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DonSimpson β Eye Thing A
Published: 2007-04-18 08:04:44 +0000 UTC; Views: 6725; Favourites: 153; Downloads: 93
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Description
Pendant carved from tropical hardwood and set with onyx "eye" bead. About five inches high.The bead is inserted from the back and held in place with a mixture of glue and the wood dust from the carving. The back of the bead remains visible. the wood is stained with india ink applied and immediately rubbed off, and several coats of wax rubbed in.
I've included oblique views to show how the carving wraps around the sides. The back is mostly plain except for the pit holding the bead.
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Comments: 60
When you're carving, do you simply go with the flow, or do you have it all planned out in your head prior to your initial cut? Everything looks so smooth and dreamlike... I think I'd have fun carving.
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I usually just start carving and see what happens, but I spend a while looking at what I'm going to carve, until I feel ready. Sometimes I have a general idea of the design, or of possible ways the design could go, but I almost never have everything consciously planned.
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Thanks for the insight! I was planning on getting into metalworking and woodcarving... perhaps carving other things later on if I liked it and then maybe some mixed media assemblage..... Yeaaahhhh.
But yeah, thank you for the help!
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Well, let me add a bit more. When I say I spend a while looking at something until I feel ready, that while can be a few minutes or weeks. I figure complicated things are happening in my subconscious, and it lets me know when they are done. But further creative stuff happens while I'm carving, adapting the design to the material and to what's been done so far. On the other hand, some of my metal and plastic work was precisely planned out, with dimensioned drawings done on a computer. In any case, I think the main thing is to do lots of stuff.
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Just keep working at it until I find some way that works for me and feels natural? Sounds fairly straightforward... My "artistic process" (if you could call it that) is picking up whatever I'm working on and just winging it from there. I just keep adding onto whatever I've done until I feel either bored, tired or finished. Sometimes I'll have a finished product planned out in my head but the end result is typically waaaaaaaaaaaaaay different than what I imagined.
Again, thank you for all your insight. It means a lot to me and is actually very helpful.
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Pretty much. I also spend a lot of time looking at other people's art, and I do read up on technique and try things out. But it's basically that big invisible process in the back of my head that makes stuff look good. Have fun.
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Thank you. 
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Absolutely breathtaking!
Er, I hope I don't sound impolite, but may I ask you if it has been sold or is it on sale? Or, again, is there a chance to have one alike done on commission?
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It's sold. I have a folder in my gallery for the things that haven't sold, and I'm not offended by people wanting to buy my work.
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that's great, I'm watching ya
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this is spectacular carving!!! very alluring the eye calls to me. its like something more powerful than i looking into my soul. wonderful job
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Fantastic carving. Lovely use of materials.
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Thank you.
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I like the whole of it, but I feel esspecially the 'eye' is good looking...Never seen anything quite like it. Where did you get it, if I may ask?
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It's a bead made from a variety of onyx that has different colors in sharply defined layers. The layer color arrangement can give a very eye-like appearance when made into a bead. I picked this bead out of a bin of such beads at a jewelry trade show, because it was particularly eye-like, and had a balance of color that I enjoyed. I may never find one that good again, though I have some smaller ones that are interesting, and some glass eyes, and some other ways to make eye-like patterns.
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Thanks for the extensive reply - now I know what to look for
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Or, you might find one that's better....
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This is like an alien peacock's feather.... it's so pretty...
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Thank you. It can be seen as many different things, and that is definitely one of them.
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^__^ You're welcome. That was the first thing that came to my mind when I saw the eye and the composition of the pattern. It's a really cool piece.
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I think that everyone sees something different in any piece of art. If it departs from agreed-on symbology, the words they use to describe what they see may become very different. In a few things I've done, I deliberately try to cause that sort of difference; in others, it seems to occur naturally.
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I really do! I'd love to have the carving skills myself, but I lack the patience to actually get there.
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Ah, there are so many skills I would like to have....
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Fantastic! I'm with you on future generations having some weird theories about this piece - it definitely captures the overall feel of old tribal amulets.
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Good! I do want to get that feeling, and more if I can manage it.
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I wish you luck with it. I've seen many people try, but it seems very difficult to achieve without appearing forced and manufactured.
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Well, I do try not to force anything, but to be guided by the work. So I can't just say "I'm going to make this feel ancient-tribal-amulet-like", I make things and they turn out as they tell me they want to. My desires are part of the process, but definitely not the whole story.
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Wow, this is so interesting!
Itβs funny, you know how we look as carvings and pottery form people of the pastβ¦
I wonder what people will think of something like this, 500 years from now.
Itβs beautifulβ¦ and a little creepy, but I like it.
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It's intended to be beautiful and creepy. If it lasts 500 years, I expect people will find it beautiful and creepy.
I'm glad you like it, and i hope those future people do, too.
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I'm very sure they will!
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excellent
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very good thing
You like eye-theme jewelry? Oh never got that. I also like them. there's some on dA, do you have them in your favorites or just some good hints were to look?
How easy was it to cut and polish onyx? Just I don't have any idea what kind of tools needed for that. Definitely its different as wood like materials or soft stone, but also it may be very different from crystal and jewel cutting. How is the onyx compared with rock crystal in handling?
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I put up the pictures an hour after finishing the piece; I haven't shown it in public yet.
Yes, you will see several eye-themed items in my gallery and my favorites. And I expect there will be more in a while.
I bought the bead. Onyx is a hard stone (like rock crystal, it is a form of quartz), and while I can polish some beach pebbles to a certain stage, proper rock polishing is on my list of things to learn. It's a long list.
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Yes, but is it an "all seeing" eye?
hehe.
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No, this is the all-seeing eye: [link]
This may be more the all-creeping-you-out eye.
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I stand corrected!
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Waw!!! That is one creepy thing! I love creepy things!
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I love _some_ creepy things. Hmmm. I guess I like _nice_ creepy things. For some definition of "nice".
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