Month: August 2023

I keep practicing.

After cutting a Rose,  I must learn how to  carve the decoration  in relief: a delicate job requiring miniature knives, chisels  – and a steady hand.

But one thing at  a time; the apprenticeship continues….

This seems to have worked out ok. I am still cleaning up excess glue. The top edge of the endclasp is planed flush with the rim of the lute body – and both ends shaped so that they can eventually merge with the curves of the soundboard.

Next task is, indeed, construction of a soundboard. I plan to make one from Huon Pine; another from King William Pine; thereafter, cut a Rose decoration in each – and then form a judgement, or perhaps toss a coin: whatever seems appropriate….

Yankalilla Landscape: watercolour by Mark Pearse.

In his landscape work, Mark was forever exploring.  At the same time, he had mastered the rare art of knowing when to stop.

Yamagoe: Over the Mountain

Shiko Munakata (1903 – 1975)

The concern that it be ugly is characteristic of human thoughts and not of the woodcut itself.

If you are already solving the problem with the equipment you have – a pencil, say – why solve it with something more expensive and damaging? If you don’t have a problem, why pay for a solution? If you love the freedom and elegance of simple tools, why encumber yourself with something complicated?

Wendell Berry 1989