Carving Project - Part 2

My last post got me part way through the biggest carving challenge yet - a three tile panel. Well, the carving of the panel is now done, so I'll bring you up to date.

The hardest part of the carving was the left tile, with only a grainy photo enlargement of a black and white catalog page, with very little detail.


I put my son to work, modeling the hand detail where the soldier is holding a spear.

I carved the details more pronounced, thinking that they would tend to disappear when the mosaic lines were added. After finally finishing the panel, I decided that I should cast plaster moulds before the mosaic lines went in.

Since this is a 3 tile set, it needed to be poured in 3 sections for pressing into wet clay. I started with the left side - the last part to be carved.


Success with the first mould - and with all the other sections too!


Then onto carving the mosaic lines.


It took me longer than I had thought it would to carve the mosaic lines in....about 3 - 4 hours, over 2 days time. Then on to pouring another 3 section mould set. The moulds are now drying and will get pressed next week, with another few weeks before they'll be ready for glazing. I'll open the glaze kiln with much anticipation, because that's the only time I can really tell if I've got it right!


You can find more photos of the process on my flickr page.