[Naomi Oliver]

Hi ,
I am new to the world of carving.
in 2005 I majored in sculpture stone carving in my diploma of visual arts,
then went onto to importing 4 tonnes of carving stone from canada.
That gave me a good grounding and alot of material to carve small to medium sized sculptures.
Then in 2007 I stared downsizing my carvings ,
I travelled to the north Island of New Zealand to learn to carve bone Maori pendants,
then in 2008 I went to jade territory in the south island, and learnt to carve wearable art ,
and small carvings no larger than 6 cms,
from the medium of hard stones , ie jasper , and Nephrite ( jade).

I have the time and now the tools and the stone , ( plus local hardwoods) , antler , and bone , to start carving
small sculptures.
I first saw netsuke artwork made by Janel jacobson while researching in 2008, and totally was blown away by it.

While collecting natural items around me I always pick up the most intricate and detailed items( I used to drive my local bushwalking group guides crazy, while out walking to a timetable I ' d be stopped by a tiny mushroom , or lizard, on the trail
I just had to pause and catch all that wonder, that was twenty years ago, Now I just drive my hubby crazy, bringing home natural items such as shell and nuts and local stones... at least I now have my own workspace, where I am allowed to store these precious items carefully), This is starting to influence my art as I love doing texture to my artworks .

I do love chatting .We live in the mountainous regions of east Victoria. I have also lived in the desert regions of Northern Western australia, and the coastal regions of tropical North Quennsland, and even Papua New Guinea.
I hope to depict the natural fauna and flora of these regions (that I love so much ) in minuture carvings.

I have a wide range of colours in my hardstones, so to ask the question of this topic, can netsukes be made predominately
from stone, or before I even start, should I stick to bone, antler , and learn to carve wood ?.

This is a great carving place forum, i am really impressed with the sharing of informations , and encouragements
thanks Naomi.

[Irishcarver]

Hey Naomi,

Looking forward to seeing some of your work. Post some pics when you get a chance.

I am also a bone carver making mainly hei matau, hei toki and whale tails. I also make a lot of coconut shell pendants.

Welcome to TCP. See ya round!

Slainte,

Damien
IRISHCARVER

[Naomi Oliver]

Hi Damien ( irish carver),

thanks for the reply, I also use hei matua as a design basis in bone carving pendants. I hope the images go through as youll see my" bird family" hei matua, the top bird is A MOA, the baby bird is a kea and the midium sized bird is a tui .
the other pendant is totally my wild design called evil squid( my first attempt at inlaying paua shell( in 2007), without etching and scrapers tools, that netsuke carvers use .
the bone leaf I am very happy with, I really loved graving out the leaf veins. It is about 4 cms longx 2 cm wide .It was done in January this year.

I am courious to see an image of your coconut shell pendants , what an interesting medium, Damien.

The other two images are of 2 different australian wombats I carved in 2005 . Both from stone , on Black pipestone, and the other black chlorite. Both about 8 cms long x 3 cm wide. Now I would try out adding carved eyes, and put more details in the feet. My buying customers loved them, and to be frank I fell in love with them too.

I have a bone lizard on a rock on the go , and a stone owl bird on wooden log to finish, both will now try a follow the carving techniques for netsuke as practice .
Its all practice for me, being a beginner is such fun, their is so much to learn, everytime I carve I learn more.


Any stone carvers out there give me a reply too.

have a great day .
Naomi

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[Naomi Oliver]

hello everyone,

try with the photos again shall I.
getting to understand how to work these computers, I'd rather carve a cat's toe -nail on my large limestone sculpture I should be doing right now . It is due for the customer on xmas day .
In australia it is good to have a summers day on xmas day, although some have been that cold the snow has fallen on the mountains, or been scorchers.
I wish you all a merry xmas.
Naomi

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[fkvesic]

"...can netsukes be made predominately from stone, or before I even start, should I stick to bone, antler , and learn to carve wood ?"

Welcome Naomi.

Traditionally, few netsukes in Japan were made from stone, most being made from wood, ivory, amber and a few other materials. I don't see why contemporary netsuke shouldn't engage a whole range of materials, even, blasphemously, man-made materials.

[Naomi Oliver]

hi everyone,

thaks ftvesic for your information on netsukes media used, I have a bit of antler that may come in handy,
what do the rest of you think.?
I like the idea of contemporary netsukes , but I definately am totally open to research all different ways, traditional and new.

I must get back to my limestone sculpture cat, I just had to come in and re-evaluate via the web, what a sitting upright cat's
back legs are shaped like.
bye for now
. Naomi.