The Trajic Love Life of Wally the Walnut Gnome....or Wally really needs a girlfriend.

[ScottR]

I glued some 80 grit to some 3/8" polycarbonate and gave her a more stable base.

Then finished polishing her up and soaking her in Danish oil.

Live oak koa anyone?

SR

[ScottR]

This old Live oak cleans up pretty well.

SR

SR

[ScottR]

Introductions are pending....

SR

[ScottR]

Oh Wally.....

SR

[Bizman62]

You, sir, are a master of details!

Speaking of which, peeking down her cleavage made me cough... Such an innocent baby face featuring such convenient handles... Ahem!

[ScottR]

12 hours ago, Bizman62 said:

You, sir, are a master of details!

Speaking of which, peeking down her cleavage made me cough... Such an innocent baby face featuring such convenient handles... Ahem!

It is disconcerting, isn't it?

She does have a bit of figure in her figure.....and that's my story and I'm sticking to it. All kidding aside I'm fairly impressed at how nice the live oak looks finished. That is not necessarily something it is known for.

SR

[Bizman62]

3 hours ago, ScottR said:

I'm fairly impressed at how nice the live oak looks finished. That is not necessarily something it is know for.

To double check I scrolled up a bit so I could see the upside down face and all of the sudden I got a religious moment: There's something similar to the medieval carvings of Mary and the Child in the glow and tranquility.

[Drak]

You have successfully exorcised the spirit of that poor Indian tree carving from my memory.

Now I have these pics of this outstanding piece of wood carving to take their place.

Amazing work, especially how the grain of the wood seems to naturally work with you to compliment each curve and feature.

As if you had planned for all that grain to cooperate like it did in advance.

The way the grain compliments and seems to roll with each distinct and separate piece of the figure is nearly otherworldly.

Possibly extraterrestrial!

[ScottR]

34 minutes ago, Drak said:

As if you had planned for all that grain to cooperate like it did in advance.

There is a little something to that which I discovered a number of years ago. Carving a three dimensional figure out of a full log tends to create those helpful grain patterns. It comes from the concentric rings of the trees growth. and cutting across them in various depths do create the 3-D figure. Sometimes the effect is quite striking. On the other hand no matter what light she is in both ends of here are lighter in color than everything in between. Plenty of other areas intersect that same cross section of the log, but only the extreme top and bottom of the carving are that light.

I got nothing to explain that.

2 hours ago, Bizman62 said:

There's something similar to the medieval carvings of Mary and the Child in the glow and tranquility.

I got nothing for the tranquility......except she hasn't met Wally yet.

But the glow is micromesh and Danish oil.

SR

[Drak]

A few pestering questions...

What's the percentage of pre-planning vs. shoot-from-the-hip that occurs during the project?

I'm sure there must be a certain percentage of each involved as nothing ever goes exactly as planned.

Yet, without a good plan up front to adhere to along the way, I'm guessing things could go very south.

Are there 'sections' to it, and in the end all the 'sections' kind of meet up harmoniously?

Do you have a list of the sections beforehand, like boots, hair, eyes, legs, clothing, cheeks, swagger-hips-to-the-left-and-shoulders-to-the-right?

So the figure is an amalgam of the 'parts list' that 'the plan' lays out beforehand?

Are you a free-hand pencil sketch artist also?

I would imagine you would be, as I would believe the skills to do one are very similar to the skills to do the other.

[Prostheta]

Now there's a task, Drak....asking Scott if he plans anything! It's pretty much well-known that he and I are polar opposites in that department,

Scott would get us to Mars within the week using whatever he could pour out of the garage. I would develop a working drawing and meticulous risk assessment after a good six months of farting around.

[Bizman62]

I had to restart from page one and for once my memory didn't fail on me! There's drawings: https://www.projectguitar.com/forums/topic/51617-the-trajic-love-life-of-wally-the-walnut-gnomeor-wally-really-needs-a-girlfriend/?do=findComment&comment=594337

 

[Prostheta]

On 6/29/2020 at 2:24 AM, ScottR said:

So, meet Annie.

 

Job done. 

After 100yrs, Wally has likely "lowered his bar" somewhat.

[ScottR]

6 minutes ago, Prostheta said:

After 100yrs, Wally has likely "lowered his bar" somewhat.

Shhh, don't Annie hear that!

SR

[Mr Natural]

i am twitching just thinking of how freakin long did it take you to sand her. Geezus. my fingers hurt just thinking about it. 

as always- job well done. 

[ScottR]

15 hours ago, Drak said:

 

What's the percentage of pre-planning vs. shoot-from-the-hip that occurs during the project?

 

This project got quite of pre-planning of a sort....of my sort anyway. The main proportions, the big hair, the hip-shot stance all were planned. This is my second attempt at making Wally a girlfriend and his first girl, Molly ended up a major fail. The point of failure was joining the giant head to the time body. There's a link to that thread on the first page or so of this thread. So that particular point was planned  in enough detail to suffice for my needs. A bit of research involving Betty Boop was required.

15 hours ago, Drak said:

Are there 'sections' to it, and in the end all the 'sections' kind of meet up harmoniously?

Yes. The first section to be defined is how much is head and how much is body. I always want big hair and never quite grasp how much log needs to be saved for hair when I start shaping the head/face. Within the face there are proportions that must be adhered to keep it from looking alien and others that can be exaggerated to make it look exotic. The slope and shape of the cheeks was one of those.

16 hours ago, Drak said:

Do you have a list of the sections beforehand, like boots, hair, eyes, legs, clothing, cheeks, swagger-hips-to-the-left-and-shoulders-to-the-right?

All of those- yes. The boots underwent two changes to the plan. They were originally going to be bigger but I ran out of room. And I changed them to the pigeon toed aspect to add a tough of innocence to her posture.....kind of to counter the aggressive shoulder back chest thrust.

I noted the neck join was a critical area. How to make it look big enough to fit the head and small enough to fit the shoulders? Part of the answer is to make the shoulders  big enough to support the head and small enough to fit the hips. That is probably the biggest reason for the aggressive boobs. The waist shrinking into a nice hip flair is easy, as that's attractive when exaggerated .....to most folks anyway.

She is sort of an inverted cone.

16 hours ago, Drak said:

Are you a free-hand pencil sketch artist also?

I am, but have not used those skills for finished pieces for years.....decades even. I do use them as a planning tool for carving and guitar builds and what-not. When I get to a spot that my mind's eye can not see as clearly as I like, I'll sketch out the detail and figure it out.

The looseness of my planning sketches leave a lot of room for the wood to get its say in what it wants to be.

SR

[ScottR]

5 hours ago, Prostheta said:

Now there's a task, Drak....asking Scott if he plans anything! It's pretty much well-known that he and I are polar opposites in that department,

Scott would get us to Mars within the week using whatever he could pour out of the garage. I would develop a working drawing and meticulous risk assessment after a good six months of farting around.

So true. But anyone can take your mechanic drawings and get to Mars safely and exactly the same way every time. Those that want to follow my plans have to have a lot of faith in the pilot and need hold on tight for the wild ride.

SR

[ScottR]

1 hour ago, Mr Natural said:

i am twitching just thinking of how freakin long did it take you to sand her. Geezus. my fingers hurt just thinking about it. 

as always- job well done. 

80 grit through 220 was part of the shaping region and took a couple months of weekends.  I used a lot of tape protecting my finger tips.

SR

[Prostheta]

4 minutes ago, ScottR said:

So true. But anyone can take your mechanic drawings and get to Mars safely and exactly the same way every time. Those that want to follow my plans have to have a lot of faith in the pilot and need hold on tight for the wild ride.

SR

 

You mean all, "I thought you said this thing was fast/Watch your mouth kid, or you'll find yourself floating home"?

[ScottR]

54 minutes ago, Prostheta said:

 

You mean all, "I thought you said this thing was fast/Watch your mouth kid, or you'll find yourself floating home"?

For sure.

SR

[Drak]

The primary design architect at my firm can 'think' and 'see' in full 360 degree 3-D.

So what he draws is just the 'outpouring', or 'result' of what he already envisions in his head beforehand.

He is a pencil-sketch artist on the side, he does that for a hobby, usually portraits of famous people.

I've watched him over the decades create dozens and dozens of full-blown 3-D plans for very large and intricate jobs.

He can do that as easily as I make a grilled-cheese sandwich.

I have never, ever had that ability, I can barely draw an egg safely.

Tho I have my own set of artistic skills and abilities that he doesn't have.

It's just interesting to see how different people access their various internal talents.

[Prostheta]

That would be an impressive skill to be around. These are truly unique people.

[ScottR]

Annie meet Wally.....

 

It was a dark and stormy night.....so the lighting was not the best, and the portents were not auspicious.

SR

[ScottR]

Wally, this is Annie.

 

On the other hand, maybe the lighting was just right....

SR

[Bizman62]

It's magic! I could swear that Wally's face turned from a somewhat neutral grumpyness to a smile and his eyes got a voracious glimpse. In the meantime Annie's arrogant defiance seemed to change to a timid excitement... I don't know what Wally has said or showed to her in the third picture from the bottom to make Annie blush and her eyes widen. It looks like they may well have something hot cooking...