Technologies of wood processing.
Ways of manufacturing forest sculptures.

Before to process wood it is necessary to find suitable natural materials in which it is possible to see artistic images, then manufacturing of forest sculptures consists in revealing a plan of a nature and to not break the natural images incorporated in natural materials.
It is necessary to clear the firm pitch layers of wood from mouldering wood. For this purpose it is possible to use iron brushes and the various not sharpened knifes. Namely knifes should be not sharpened at initial processing natural materials that knifes could not cut firm wood but could remove mouldering wood fibres.
Sometimes it is possible to use a saw and an axe to remove unnecessary large fragments of roots and to keep only the necessary parts of the future forest sculpture.
When the mouldering wood is removed it is necessary to wash the found roots with water or with a strong jet of water that the fine dust did not obstruct to work and did not spoil the future sculpture in the subsequent.
After that the found and primarily processed roots are necessary for drying.

The further methods of wood processing depend on personal skills and opportunities of the artist, but in any case a task of the artist consists in keeping not changed primary natural images and forms. To change initial natural forms it is possible only if such change is justified and does not deny natural concepts of a forest sculpture. Further for processing the dried roots it is possible to use various iron brushes, and also it is possible to use the sharpened knifes and cutters but only when the sharpened tools are really necessary, namely in case when the structure of wood demands cutting processing. Some roots of fur-trees have completely firm structure of wood which can be processed by iron brushes, and some roots of fur-trees have softer structure of wood which is necessary for processing by means of cutting tools. It means that soft wood structures are necessary for accurate cutting off if it is necessary to clear the surface of firm wood structures. For this purpose cutting tools should be ideally sharpened. Besides sharp tools are necessary for change of inexact forms which can be changed to designate the existing natural image more precisely. When the artistic image of the forest sculpture is finally cleared and cut out it is necessary to reveal the texture of wood, namely it is necessary to process the surface of wood by means of an emery paper. And after that it is possible to use different wood stains or other dyes due to which the texture of wood gets a desirable visibility. The photo shows the cleared but not processed root of fur-tree.

Then the forest sculpture should find any fixed position in space, and should be fixed harmoniously. Namely it is necessary to establish the sculpture on a support (pedestal) or to fix on any other basis which should form a uniform composition together with an artistic image of the sculpture that should strengthen impression of spontaneity of natural forms.
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 natural structure of a tree.
The basis of a wood forest sculpture depends on a plan of the artist and can seem insignificant, but nevertheless the harmonious perception of an artistic image in many respects depends on correctly chosen basis.
The forest sculptures shown in galleries have the bases which are natural outgrowths and various stumps or other natural wood forms.
The shown sculptures are fixed on the bases by means of iron dowels and composite glue.
Suspension brackets in wall sculptures are made with copper.
In some cases forest sculptures can be made of several roots which are connected by composite glue and form an incorporated image. For example, one root has wings and a tail but has no a head, and other root has a form of the bird's head which in connection with wings and a tail can form an integral image of a bird. Such jointed forest sculptures are less unique rather than forest sculptures which made of one root, but such jointed sculptures are certainly justified from the art point of view.
Among the shown sculptures in galleries two sculptures are jointed: PONIKNA (sad bird) to which the head is pasted, and OSTROHVOST (sharp-tail bird) to which the tail is pasted.
Also the jointed sculpture is CVADRAKRYL which forms the four-winged bird.
Sometimes used roots have some fragile parts which are expedient for fixing by means of undistinguished inserts. Such inserts have no basic value as the root is the whole and has unique art value, but inserts are necessary to keep integrity of the root.
The insignificant insert is used for strengthening wings of the bird which is named UTREN (morning bird). This root is strong, but it seemed to me that the insert is necessary to protect from damage this unique root.
In no event and under any conditions it is impossible to use a varnish. The processed wood should be natural, but application of a varnish makes the forest sculpture artificial.
If it is necessary to make a surface of wood stronger and to protect from influences, it is better to use not a varnish but other way. Namely I have noticed that if to saturate a wood with glue "pva" (polyvinyl acetate), dissolved with water in necessary proportions, and by that to fix the surface of a wood by means of glue, and then 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) are processed by means of such way, but it is made because structures of these roots are multivendor and in some parts are not equally firm. Therefore the surface of a wood is fixed by glue. But the surface of a wood is open and has a natural appearance in other forest sculptures in galleries.

The listed technologies of processing of wood are applicable to roots of fur-trees as I use this material for creation of forest sculptures and I am familiar with this material, but really each artist or sculptor uses own methods and technologies depending on a material with what works.
The various information on different kinds of forest sculptures and different methods of processing of wood can be published within the framework of this site, if someone considers necessary to publish such information.
And also I can publish the information on other sites where methods and principles of manufacturing of wood forest sculptures are published.
Address to me.

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