...."The Mouth"

RusticWoodArt

Every Project tells a Story:

I found this piece in the spring of 2004 out in our woods as already down and starting to go the way of punky rotten, so I knew at first sight there was yet to be, art to behold.

Early in the spring of 2006, I started debarking and let the sun cure the wood some more while also developing a nice character in the wood. Towards the latter part of August, I cut the ends off, as this section was close to the middle of the timber and seemed to speak to me from that part. Yes I know, wood speaks and I listen, so what does that make me and after all ‘crazy’ is only a term used for one who does not fit in with the opinions of the many. And so the wood spoke and I listened as it told me who it was to be, ....’the mouth’. Not that I’m meaning any disrespect here but I have come across some people who are ‘the mouth’, you never see anything beyond that, they are ‘the mouth’.

After cutting to the length I wanted, I was now in the groove of what I call the process and so grabbing a spudder and slick I proceeded to work at hollowing and cleaning out the inside. Next came the framing chisels and sweep gouge, along with the other various gouges and spoons. Completing the inside at this point, I burnished all the wood by hand using brass wire brushes.

Turning my attention to the outside I started out using a framing sweep gouge and smaller gouges including spoons. Picking up an orbital palm sander I began prepping the wood with #80, #120 and #220 sand paper to start preparing the wood for hand sanding. What comes next is equal too, and greater in time then all the work up to this point, ....yes, hand sanding. Starting over again with #80, #100, #120, #180, #220, #320 and #400 sandpaper I was soon lost in another world as the days went by. I am always ready for the end of that last piece of sandpaper, but still more sanding to go as I now switch over to #0000 steel wool. And then comes the day when this stage of sanding is done and I can clean the wood with air and proceed to finishing.

Finishing a piece of wood has always been a favorite of mine, especially if the wood is in the natural. There was a time when all my work was finished with various sheens of poly’s which included the building up of layer on layer and although this was good I was often left with a sense of just not what I wanted. Some years ago I started using linseed oil and then tung oil but as these also were manufactured, I was never sure exactly of what I was really getting for my money. Through all this process of trial and error I learned much and never admitted to defeat. My three most used finishes now to date are 100% pure tung oil, shellac and varnish, sometimes using all three in that same order. So it comes as no surprise that ‘the mouth’ after being all prepared for this moment was due to receive a healthy dose of tung oil inside and out.

For this piece I cut the tung oil with gum turps and added a couple drops of a Japan Dryer. The Japan Dryer is all trial and error and is up to the desecration of the individual artist as to how they want to speed up drying time. When I come to this part of finishing I usually want to pull out all stops and go, go and go, so it is with patience that I now put the piece on hold and let set for a spell. After curing for about a week I then proceeded to once again use the #0000 steel wool all over the outside, two complete times around.

Now comes the time to complete some cosmetic work to a few cracks that have developed on the upper top of ‘the mouth’ as one in particular ran down for about three inches. I then mask around all the area of cracks so as to not overflow onto the wood. On this piece I decided to use a two part polymer which I then tint by using ground artist chalk, which after curing gives a nice red tint to the wood area of the cracks. Years ago I made the decision that instead of seeking to hide cracks I would highlight them and bring out the crack in all its character as to what it can contribute also. Next day I just shave off the excess and sand lightly with #0000 steel wool and then I’m ready to proceed to the next step of finishing.

Having already decided to use amber shellac on the outside and around the inside rim of the mouth area to give a nice warm golden highlight to the wood, I proceed to apply a finish. Shellac works best I have found when cut to a one pound or one and a half pound cut, dries very fast so that multiple coats can be applied in one setting and can also be tinted very nicely with artist oils. After applying six coats I again let the piece set overnight to finish curing.

Six coats of shellac can leave quite a build up so once again I’m grabbing the #0000 steel wool and my mask. I believe that up to now I have not mentioned the importance of a good respirator//mask and so I will just mention that I use a mask for all sanding, whether by machine or by hand and yes that means that I will often wear a mask all day, for days and even for weeks while I sand. Just another note here and that is I often use spalted woods and even make my own spalted woods and so I am always machine sanding and hand sanding and again here I use a mask according to the law of Frank. Yes there was a time when not knowing the dangers of spalted dust I sanded without a mask, but now no more. Well back to steel wool and taking that shellac down to a lower sheen. On this piece I was not overly concerned with burning the wood as I was more after the richness of color and sheen that comes from the shellac, while burning the wood would only highlight ‘the mouth’. I ended up going over this piece three more times with steel wool to achieve the effect I was after, before saying done.

Well not exactly done, since I now had to go in search of a hat to make this piece complete and give ‘the mouth’ the respect that is due to one such as this.

This piece is for sale and all interested parties may feel free to contact me for this work or any type of work as I also work by commission. I also welcome any and all comments and if you have any questions I will due my best to try and answer them. All of my rustic furniture and wood art is of the one of a kind nature so there is no reproduction and all the ideas are forthcoming as I enjoy “releasing the spirit of the wood to fulfill its own unique character”.

Thank you very much, Frank

RusticWoodArt

rusticwoodman@gmail.com
www.frank.wordpress.com

-- --frank, NH, http://frank.wordpress.com/