This miniature sculpture, “Wilting Flower” is the first of a series called “Wounded Flowers”. I selected a piece of Brazilian amber for this carving.
Amber is what I consider to be one of the most challenging materials I’ve ever carved. It is classified as an organic stone. Each piece of amber has different properties, depending on the conditions it was exposed to during its formation. It will fracture easily, both internal and external fractures. Heat of any kind is also very problematic. Its nature is highly temperamental and requires a sensitive hand throughout the carving process.
There may be inclusions of various kinds, such as insects, plant life, and even water within an piece of amber. A piece may be opaque, translucent, completely transparent, or a mix of those properties. There are also different colours of amber, even blue; although I’ve never acquired a piece of blue amber to carve (it’s rarer).
This piece of amber has no inclusions and is transparent. The size of the finished piece is approximately 1.0” x 1.25” x 0.5” (2.5 cm x 3.175 cm x 1.27 cm). I primarily use hand tools exclusively when carving amber, with the exception of some piercing work with a power carver to make the initial opening. With this particular piece, I carved it completely by hand, including piercing it. Size was a factor in this decision, since any slip up means most likely destroying the piece and beginning again with a new piece of material.
Tools that I use to carve amber include variety of micro chisels, gouges, knifes, files, rifflers, scrapers, specialized Japanese carving tools, some tools of my own making, and sandpapers of varying grades for finishing. I’ve found that it’s absolutely necessary to make tools of one’s own, or alter existing tools for carving, to make the cuts, shapes and texturing for any sculpture. It becomes a very individual process in developing one’s way of working.
Often, I use water in the finishing process with wet/dry sandpapers to keep it cool. Even when hand polishing, there is too much heat. I also work slowly to avoid building up heat. Static electricity occurs with amber carving, most notably when filing and sanding, so water is the most effective way to removed “sticky” amber particles.
The whole process requires being in a balanced state and a great deal of patience that has superseded patience required for all the other materials I’ve carved. That said, amber is within my top favourite carving materials. It is unique in its qualities, right down to each individual piece.
In my approach to beginning the series, I was searching for a symbol that would have the ability to reflect qualities of human beings. I chose not to work directly with the human form for this exploration, since I felt a symbol would allow for more open expression of the direction I wanted to take with this series.
It took some time to settle on a symbol that resonated and I found it to be quite a challenge. I’ve worked with the human form for a long time and whatever symbol I chose had to have elements that express the human experience. I stumbled on it quite by accident. I often have a lot of these “accidental discoveries”, when diving deeply into the creative process.
My mother has an incredible sensitivity with plants of any type, can grow any kind, or revive dying plants. I grew up surrounded by the natural world and she has taught me about plant life. Her flowers always seem to “sing” with happiness and grow like crazy. At one point, I was studying one of the lilies she was growing and it occurred to me how flesh-like the flower petals were, plus this sensitivity in their nature. That was the moment it clicked; I had the ideal symbol for my series.
Through this series, the intent is to explore aspects of wounds human beings experience during their growth process, using flowers as a metaphoric symbol. The impact of these wounds alters the growth process for each human being. Often, we are unaware of these hidden wounds, unless we choose to look inwards and go on that healing journey to wholeness.
All photos taken by Nine with a Pentax digital 35mm camera and 90mm Tamron Macro lens.
