“Frozen Flower” is the third miniature sculpture in the series called *“Wounded Flowers”. This has been carved from a piece of Canadian limestone that I found while rockhounding. Size of the sculpture is approximately 1.5” x 1.6” x 0.8” (3.8 cm x 4.1 cm x 2.0 cm).
THE PROCESS
Stone is the first material I started carving. The first sculpture I carved was a large piece of limestone, roughly 18” x 8” x 5” (45.7 cm x 20.3 cm x 12.7 cm) in size. At the time, I had no idea how to carve stone, so I had to familiarize myself with the hand tools and when to use each. I was only half convinced I could do it, since all previous sculptures I had done were produced by an additive process. The only instruction I received was a thirty minute demonstration using pneumatic tools, which I had no access to use to carve with. Not helpful. So I had to figure it out on my own using hand tools and one small book showing the tools and which to use in what stage. It was a surprise that I managed to get a handle on how to carve stone and do it well enough to pass muster.
I didn’t touch stone again for years, not until I developed a fascination with miniature carving. After exploring wood and antler, I launched into all types of stone. Softer stone, such as limestone can be worked with only hand tools, but not in miniature, unless you want to make one piece a life project, particularly with hard stone.
Tools I use to carve stone are a Foredom industrial rotary power carver with sintered diamond burrs, the exact kind of diamond burrs a dentist uses. There are other diamond burrs of lower grade, but they wear out very fast due to the way they are made. Water is a must with stone, since the stone needs to be kept cool to prevent damage such as crazing, internal fractures, or breakage during the process. Water is also necessary to flush away the ground material being removed, otherwise its cutting blind in stone dusty mud.
FROZEN FLOWER II
Additional tools used are diamond drill bits, diamond files, and diamond impregnated pastes of several grits. Diamonds are a stone carver’s best friend. Files and pastes are used in the finishing process to fine tune areas and bring the piece up to a final polish, stage by stage. Areas can be left unpolished, in their natural state, or worked to create textural elements. It all depends on the stone (type, natural shape) and the design. The way I work is primarily intuitive. At most, I may begin with a rough idea of the subject; in this case, a flower is what I had in mind.
When I found this stone, I didn’t know what I would carve from it, only that I liked the stone. If possible, I prefer to carve stone I find, rather than purchase it. I will handle a piece of material I’m going to carve, study it, carry it in my pocket with me for a few days, or a little longer if it doesn’t immediately tell me how it wants to be carved. Yes, the stone tells me how to carve it. I don’t tell it what to do. Not ever. This process is, as I said, intuitive. It means letting go and trusting in the moment where I’m being shown to cut away material.
This will happen quickly sometimes. At other times, it’s a slow few cuts and then a pause while I study the stone and listen. Occasionally, there will be a roadblock and I won’t know where to go next. I set the piece down then. I’ll work on another that’s in process, while I wait for the material to speak again. This is how my process goes.
FROZEN FLOWER III
For this particular piece, I started out with the power carver and diamond burrs to define the form. The water method I use is “the dip method”. I work over a larger plastic container, inside is another, much smaller and deeper container filled with water. Approximately every ten seconds, I dip the stone in the water, then continue carving.
Once the form was roughed out and refined, I switched to using diamond hand files with water, continuing to dip the stone every several strokes, while also keeping the file wet. For this flower, I created a contrast from the petals by texturing the flower head. I carved this texturing completely by hand, using a pointed diamond burr. It was a painstaking process to create the texture.
Stone, throughout the entire process, takes more time and patience than any other material I’ve carved. I finished by using wet/dry sandpapers with water. Limestone can be sanded this way. Hard stone always requires diamond everything. Final finish for this carving was to polish it to a shine and then apply a light coating of beeswax.
FROZEN FLOWER IV
THE INSPIRATION
There’s this description about the fear response to danger, “Fight or Flight”. A third response to fear exists that those words fail to include, “Freezing”.
It’s like that deer in the headlights syndrome.
Some event or sequence of events takes place. It could be anything at any time in any situation…all in a split second. From zero to.........a million?Zap!
Instant flash. Gone. Watching from a distance. Floating somewhere. Oooooh yyyyyyeah, there’s my body, where am I? The body, it’s frozen in place. Can’t make it speak. Can’t make it move. Can’t operate this thing called the body. Can’t think. Can’t focus. Can’t connect.
“Frozen Flower” is all about this extreme freezing up in situations where triggering occurs that snaps one back to a previous experience of trauma that instilled a pattern of helplessness, among other things. When triggering happens the person becomes disconnected from their body. There is an inability to respond. Sometimes an inability to verbalize. Sometimes a complete physical re-enactment of the trauma. Always a completely inappropriate response to what is an ordinary event from the outsider’s perspective. It’s a very vulnerable and potentially dangerous place to be in.
I’ve known so many people who’ve shared their personal stories of struggles like this with me. Some of them have had a profound impact on me and changed the course of my life in the process. I’ll be forever grateful to you, J, R, S, and A. None of them would want me to publish their names publicly, so the letters are a stand in for their names.
FROZEN FLOWER V
All photos taken by Nine with a Pentax digital 35mm camera and 90mm Tamron Macro lens.
