Process
making best out of wood and skill
Finding The WOOD
Medium in which I work is wood
Finding perfect peace of wood is impossible. This is why process of drying and storing wood through long periods of time is so important to get high quality material. Also different sorts of wood like different processes. I sometimes feel it is ever-learning process of how to get cherry, walnut, prune, maple, olive... to subdue to my wishes.
Now after all these years at least I learned wood always subdues me in the end.
Getting the Vision
Long process
To form art I need to go through long process which encircles imagining, drawing, reading, research and finally letting the medium (material) guide my hand in final stages.
It definitely helps that I live and work most of my life in mountains and under the sea where I find many forms and feelings I want to incorporate in to my art.
Textures of corals, sponges, fish, shells as well as long lines of mountain ridges, peaks and glaciers help me find my inspiration for wood Art.
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But following old artists and new ones influences me greatly and expends my imagination in exploring form, light and material to the fullest.
Carving , drilling & woodturning
Let your hands work
When asked ''What do you do'' Zorba the Greek answered ''I have two hands and two legs, they do the work. who am I to ask.''
This is one of my biggest problems in making my forms, as hands and legs have to work together whit the brain witch is not always the case. I use many different tools from saws, drills, lathe, carving tools and lot of sandpaper. Transferring imagined form from sketch to multidimensional form is loads of fun but also extensive and sweaty work...., OH, yes and lot of dust.
Finishes
Special tehniques
All my work has high end finish winch is often art for itself.
I impregnate all wood to protect it in future against pest and moss, than I stain wood to get an extra layer of protection and tone I want in the end.
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For final finish I mainly use two techniques:
1. French Polishing
This is old mostly forgotten art of polishing wood whit shellac. This technique takes long time to perfect and is hard to do especially on uneven surfaces. I developed special ways, with lot of help from my mother Bibi, how to apply it on all the curves and holes of my forms.
2. Wax finish
Wax finish is somewhat easier to apply than French polishing but it is imperative to use highest quality wax.
One wax comes directly from hive which my friend Dinko has at his apiary. And second wax I order form Gilboy in UK ( https://gilboys.co.uk/).
