Mandala Flower Of Life

[Bruce Jones]

CARVING FLOWER OF LIFE

Hello once again everyone I've just about carved the third circle 36 triangles so far. They have only been carved straight through at 90 degrees to the base as of yet. I will do this to all of them before starting to add the curves. This gives you control over the shape so they look uniform to each other. This wood (Red Elm) is very hard and very close to White Oak, so the carving has to go slow and the cuts have to be sliced thin each time.

[Keith Outten]

Looks like it going to be another beauty Bruce.

[Bruce Jones]

Thank you very much Keith.
In response to a persons comment on another site about me carving these triangles with a knife. I have always done all of my work this way, but I use a Dremel with a few different bits and burs to remove the larger sections first to save time. I will let the photos do the talking but if you still have questions please just ask I will do my best to answer them. I should add each project is done in a different manner depending on the shape I'm trying to achieve. Here's a sequence of photos of me doing one triangle and the tools used.

[Bruce Jones]

And here's the rest of the phots.

[Robert Hayward]

Thank you for the pictorial of how you start the carving on this masterpiece in the making. As I follow along on your projects I frequently wonder how you begin.

[Bruce Jones]

Thank you for the pictorial of how you start the carving on this masterpiece in the making. As I follow along on your projects I frequently wonder how you begin.

Thank you Robert, I'm getting a really big response over this post on all sorts of sites.

[Bruce Jones]

Hello once again everyone I have now completed about 50 of the triangles. Then went back and cleaned them up with my detail knife last night all but three are smooth, I then cleaned up the layout lines on the outside for the next go around. These next 30 triangles will have to be cut mostly from the out side only, because of the undercut lip on the bowl. The wood is also thicker here. You can see in the photos I will not be taking the pattern all the way to the rim, I have left a 5/16" band around the bowl this will have a detail of some kind added later. still a lot of carving on this part, but I'm looking at the Carnations on the rim these will have to be rough carved before I finish the center section for strength reasons while carving by hand.

[Bruce Jones]

Okay everyone I have had a few that do not understand what I've been talking about when I said I was going to round over the ovals. The piece is strong enough for me to show where I'll be taking this project. I've also started carving through he curved section of the bowl. Here are some photos of the flowers on the outer side in various stages of carving & refining, and a view of the rough inside. You can also see where I have a line about 5/16 above the rim this will most likely get a pyrography stippling band.

[Eugene Dixon]

Really nice. I like it.

[Bruce Jones]

Thank you Eugene;
"CARVING FLOWER OF LIFE"
Hello once again everyone I've made some progress on this project. I have started carving through on the sides of the bowl. This has to be done almost all with knives and gouges, after I drill a hole in the widest place of the triangle. You will see the tools I'm using for this process in the photos, I've also rounded inside and most of the outsides flower peddles.

[Robert Hayward]

Excellent work so far! Please keep showing us the progress.

[Bruce Jones]

Excellent work so far! Please keep showing us the progress.

Thank you Robert I will, There is still a great deal of work on this piece.

[Bruce Jones]

"FLOWER OF LIFE"
Hello once again everyone I have now carved, rough filed & sanded 95% of the bowl section. I still will need to go back over everything with 220 & 320 grit. I will do this while carving the flowered rim to give myself a break from carving. It will be nice to be carving a different wood for a change. The Pommele Sapele is no where near as hard as the Red Elm. The center section inside the bowl will be one of the last things carved.

[Eugene Dixon]

I can only say, "Ahhhhhhhhhh" with admiration.

[Bruce Jones]

Thank you Eugene.
[COLOR=var(--secondary-text)]THE FLOWER OF LIFE[/COLOR]

[COLOR=var(--primary-text)]Hello everyone I have moved on with the carving of this project. I have carved a few flowers in various stages so you can get a better understanding of my process. You can see in the photos if you zoom in the first stage outlining cutting 1/16 "- 1/8" deep. This is very important to stop over cutting areas you do not wan cut. I have also shown the tools and files and sanding tools I use. I would have had even more carving done but I went back and have been refining the bowl section rounding, smoothing and sanding with220 grit[/COLOR]