Using CNC to Make Your Art
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- Last Updated: Thursday, 13 August 2020 21:17
by Michael BinkleyFor 34 years, I was a sculptor who worked exclusively as a direct subtractive carver, meaning I did not create a model of my composition and then copy it to stone. I’ve been inspired by the shape of a stone, its colours and patterning to create a sculpture. Each of my sculptures has been one-of-a-kind and I’ve developed a reputation with my collectors that only my hands have touched each sculpture and worked it from start to finish.
Most of us in the NWSSA work this way, but it is not how the sculptors credited with stone creations have worked in the past.
Most sculptors in history, created a maquette of a composition in a malleable material, made any adjustments desired, then either copied it in stone themselves or had it done by a craftsperson. Many sculptors in history who have been credited with carving their stone works have never even picked up a chisel. The final stone version of their creations was carved by a craftsperson, while the artist directed like a symphony conductor. These craftspeople have been trained to use mechanical devises to exactly copy from an artist’s maquette to stone. This has been the backbone of the sculpture industry in Italy for hundreds of years. So the craftsperson, or artigiano in Italian, has been essentially a human robot who copies the artist’s idea from one media to another.
The Wet Carving Box 
The difference this time was that a salesman from a custom hearing protection company was there. He asked for a few volunteers to come forward and demonstrate how they install foam ear plugs. He was lucky and got a volunteer, Bret. Bret rolled his ear plugs and stuffed them in his ears as all of us had done in the past. The salesman showed that much of the ear plug was not in the ear and the the protection was poor at best. He then showed us how to properly install ear plugs.
Part of this material I used in the 20 hour granite course I taught at Pratt. Most of the info is from Tom Urban's workshop at Camp Brotherhod, some from a workshop by Don Ramey that Hank Nelson organized at my place years ago. If you find anything useful, please add it to the article - Kirk
The photo on the right is of (what I think is) a homemade set-up - aquired it at an estate sale in 2005.
followed up to what I saw Lee Gass doing. He was "sanding" with a piece of a bench grinder wheel. I have a few spares so I smashed one with a sledge hammer and ended up with a whole bunch of useful hand-sanders. Curves, angles. Plus I shaped them further on my angle grinder clamped to my table. They worked better with water.... HAPPY NEW YEAR. -- Dirk
The Die Grinder
