Coop Posted July 10, 2016 Report Share Posted July 10, 2016 Dave, I've been watching this from the start and you mentioned that these may be for a jewelry box or something but I haven't seen deminisions of the legs. What did the piece start as. Fantastic job btw. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davewyo Posted July 10, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 10, 2016 26 minutes ago, K Cooper said: Dave, I've been watching this from the start and you mentioned that these may be for a jewelry box or something but I haven't seen deminisions of the legs. What did the piece start as. Fantastic job btw. Thanks Coop! It's about the same height as the prototype but stouter. The ball is slightly smaller than a ping pong ball and the overall height measures up about the same on a Sam Adams (6 3/8" tall). http:// 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post davewyo Posted July 11, 2016 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted July 11, 2016 Today I continued roughing out the other three B/Cs. I slimmed down the fingers, pointed the claws, and worked on getting all the knuckles situated at the same level. http:// 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post davewyo Posted July 17, 2016 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted July 17, 2016 After several days off I started into the thumb. I marked out my lines on the four legs: http:// Then I cut a slight hour glass shape to the sides and a dip in the back. I try to leave plenty to fine tune later so as not to overdo. In addition I trim down all the fingers to the same approximate size and raise the web between the fingers a touch. http:// http:// 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted July 17, 2016 Report Share Posted July 17, 2016 They are shaping up nicely ! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mat60 Posted July 17, 2016 Report Share Posted July 17, 2016 Looking very cool Dave... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjk Posted July 17, 2016 Report Share Posted July 17, 2016 Coming out great! I'm bookmarking this thread for when I get to trying my hand at ball & claw. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaneymack Posted July 17, 2016 Report Share Posted July 17, 2016 Looking awesome Dave, fantastic work! Sent from my SM-N910W8 using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post davewyo Posted July 19, 2016 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted July 19, 2016 Thanks gang! Today I got one of the B/Cs to it's final rough shape. First I defined a cuticle by striking in a vertical line and then taking down the claw a bit. I shaped the claw into a more slender cone and tried to take out the most offensive facets left by the carving tools. http:// Then I cut a slight dip into each segment of the fingers while concentrating on leaving a straight sharp line at each knuckle. http:// It's not much but it shows. http:// I'm happy with the result. Nine fingers and three thumbs to go. Here's a comparison. http:// 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaneymack Posted July 19, 2016 Report Share Posted July 19, 2016 WOW ! That is awesome ! Really hard to believe this is your first time and you are self taught ! ( thats what she said) But seriously, really great stuff, Dave. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
..Kev Posted July 19, 2016 Report Share Posted July 19, 2016 Yea, that's looking really cool! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted July 19, 2016 Report Share Posted July 19, 2016 I am loving the attention to detail ! Great results ! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted July 19, 2016 Report Share Posted July 19, 2016 I've checked several sites to see what this claw belongs to. Most say that it has Chinese origin and belonged to a dragon. Others say this is true but transformed into a bird or eagle. I'm intrigued! Looking good Dave! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davewyo Posted July 19, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 19, 2016 28 minutes ago, K Cooper said: I've checked several sites to see what this claw belongs to. Most say that it has Chinese origin and belonged to a dragon. Others say this is true but transformed into a bird or eagle. I'm intrigued! Looking good Dave! I've read the same. Dragon clutching the Pearl of Wisdom adapted into the western tradition. Each region in Colonial American had it's own details. In the Philadelphia style that I'm emulating the distinguishing feature is the sharp knuckles. The New England style had more undercutting of the ball and long slender claws which might have undercutting that goes right through. I forget what the third basic regional style was, but it has slight variations which make it recognizable for the area the carver came from. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted July 19, 2016 Report Share Posted July 19, 2016 But thinking about "cuticles", that's overboard dude! Production work, this ain't! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
h3nry Posted July 19, 2016 Report Share Posted July 19, 2016 fantastic stuff! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Posted July 19, 2016 Report Share Posted July 19, 2016 Wow, the way the shapes have emerged is just fantastic. This is another thing I'm going to have to try. Great job! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janello Posted July 19, 2016 Report Share Posted July 19, 2016 Looking great! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davewyo Posted July 22, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 22, 2016 So I took the other three legs to the same level of finish and that completed the roughing in stage of the process. I then looked over the four to see that they are the "same" and carved away any discrepancies to kind of even them up. I'm not completely done tweaking the details yet, but I moved on to preliminary sanding in order to see what is there. http:// After that I will probably do some more carving to even up the heights of the balls and trim the fingers to get as much uniformity as is possible. They don't need to be exact, they just need to be close so that the eye will be fooled. The thumbs don't look right to me yet. They need to be more slender to match the fingers; that's pretty clear. But I'm also planning on re-sculpting them so that they flow into a tendon sorta like and Achilles tendon on your own ankle. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted July 22, 2016 Report Share Posted July 22, 2016 I love the variations, that proves they are hand made ! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted July 22, 2016 Report Share Posted July 22, 2016 I think the reveal of the balls is more important to the eye than the knuckles. Me, I would have been there long ago and been happy. If you feel you need to be close to perfect, I would clean up the web/skin on the one, second from the left. Heck of a job! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted July 22, 2016 Report Share Posted July 22, 2016 Looks great, Dave! Much better than any carving I've ever done. The only suggestion I can offer toward "improvement" would be to undecut the edges of the foot a bit more, to create more of a shadowline to distinguish the ball as seperate from the claw. Already you have done a terrific job on a very challenging task. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bradpotts Posted July 22, 2016 Report Share Posted July 22, 2016 I think they look awesome! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davewyo Posted July 22, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 22, 2016 8 hours ago, wdwerker said: I love the variations, that proves they are hand made ! That made me think Steve! I'm pretty sure every ball and claw foot made of wood is hand made. There's no other way to do it. That was until the advent of the CNC. Now I suppose someone could write a program to machine carve a ball and claw foot. 8 hours ago, K Cooper said: I think the reveal of the balls is more important to the eye than the knuckles. Me, I would have been there long ago and been happy. If you feel you need to be close to perfect, I would clean up the web/skin on the one, second from the left. Heck of a job! I see what you mean Coop! No question, that web is too low on the left side where it goes into the side of that finger. It's funny how a photo can help to see these things. Sometimes you just don't see these things. Other times you know something is wonky but you can't tell exactly what it is or what you should do to correct it. 8 hours ago, wtnhighlander said: Looks great, Dave! Much better than any carving I've ever done. The only suggestion I can offer toward "improvement" would be to undecut the edges of the foot a bit more, to create more of a shadowline to distinguish the ball as seperate from the claw. Already you have done a terrific job on a very challenging task. Thanks Ross. I'm not quite getting what you mean. Are you suggesting that I undercut the fingers and lower the ball to make the web look thicker, or are you saying raise the web higher on the ball? 53 minutes ago, bradpotts said: I think they look awesome! Thanks Brad, and everyone else! I appreciate the comments and feedback. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted July 22, 2016 Report Share Posted July 22, 2016 They have been made on duplicating carving machines for a long time. Purely mechanical,operator traces a master template with a stylus and 6 blanks on either side are cut. The results desperately need cleaning up with sharp tools but the shape is there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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