So much for writing about weird hurricane paths today...a birdie flew by Wednesday (inside joke that ENFPs [Myers-Briggs personality] can relate to!!!!)....
I went to walk Mercy in the woods behind a local elementary school...the past few days I'd noticed a whole bunch of root-looking material had been pulled up (more likely loaded on a work truck and fallen off). Nothing more than noted that observation...but today my eyes saw this little chunk at my feet. "Whattheheck..." I told myself, so I picked up the modest root knot and put it in my pocket.
It's not as if I don't have a gazillion things on my plate at any given time...so what more natural thing than to take home a homeless knot and see what I can 'see' in it? Root burls can be really neat in terms of grain patterns and beauty. I have no earthly idea what species of tree or shrub this came from, but burls are burls. The first thing I did was determine a 'bottom' side and slapped it up against my orbital belt sander...
(CLICK ON PICS TO ENLARGE)
Add a quick wipe of moisture and, voila, the gorgeous grains appear!...
By this point I'm thinking there is enough surface area for this to be a block on a future flute...but what was I seeing in it? I began to lightly shape out the piece along it's natural lines, knowing that with the inclusions of bark there was the possibility it would split into pieces at the snap of a finger. I was also aware that the air outside was stiflingly humid and that I couldn't spend too long out in it with my gear on!...
At this point, I'm seeing a wolf laying down (more from pic below)...the tail curling to the right at the bottom...the yet-to-be-shaped head at the top, where I think the wolf will be turning its head and looking back up to the left...and in some way seeing some of the legs and paws off on the right side, the wolf lying down but alert...or you can tell me it looks like a hunk of shapeless wood! (Actually, from this angle it looks like a manatee...!)
And that's how this ol' brain works...off on unexpected tangents at the drop of a hat...or the flight of an attention-catching birdie. For now it will sit while I look at it more and tend to other things. I have no doubt that when it's ready that piece will talk to me again and say 'bring me to life, friend.' Rest assured you'll see the finished product right here when it's ready!
I went to walk Mercy in the woods behind a local elementary school...the past few days I'd noticed a whole bunch of root-looking material had been pulled up (more likely loaded on a work truck and fallen off). Nothing more than noted that observation...but today my eyes saw this little chunk at my feet. "Whattheheck..." I told myself, so I picked up the modest root knot and put it in my pocket.
It's not as if I don't have a gazillion things on my plate at any given time...so what more natural thing than to take home a homeless knot and see what I can 'see' in it? Root burls can be really neat in terms of grain patterns and beauty. I have no earthly idea what species of tree or shrub this came from, but burls are burls. The first thing I did was determine a 'bottom' side and slapped it up against my orbital belt sander...(CLICK ON PICS TO ENLARGE)
Add a quick wipe of moisture and, voila, the gorgeous grains appear!...
By this point I'm thinking there is enough surface area for this to be a block on a future flute...but what was I seeing in it? I began to lightly shape out the piece along it's natural lines, knowing that with the inclusions of bark there was the possibility it would split into pieces at the snap of a finger. I was also aware that the air outside was stiflingly humid and that I couldn't spend too long out in it with my gear on!...
At this point, I'm seeing a wolf laying down (more from pic below)...the tail curling to the right at the bottom...the yet-to-be-shaped head at the top, where I think the wolf will be turning its head and looking back up to the left...and in some way seeing some of the legs and paws off on the right side, the wolf lying down but alert...or you can tell me it looks like a hunk of shapeless wood! (Actually, from this angle it looks like a manatee...!)
And that's how this ol' brain works...off on unexpected tangents at the drop of a hat...or the flight of an attention-catching birdie. For now it will sit while I look at it more and tend to other things. I have no doubt that when it's ready that piece will talk to me again and say 'bring me to life, friend.' Rest assured you'll see the finished product right here when it's ready!
1 comment:
Amazing what the eyes see, isn't it!!
I see the wolf that you described, yet in the bottom (fianl) "vertical" pic, I see a big horn sheep, rearing-up and getting ready to ram horns/head with ..... an "invisible" sheep! (Yet, I see the invisible sheep, too!)
Gorgeous burls, by the way!
Suzy :)
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