Ninth Wave Designs

Rune of Courage

Posted on November 23, 2016 by Lisa Laughy

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In the weeks following the election I have been overwhelmed with fear for the future. I’ve had a difficult time finding words to describe how I feel, or discussing those feelings with friends and family. As a way to break out of this tail-chasing cycle of fear I began trying to imagine the courage I will need to move forward – trying to imagine what that would feel like. For inspiration I sought out voices that speak about courage, and I came across a quote by Susan Sontag on the Brain Pickings blog:

“Courage inspires communities: the courage of an example — for courage is as contagious as fear.”

From this thought process the idea of carving a rune of courage came to me – I thought the process of creating something that represents courage might help me move through the fear. I carved the rune shown above as an exercise – a meditation of sorts, and I can actually say that the process has helped me. I created this particular rune based on a runic alphabet that I designed for use in my artwork – you can see some previous examples in my Old Woman of the Night and Flow Back carvings. This rune is entirely invented – it is not based on any particular historic rune. It isn’t an entirely arbitrary design – I put some serious thought into it – but it does not posses any inherent mystical power, any traditional significance, other than what I as the maker or you as the viewer are able to ascribe to it. And that is the power I was hoping to find – to use this tangible object as a focal point outside of myself to manifest the courage that I already posses within.

I carved this particular Rune of Courage from a small piece of Alaskan Yellow Cedar – 3.5″ X 6″. I was inspired by an artist on Instagram who auctioned off a piece of her beautiful artwork and donated the money to charity. I offered my rune up on Instagram and Facebook in a similar way, to someone who was willing to make a minimum of $100 donation to a non-profit doing the good work that needs support (now more than ever), in areas of LGBTQ services, climate change, women’s health, and civil liberties. The response I got was that someone donated $400 – $100 to non-profits from each of the four categories. This too made me feel more courageous.

I have carved another Rune of Courage, shown below, and will offer that up in the same way. And when that one is spoken for I will carve another, and another, and I will keep making these as long as there is interest.

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Here’s how it works:

Donate $100 or more to one of the non-profits listed below – or suggest a non-profit that isn’t on the list.
Use the Contact form HERE to let me know you have made the donation, include your email address.
I will email you back so that you can forward a copy of the confirmation email you received from your chosen non-profit to me, along with your shipping address.
I will ship the rune to you at no charge as soon as it is completed.

I am hoping that my small exercise in finding courage will find a way to become contagious.

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Wood Carving

Flow Back: The Return of the Atlantic Salmon

Posted on November 10, 2016 by Lisa Laughy

I recently completed a carving called Flow Back, inspired by the return of the wild Atlantic salmon to the Connecticut River. I read (this article) about how, against all odds, several salmon had returned to spawn last November after an absence of 200 years, even after a decades-long effort to return the fish to the river had been abandoned in 2012. I used this story of the resiliency of nature as the inspiration for the design for Flow Back, using elements of the La Tène style to create spiraling elements to capture the energy reflected in this species drive to survive.

I created this piece in Honduran mahogany using traditional wood carving methods. My use of power tools is minimal – in this carving I used a band saw to cut the shape of the wood from a planed board. All other work was done using hand tools – files, gouges, chisels and carving knives – to complete the carving. My method of working creates a carving that is finished from the tool – meaning there is no sanding of the wood to finish the piece, only the individual cuts from the sharp tools. This leaves a subtly rippled texture to the surface of the wood that can best be appreciated in raking light. The carving is sealed with linseed oil, with a coating of bees wax to protect the finish.

The finished carving measures 16″ wide by 19″ high and is 1 1/8″ thick. It is approximately life size when measured along the full length of the fish.

The photo gallery below documents the stages of the carving process:

The shape of the carving is cut out and the edges are filed clean.

The first lovely curl of mahogany.

Roughing out the fin.

Roughing out the head of the salmon, adding some definition to the shape.

the roughed out shape of the salmon.

Drawing on the spirals.

Removing the background of the spirals to leave the raised pattern.

More work on the raised spirals.

The raised spirals are all cleaned up.

Raking light across the raised spirals.

Back carving the fins to create a thin edge while maintaining support.

Beginning to refine the spirals.

Adding detail to the front fin.

Refining the spirals, giving them a smooth shape.

A close-up of the refineds spirals.

The spirals are all refined.

Working on adding the flutes to the fins.

The lower fins are finished.

The tail fin has all the details added.

Carving runes on the back side of the carving.

Linseed oil glistens on the wood and brings out the rich color of hte mahogany.

Flow Back: The completed carving.

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Wood Carving

Tree-of-Life Cross

Posted on August 26, 2016 by Lisa Laughy

I recently created a small carving of a Celtic Cross at the request of a friend. I had the end section left over from the board I used to create the Dragestil mantel carving, a particularly lovely piece of Spanish cedar, and it was the perfect size for this project.

This photograph shows the cross shape cut out from the wood, with the design penciled in. This cross design features a design motif seen in the Book of Kells called Tree-of-Life, which involves a trefoil vine that emerges from trumpets that spiral around the center. The pencils in the picture provide a good sense of the small scale of this carving.
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Below is the carving in its completed stage, prior to the addition of the oil finish. Around the cross are a few of the carving tools I used to create this carving.

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This final photograph shows how the wood has darkened after the application of the oil and wax finish. It was photographed against the backdrop of a page from the Book of Kells, an evangelist cross-carpet page from folio 27 verso of the celebrated illuminated manuscript.

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The finished height of this carving is only 8 inches, so is smaller than the typical carvings I create. I am planning on creating another carving along this line at a larger scale, as I think this design will work in that larger format as well. I will post an update once I have the chance to work on it.

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Wood Carving

Viking Dragon Guardian

Posted on August 21, 2016 by Lisa Laughy

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The Viking Dragon Guardian wood carving is now available for sale in the Ninth Wave Designs Etsy store. Hand carved in beautiful mahogany wood, I completed this carving last winter and am now making it available for sale. This carving is inspired by the art and style of the Viking Age – I created this original design from studying early medieval Irish metalwork artifacts that were themselves influenced by the art brought to Ireland by the Viking invasions.

This carving is completely hand carved from Honduran mahogany wood and measures 15 1/2″ high by 6″ wide and is 3/4″ thick. This wood has a beautifully rich dark red-brown color. The carving is tool finished, without any sanding, and has an oil and wax finish. There is a brass hanging hook mounted on the back of the carving.

Here are some additional photographs of the carving, or see the listing on Etsy by following the link HERE.

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Wood Carving

Dragestil

Posted on August 12, 2016 by Lisa Laughy

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The Dragestil wood carving that I featured in my previous blog post was started in November of 2015 and I worked on it over time between other carving projects, completing it at the end of July this year. I like to keep a visual record of the process while working on a carving, posting pictures to my NWD Facebook and Instagram accounts, but the pace of this project resulted in pictures being spread out over the course of many months. I gathered the best of the images together in the gallery/slideshow below to provide a cohesive representation of the process of creating this carving.

As with most of my carvings, the idea for this design came from an historical source. I am fascinated by the Norwegian Stave church woodcarvings, as well as the idea that the elaborately carved portals in these churches provide a liminal space – dividing the outside world of daily life from the interior world of spiritual life. The symbols and themes of these church carvings are interestingly and undeniably pagan, and include warriors fighting dragons, stylized serpents and beasts, all wrapped in and around the swirling tendrils of plant life.

I began my design by looking at a plant motif from one of the Borgund Stave Church portals, and adapting it from plant to beast – transforming the spirals with the addition of stylized dragon heads. I designed this carving to accent a fireplace mantel – to guard the hearth and add a sense of warmth and protection to the home. You can follow the carving process from beginning design to final finished carving in the photographs gathered below.

Laying out the pattern on the beautiful piece of Spanish cedar wood.

Clearing out the drilled holdes.

A detail of one of the cleared holes.

There are many holes to cleared, 25 to be exact!

Beginning to rough out the over-and-under shapes.

Roughing out around one of the dragon ears.

The first dragon takes shape.

detail of the center spiral.

The length of the carving in progress.

Detail of a completed spiral.

Two sections of the spiral dragons are cleaned up and near completion.

Close-up of the relief.

The shapes are all formed and are ready to have the final details added.

After a coat of oil – ready to apply the wax finish.

The Dragestil carving hanging on the mantel.

The Dragestil mantel carving hanging above the Marriage Shield.

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Wood Carving

Living With Craft

Posted on August 5, 2016 by Lisa Laughy

The Dragestil carving hanging on the mantel.

I am very happy to be participating for the first time in the Annual Craftsmen’s Fair held by the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen in Sunapee, NH. This is the first fair since I became a juried League member last fall, and although I won’t have a booth at the fair, I will have my Dragestil carving (shown above with the Marriage Shield carving) in the Living With Craft exhibition. The League of NH Craftmen’s blog post describes the Living With Craft exhibition in this way:

More than 200 handcrafted works are creatively arranged in a series of vibrant and cohesive room vignettes. As you view the furniture, accessories, wall-hangings, sterling silver tableware, and lighting fixtures, you’ll be able to imagine them in your home.

If you are able to attend the Craftsmen’s Fair between August 6th – 14th, please be sure to visit the Living With Craft exhibition as let me know what you think in the comments below. There are so many varied and talented crafts-people represented at the Fair, it is an honor to have one of my carvings exhibited among them.

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Wood Carving

Triple Raven Tele-Style Guitar Update

Posted on July 29, 2016 by Lisa Laughy

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I am very pleased to share this picture of the front and back of the fully assembled Triple Raven Tele-style guitar. It is so exciting for me to see the finished product, to be able to see my carving transformed into this wonderful completed electric guitar.

My part in this project involved carving and finishing the body, which I turned over to my brother who expertly completed the building of the guitar. The matching neck is made from Honduran mahogany and has an ebony fret board with mother-of-pearl inlays. The control knobs also have mother-of-pearl insets, and the graphite color of the saddle and pickup compliments the ebony on the neck and adds a nice contrast with the chrome plates. The report is in, and it sounds as good as it looks!

We have plans going forward to build more guitars from the intricately hand carved bodies created from my original designs. Use the contact form if you would like to be notified when the next guitar becomes available. I can’t wait to get started!

You can read the original blog posts about this project and see photos of the carving process by following these links:

New Carving Project: Triple Raven Tele-Style Guitar published July 31, 2015
Triple Raven Tele-style Guitar Update published October 15, 2015

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Inspiration

Telling You a New and Different Story

Posted on June 30, 2016 by Lisa Laughy

I recently came across this video interview of one of my teachers from college days, and now a far away (and not forgotten) friend: Emily Zabransky.

This is a delightful interview, and a wonderful glimpse into some of the human beauty that Emily brings to her teaching experiences. I particularly like what she has to say about the difference between art and craft, in relation to working in clay, starting at 10:30 in the video:

“Ceramics can be a craft, but it can also be a work of art, and I guess a work of art is something that you see it, and you get a certain sense of it, but then when you look back again you get more, and you find different things, and it grows on you, and it is always telling you a new and different story. Craft I think it tends to be more functional, it can be beautiful but, you get it all at once.”

I imagine that most creative folks have their own individual idea of how to define the elusive point where craft transforms into art. I don’t think that it is a distinct definition between these two states of creativity, but more a transition that occurs along a continuum. I strive to make that transition in the wood carvings I create. It is important to me to communicate some of the thoughts and feelings and emotions that are my personal experiences of creating the work itself, but it is even more important if I can succeed in connecting my experiences with those who see my work, in a way that leaves them with something that is uniquely their own. Then it does become a new and different story, and when it happens, it is nothing less than magical.

Wood Carving

Old Woman of the Night

Posted on June 9, 2016 by Lisa Laughy

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This carving started because I wanted to express something about owls, snowy owls specifically. I started with a small image of an owl I had created many years ago in a painting – the owl itself measured only 1/2″ in diameter (below, left) – it was a small detail that I thought would work well at a larger scale. This small owl detail was itself inspired by one of the bronze owl mounts on the Brå cauldron (below, right), which is part of the collection at the Moesgård Museum in Denmark.

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What I found once I began the carving was that I was thinking a lot about a specific owl I knew when I was a child, a snowy owl that I had forgotten about, but that the process of creating this carving had dredged up from my memory. I spent part of my summers when I was 12, 13 and 14, in a program at the Squam Lakes Natural Science Center that put me in direct contact with local wildlife that for various reasons were unable to be released back into the wild. One summer I cared for the birds of prey, which included a snowy owl that had been struck by a car. I brought him food, cleaned his large cage, carried him along the outdoor trails with his impressive claws perched on my leather-gloved hand, and exercised him in the summer fields. What I remember most is the almost silent whoosh of of this magnificent bird’s wing beats, and the large eyes that were always watching me. This experience left me with a deep respect for owls, and a love of snowy owls in particular.

Below is a gallery of images from the @ninthwavedesigns Instagram account that show the stages of creating this carving: