alder 2021

This seems to be something of a research project: What can you do with a piece of dead tree? How much is left that still works? It turns out there is not only rotten wood but live maggots as well. And I don’t enjoy killing…

 

 

 

 

 

 

Interesting movements in that stem, but I have to take away a lot of material. It’s a pitty. My first time with alder and not much to work with. But the smell is good! It smells like forest. I realize decaying wood is part of the mix of forest smells.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had to cut it in half to see what was inside. Tedious but oddly satinsfying work. The upper half seems okay. The lower one needs serious hollowing.

 

 

 

It makes you appreciate the maggots. The dark stuff inside: its high quality soil! That is what they do: transforming dead wood into a fertile basis for new growth. I could make it a living sculpture with plants growing in it… Just kidding. I stick to what I always focus on: form and movement.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Got rid of all the black parts and most of the slightly rotten stuff. What remains looks like a ruin. But it also has some of the charm of a ruin. I’m curious what is still in there. And I still love the colours and the smell! It feels more like carving than sculpting: different scale, different tools (partly). I need all of my small rasps which are usually too small for the work on the bigger pieces.