Entry #13: Adding and subtracting

Well, We're coming near the end of the 20% project and things are wrapping up nicely. Nothing new has happened besides me just trucking along with the totem pole. I started to work on different patterns of designs (shown in the picture) using different ideas given to me from pictures. I'm just excited to finish the project because it's taking a long time to complete and finish. What bothers me is how i'm going to present the product as a whole because it's pretty heavy. I might i just pictures of different angles and close-ups of the patterns. Above all, pretty happy with my progress and with the amount of effort i'm putting into this one thing. Nothing really interesting happened last week because everything has just been going according to plan. Later in the week i'm going to add some more patterns and smooth out the wood. Definitely coming a long way from what i had in the beginning of this project.

XSiiANA. "Tongan Patterns by XSiiANA on DeviantART." Tongan Patterns by XSiiANA on DeviantART. N.p., 30 Mar. 2013. Web. 29 Apr. 2014.

Entry #12: The Totem Pole

So the moment you guys have been waiting for, the revealing of the totem pole. Well, first of all, i haven't finished it but it is a work in progress. I started on the nose and it is a big pain in the butt to do all of this carving. From doing all of this, i have a lot of respect for the people who have a patience with this because there are numerous times where i just want to quit. Especially when i accidentally make dents where there shouldn't be any dents at all. Quite obviously, i'm not ready for doing this totem pole because of lack of practice with the chisel and hammer but i know a lot of the basics. This is my main concern with the whole project at the moment but what still remains as the thing that makes me happy is the fact that i'm actually trying to finish this project. I'm having a lot of fun with it and no matter how frustrated i get i still continue to work on it.




(My totem pole nose will be similar to the beak of the beard, but more round rather than pointy)
Harrsch, Mary. "Tlingit Totem Poles at Saxman Native Village near Ketchikan Alaska (15)." Flickr. Yahoo!, 25 May 2007. Web. 15 Apr. 2014.

Entry #11: New Tools

Previously on the last entry i was skinning the log with a knife instead of a chisel. Well, today i found a chisel to use! I use a chisel and a hammer, but the hammer isn't the right one to use. Nonetheless, It made things a whole lot easier and stuff went a whole lot faster than before cause i finished skinning the log in a matter of hours. The log is nice and clean, ready to be chiseled and shaped to my will. I'm pretty excited because i started to make the nose right away, mainly cause its the easiest part. Man, was the wood easy to get through. I was really worried that i would not be able to get through it but it actually went through really easily. Pretty happy with what i got at the moment and will continue to work with what i got. Last week when it was raining, i was worried that the log would get soaked but it actually stayed really dry which was weird to me. That's an interesting thing that happened to me.



(similar tools that i use for my totem pole)

VCU Libraries. "Mastoid Chisel Set." Flickr. Yahoo!, 11 Aug. 2011. Web. 15 Apr. 2014.

(simi

Entry #10: Finally some progress

Alright, after one accident and several attempts to finding a wood piece to work on, I finally found one. The best part about it is that  i found it in the forest when i went to a cabin for the weekend. It has quite an ancient look on it but i like it a lot. My biggest excitement about this is that i can finally start on my final product and attempt to make it amazing. Of course the plan is to make a totem pole, but instead i decided to make the bottom part of the totem pole and maybe over the years just add on to it or have other people add on to it. Above all, I am genuinely happy with my find and was happy to start skinning it to work on later on. Interesting enough, the way i found this piece of wood was as if god had sent it himself. I was just walking around looking for fire wood and there it was, already broken from a tree. At first it was a big pain to carry back to the cabin but all in all i think it was worth it.


Elzey, Richard. "Small "Cabin in the Woods"" Flickr. Yahoo!, 7 Apr. 2013. Web. 15 Apr. 2014.

Entry #9: Nothing Much

Nothing new has really happened in the past week that i updated this. I'm still trying to find wood on my free time and my mentor has been missing in action for the past few days. I took a break from my projects for a bit because i was getting a weird bump on my finger and i don't know if that's normal or not. Also, I stopped because the knife i bought broke so there's a waste of like $5. It was a knife you use to cut fruit and i found it pretty good. I found it pretty good up until the point it broke at least. Although, i'm still surprised that i haven't cut myself even when my knife broke so at least i have that going for me. Otherwise, everything else in the project has been stagnant and i'm unhappy about that. Tomorrow i'm going to start looking at replacement knives and possibly a place where i can get some good wood pieces. 

• Website Title: Flickr
• Article Title: Broken Knife
• Publisher: Yahoo!
• Date Accessed: March 25, 2014

Entry #8: Nothin'

What's up? Nothing much really, i have just been working on a mini project ( A spoon ) and trying to find a good enough piece of wood for the final product. Still haven't started on it, but i have a idea of what i'm going to do. Since i can't bring an entire totem pole to school, i decided just to make the face of one and hopefully it'll turn out well. Over the past few days, the one thing that has kept me motivated is the fact that when i feel sad, mad or anything negative i have that one thing that'll let me project it onto. I found it really relaxing to just put it all out on an object. Although i would really like to start on my final product, it has been a tough time finding a good wood piece even though you could just go to Orchard Supplies but it has to be easy enough to cut through.


(The piece of wood that i don't have)

Amber, Undeclared. "Log of Chopped Wood." Flickr. Yahoo!, 19 Nov. 2012. Web. 15 Apr. 2014.

Entry #7: The Update

I'm making progress with whittling and learning more about turning negative emotions into something positive.

I will not be mentioning a whole lot of resources because i didn't use a lot. My main confidence in my update is the fact that i'm progressing in my 20% project and slowly becoming better and better at whittling. Looking back at my past projects, they weren't all that great but now you can clearly see an improvement. The concern in my update is whether or not i am able speak clearly without messing up or getting nervous. Even though i can sort of talk in front of people, when i'm put on the spot, in front of everyone, it's really easy for me to get nervous. Another concern for my update, regarding whittling, is if i can actually find a wood good enough size to turn into a somewhat decent totem pole. My mentor has been trying to find a good size but he's busy with work and can't really dedicate a whole lot of time into it.

Entry #6: Extra Help

http://www.instructables.com/id/Wood-Whittling-101/

While looking for projects to start doing or future projects to start, I stumbled upon this website and started to browse it. While looking into it i found a lot of projects that came with instructions. It pretty much acts as an instruction manual and idea giver for me. Looking deeper into the website, i found ideas that help make my projects better and more creative.

http://whiteeaglestudios.wordpress.com/2012/01/02/the-truth-about-whittling-knives/

In my pursuit to finding the perfect knife for me to use, i found this article about what knives i should use and knives that are perfect for whittling. Using this guide , i was able to find a good knife to use and it provided me a good sense of how i should pick certain knives in the future. Of course, the knife i have now isn't very comfortable but it sure gets the job done and in the end that's all i want to do is get a knife that does its job.

Entry #5: The Challenge

Seriously, the only one problem that i am having at the moment is the knife that i am using, a dull box cutter. I found out about this when i made a cut and it came out really, really messed up. When i saw it i was so very, very upset because i was work on smoothing it for 2 hours and when i realized that my attempts of smoothing it was only making it worst. At least i somewhat got it to be smooth but it bothered me so much when it came out the way it did. I really, really want it to be smooth. Of course, my problem could be easily solved if i just find/buy a new knife but i haven't really found a knife that  fits comfortably in my hand so i can whittle for hours. Recently tried to fix this problem but really hard to find the perfect knife. I guess i'm just going to just order a beginner's whittling kit and pray that it's comfortable when i use it. o
Chipped, nasty cuts, ugly, ew, On the Floor of the Office Room. Personal photograph by author. 2014.

Entry #4: Update

What I have pretty much done since the beginning of all this was work on whittling projects and trying to work my way up to bigger projects. I was hoping that by the end of this project ( picture below ) that i would be able to start the final product. However, It pretty much depends on how well this project turns out. If it doesn't turn out clean then i will probably work on some more projects before i start on the final product. Some of the things i had finished was a sphere, a pyramid, and a snowman.

In the picture is a new project i started to work on, i was hoping to turn it into a wooden chain or an Indian head but its still a work in progress. The measurement on the side was suppose act as a guideline and tell me how deep i can cut into but i have been ignoring it. I need to start following it otherwise when i attempt cut again it'll look messy and gross. 

A Project in Progress, Whittling, In My Room. Personal photograph by author. 2014.

Entry #3: My Thoughts

Now that a month has past, I have to say that whittling is actually really hard to do because there have been so many times that i almost accidentally cut myself. The gloves help somewhat to protect you but, man, it is a pain when you try to carve a deeper cut because if your knife isn't sharp enough it pops out and it is unpredictable where the knife will go. Since the first entry, I've decided to make a totem pole as a final product and try to have people incorporate some of their ideas into it, like having them try to carve their favorite animal onto it. The hard part is finding a big enough log of tree to do this with. From my pitch i discovered that whittling is a stress reliever and it also helps take your mind off of other things. There have been many times i whittled for hours when i was upset and even if it seemed like i wasn't getting anywhere it was still fun. Hearing the other pitches didn't really give me much ideas but they were still very interesting and got me motivated to keep working on my project.

Hopefully my totem pole comes out this well.













"Haida Totem Pole." Flickr. Yahoo!, 7 May 2009. Web. 04 Feb. 2014.

Entry #2: The Pitch

To have people turn negative emotions into a work of art through whittling.

http://www.youtube.com/
For looking up tutorials on beginning to whittle and projects to begin doing. Plus, the many different ways i can do cuts.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Whittling-Projects/
For looking up projects to maybe start or come up with ideas.


My 20% project is going to be whittling, and i'm going to create a totem pole. You should care about this project because it means that you'll be able to turn negative emotions into something artistic. I care about this project because i want to see how people change their negative emotions into something through whittling. The only main concern is the amount of resources i will mention in the pitch presentation because as of now, i don't really have that many but who knows, maybe ill find some resources along the way. Also, i wasn't to sure on how i would word out what i wanted to say but, hopefully, it works itself out and somebody understands what i am trying to say. My confidence in my pitch presentation is the idea that you can turn your negative emotions into something artistic. I've already began working on my project when i was down or upset and i have to say, looks pretty good.

Entry #1: The beginning

In the beginning i was really excited for this project because it gave me an excuse to spend my time trying something new and it's still there. However, I never realized that whittling would be so hard because I've hurt my thumb several times already in the past week. Importantly, I really want to use this project as way for people to relieve stress or anything else negative and bring out their artistic side. Whenever I was stressed, sad, or anything I started to whittle and it felt like each stroke was slowly relaxing me. I didn't have a goal when i started to whittle because at the time i was to sad to care. Eventually as time went by and i calmed down from whittling i knew that i wanted to make ball because it seemed cool. That's what i want others to feel when whittling, a slow transition from the negative emotion to interest in creating something amazing.

http://www.artofmanliness.com/2011/12/12/a-beginners-guide-to-whittling/

I pretty much found this website by goggling "Whittling Guide". This website taught me the safety guidelines and different ways of cutting the wood. It also informed me on which wood would be appropriate for different projects. For my case it was best for me to use Basswood because it's suitable for beginners and the softness of it makes it easier to cut.

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=whittling%20projects%20for%20beginners&sm=3

In searching for a visual aid in whittling i thought what better than youtube. I searched it for beginner projects that i could practice doing so that when time came to do my final project i was ready. Although im starting with a sphere, i want to be able to shape that sphere into something with more description and artistic.