Thursday, November 18, 2010

"Family Tree Cane"

 
Here is a cane I completed as a commission for a customer in Tennesee. Hidden within the leaves are the names of each family member. The handle is walnut and the shaft is crape myrtle. The leaves and limbs are relief carved and textured with a pyrographic pen. I have always had problems photgraphing canes, so I made a short video panning up and down the shaft. Here's a link to the video... take a look and let me know if you think it is a good way to present a carving. Thanks for looking!



 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Thursday, November 11, 2010

More Moving Pictures!



OK! I figured out how to upload my videos to YouTube and embed the links to them! This video is actually part of a series of blogs I am doing on cane design and carving at Lumberjocks.com. You can check out the series here http://lumberjocks.com/mpounders/blog . Thanks for looking!

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Moving Pictures

One of the problems I have sometimes struggled with is the process of taking just the right photograph to show my work. It is critical in today's networked world to be able to communicate in ways that use to take place in direct contacts with your customers. A lot of contests I have entered are judged strictly on the photographs of the carvings, rather than the carving itself. And items sold online have to be browsed strictly by providing the appropriate number of good quality photographs. It is always a struggle to photgraph canes and staffs, primarily because of the length and because the carvings are wrapped around the cylinder of the shaft. I have seen some photgraphy and some cameras have the ability to stitch separate pictures to give a wide panoramic view. I don't have a camera that will do that, but I do have one that will do movies! So I am experimenting with that! I have admired some three dimensional drawings on the Wood Carving Illustrated web site that let you rotate and view the carving from all angles, so I hope these will be useful. Stand by for some more attempts at this, if I can get it posted in the correct formats!

Let me know if this is a good idea!