circle, with pupils located at the lowest point of that concave area. Making or drilling a definitive hole for the pupil makes the subject appear to glare like a maniac. Leaving round convex smooth eyes looks like a zombie or dead man (not cool for a cemetery setting) and carving lines on a convex eye to denote eye detail is an amateur fail in my business.

The first pics show the actual shape and detail of the stone in neutral light with limited value. So I sent these pics with slightly different lighting to demonstrate typical shadows and stronger value variations that show the focal direction of the eyes is down and to His left as originally composed & approved. Hopefully they'll be happy.....









Edit- received notice that eyes have been approved so now I can proceed & get it finished.

[neilb]

looks fantastic cliffy, i'm really enjoying watching your progress

[123pugsy]

Most excellent.

[cliffrod]

Thank you, sirs.

I sold a small memorial job with a carving of three daffodils yesterday. Hard to sell hand carved floral work nowadays, so pretty enthused. And it's a local project, which is even harder to sell. Very cool.

[Steve Murphy]

Nice work, very interesting Cliff.

[cliffrod]

Thanks, Steve. It changes a lot here at the very end as details are defined and overall noise is eliminated. Getting pretty close to finished and will post more pics soon.

[Bill Tromblay]

Hi,

Looks great, it is very neat to see the process.

Bill

[MP&C]

Beautiful work Clint. Thought I had patience....