Wow!! These are incredible. I think IV is my favourite but really they are all stonking. I love the years of trapped ancient water. So good.
I really didn't know you could amber. Do you buy lumps of it? I am totally intrigued by that. I love carving although my experience is limited to a wooden head. It's it just a knife you use? I must try it!
Why thank you @meesterboom! Yes, IV is rather punchy. The trapped water was a bizarre experience, since I was carving this one with no water at that stage. Didn't know why my fingers were all of a sudden wet.
Yes, I buy lumps of it, or I have, not anymore because I have enough of it. Baltic amber is the best quality amber. When purchasing, it's important to buy from a reputable source because there's a lot fake amber out there. It's best to buy it in person. There are ways to test amber to see if it's real or fake, but if you buy from a reputable source, this shouldn't be an issue.
Amber is really hard to carve, not in the sense of hardness of material, but in the sense that it's so delicate, fractures easily, requires a light hand, extreme patience and even then, things can go south in a flash, as I know all too well.
It's best carved by hand, no power tools (heat is a big issue). For amber, I generally start with a riffler to rough it out, one of the fancy hand forged ones I have from France. One end is curved, the other end is more triangular. I go slowly with light pressure. In addition to that, I use a micro shallow gouge and a micro chisel (German tools) to work details, along with Italian Needle files, and some handmade Japanese carving tools that are specifically for netsuke carving. Covering four countries here with my tools, lol. The Japanese ones are very different, hard to describe and the ones I have I did not put handles on because it allows for a greater range of motion when carving. Finishing process means wet dry sand papers in several grits used with water. I cut the sandpaper into tiny squares and wrap around bamboo (😁) sticks that I've cut into various shapes to reach all areas.
I took a look for some links for you for amber below:
[Amber info}(http://raw-amber.com/natural-amber/about-raw-amber), (http://www.aakz.com/British-and-Irish-amber.html). I'm sure you'd be able to get some where you are. Best way to get it, would be to find dealers of minerals/stones where you are. Not sure if there are trade shows in your area for this, but those can be a good source.
I want to hear all about it if you try carving this. It won't be like brickwork, that's guaranteed. 😏
Good lord. Not that I want to look like a flip-flopping butterfly but that looks too hard. Fuck that. I take my hat off to you even more! Incredible. I thought it would be a case of attacking it with one of my fine chisels :OD
You are very talented! But we knew that :O)
😂I'm not trying to rain on your parade of amber aspirations, but thought I should warn you ahead of time that you might prefer bricks. It's why I like it so much...the pressure of screwing up is a constant challenge.
I kind of wonder what fine chisels you might have. You might want to try out butternut wood, not sure if you have that there. It's much more amenable to carving when one is not practiced.
Thank you. With talent though, any talent, a great deal of hard work and practice for a long time are still necessary to become really good at anything. I've been doing art since I was a child and carving seriously since 1996. This is why it's at the level it's at today.
I have a case of fine chisels of many shapes and odd curly points. I really did want to carve more wood but the wooden head thing really did me in as it was just random branch wood that was evil hard. It took ages. Even now it haunts me because I think it looks amateurish AF but the family love it. lol.
That is a long time carving. You are at the top of your game by the looks of it!
I'm getting the picture of your fine case of chisels. It's not a small amount either. The odd curly points sound most interesting. Tool addict here.
😂 I'm thinking maybe hawthorn....figures you'd pick the hardest brutal torture to carve. I've carved some like that purpleheart and wanted to scream like madwoman at the insanity of it.
I cannot judge (like I'm something special here, not, lol) your carving, since I have not seen it, but the fact that your family loves it tells me that it's better than you think it is.
Thanks! Time went too fast, so it doesn't feel like a long time, especially when there's so much more to learn...but never enough time as we keep touching on, lol.