Saturday 8 May 2010

Getting there!

About 45 pounds at 20", slowly getting there.
the shorter left limb is deceptive as there is a bit of a natural bend about 1/3 of the way from the handle, there also doesn't appear to be any bend near the handle. It's very tricky, if I remove too much near the handle where it fades from limb to handle, it is liable to break as that's a natural weak point. It's come on a bit since that pic, in terms of smoothing the curve of that left limb.
There's still a long way to go as it's still not braced to it's correct height.
I filled a longitudinal crack/groove in the handle where the pith at the centre of the log was exposed (I let in a piece of the same Cherry wood). Longitudinal cracks aren't too much of a problem in bows.
The Ash back is being smoothed now too, using metal working files and wet & dry paper.
I'm still not entirely sure where I want it to end up, the grip is very small and there's not much of an arrow pass...maybe it will end up as a flight bow, maybe it will break, but maybe it will end end up as a punchy little field bow which anchors to the nose or cheek bone just beneath the eye for those close range shots.
I s'pose that's the great fun of making stuff, you never know quite what you'll get until it's in your hand.

I've finished my first bit of sculpture repair work for the Gibberd Gallery.
The two crows are called Fred & Aristottle, by sculptor Claire Guest.
The roof of their bird table needed replacing and much of the other structure too. The crows were originally free standing and moveable, but when the garden opened to the public they needed fixing down, unfortunately this wasn't done very well and the crow on the right had one foot missing and one the wrong way round. He was also fixed with his tail screwed down to the deck.
As I carefully dissmantled him it becam apparent how he was originally designed. I tried to restore him faithfully to the original design, this involved making one new tail feather which needed burning and rubbing with mud and algae to match it up.
The crows are of Bog Oak, and as such are almost like coal in some parts.
It was nice to see them restored as they are favourites with visitors.
I supect the crow on the left may have originally had toes fixed to the end of his legs, I may research it further and make replacements if I find it's appropriate.

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