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manufacturing of wood forest sculptures

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Technologies of wood processing.
Manufacturing of forest sculptures.

Before processing wood it is necessary to find suitable natural materials in which shapes it is possible to see artistic images, then manufacturing of forest sculptures consists in revealing of imaginative plans of the nature without changing of original images which are incorporated in natural materials.
It is necessary to clear the firm pitch layers of wooden tissues from rotten wood in old tree roots. For this purpose it is possible to use iron brushes and various knifes without sharp blades. Namely knifes should be not sharpened at initial processing of natural materials, that knifes could not cut firm wood layers in old tree roots but could remove rotten wood.
Sometimes it is possible to use a saw and bench axes to remove unnecessary large fragments of tree roots and to keep only necessary shapes of a future forest sculpture.
When the rotten wood is removed it is possible to wash the found tree roots with water or with a strong jet of water that the fine dust of wooden tissues do not obstruct to perform the future art work, and do not spoil textures of sculptural shapes.
After that the found and primarily processed tree roots are necessary for drying.

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firm pitch layers of wood tissues in old fir-tree roots
 
The further methods of wood processing depend on personal skills and art ideas of these or those artists and sculptors, but in any case conceptual art tasks of sculptors consist in keeping primary natural images and original shapes of forest sculptures.
To change initial natural shapes and original forms of the nature it is possible only if such corrections are justified for reasons of artistic ideas which do not deny art concepts of forest sculptures in a context of the fine arts.
Further for wood processing of dry tree roots it is possible again to use various iron brushes or knifes and cutters which in this case have sharp blades, but only when sharp cutting tools are really necessary for art work with natural shapes of forest sculptures. Namely in the case when wooden structures of tree roots and future sculptural images demand cutting wood processing.
Some old roots of forest fir-trees have very firm wooden structures in pitch layers which can be processed by iron brushes, and some fir-tree roots have soft wooden structures which are necessary for wood processing by means of cutting tools. It means that soft wood structures are necessary for accurate cutting if it is necessary to clear surfaces and outlines of firm wood. For this purpose cutting tools should be ideally sharp.
Besides sharp tools are necessary for corrections of inexact shapes which can be changed to form sculptural images of existing natural materials more precisely to animalistic figures of birds or other animals.
When any artistic image of a forest sculpture is finally cleared it is necessary to reveal surface textures of wood, namely it is necessary to do surface wood processing by means of an emery paper. And after that it is possible to use different wood stains and other polishes due to which surface textures of wood get a desirable polish appearance.

The photo shows the cleared but not processed root of fir-tree.
It is the firm pitch (conifer) layer of wood which is cleared from rotten wooden tissues.

Then the forest sculpture should find any fixed position in space, and should be fixed harmoniously. Namely it is necessary to install sculptural shapes on a stand basis (pedestal) or to fix on any other basis which should form an art composition together with an artistic image of a sculpture, that should strengthen impression of natural wood and original tree roots.
In essence the basis of a forest sculpture should have a rough natural origin but should be carefully processed. It is possible to suppose cracks and rough breaks which emphasize spontaneity of natural tree structures during wood processing.
Basis installations of forest sculptures depends on art plans of sculptors and can seem insignificant, but nevertheless harmonious perception of artistic images in many respects depends on correctly chosen basis.
Forest sculptures of this online gallery have bases installations which are natural outgrowths and various stumps or other wood shapes of forests. And the shown wood birds are fixed on pedestals by means of iron dowels and composite glue. Suspension brackets in wall sculptures are made with copper.
In some cases the shown forest sculptures in gallery are made of several tree roots which are connected by composite glue and form uniform images. For example, one root has wings and tail feathers but has no a head, and other root has shapes of a head which in connection with wings and tail feathers can form an integral art image of a bird. Such integral forest sculptures are less unique rather than sculptural shapes which made of one root of a tree, but such integral animal images are justified from the art point of view.
Among the shown sculptures in this online gallery there are two integral fir-tree roots: PONIKNA (sad bird) to which the head is pasted, and OSTROHVOST (sharp-tail bird) to which the tail is pasted.
Also the integral sculpture is CVADRAKRYL which forms the four-winged bird.

Sometimes the used fir-tree roots have some fragile parts which are expedient for firming by means of undistinguished wooden inserts during wood processing. Such inserts have no disfigure values as tree roots are intact and has unique art value, but wooden inserts are necessary to keep integrity of sculptural shapes.
The insignificant insert is used for strengthening wings of the sculptural bird which is named with poetic name as UTREN (morning songbird). This root is strong but it seemed to me that the firm insert was necessary to protect from damage this unique wood shape.
In no event and under any conditions it is impossible to use a varnish. The wood processing should be natural because application of a varnish makes forest sculptures artificial.
If it is necessary to process and to protect wood surfaces from influences, it is better to use not a varnish but other means. Namely I have noticed that if to saturate a wood with glue "pva" (polyvinyl acetate), which is dissolved with water in necessary proportions, and by that to strengthen sculptural surfaces by means of glue, and next if to saturate a wood with a alcohol based stain then the effect of such processing reminds varnishing.
The birds KORSHUN (kite) and KLUVEN (beak bird) in this online gallery are processed by means of such way, but it is made because structures of wooden tissues of these fir-tree roots in some parts are not equally firm. Therefore surface wooden tissues are strengthened by glue. But surfaces of wooden shapes are open and has a natural appearance in other forest sculptures in this art gallery.

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The listed technologies of wood processing are applicable to roots of fir-trees as I use this natural material for manufacturing of forest sculptures, but really each artist or sculptor can use own methods and technologies of art works.
Information on different kinds of forest sculptures and various methods of wood processing can be published on this website if such information will be necessary to publishing.
And also I can publish links on other websites or online galleries where methods of manufacturing and art principles of forest wood sculptures are published.

In particular I bring to your attention the information about outgrowths of bird cherry trees which can be used for wooden vases or other art works of natural materials.

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