2006 Form Plaque Progress: Refining the Carving

In this photo the spirals of the waves are nearly complete on the left, and the flood waters are visible behind St. Paul. The right side of the waves are beginning to take shape.

Here is a detail of the spiral waves – what was a simple design on paper has proved to be much more complicated thing to carve.  I am pleased with the effect, especially when the shadows are picked up in the texture of the waves.

The details have been added for two of the shields from the sesquicentennial logo – each individual element of the School symbol will have its own shield, the crossed swords, the book, and the pelican.

Here is another detail of the waves with the flood waters in the background and the sword shield above.  The scroll is still being worked on, and will have the sesquicentennial dates carved into the ribbon portion.

This Saturday, October 1st, I will be setting up a display in the Upper Dining Hall for the Alumni Volunteer Weekend event.  I will be displaying samples of my carving as well as the progress so far for the 2006 plaque.  If you are an SPS Alum and will be attending the event be sure to stop by and see the display.

2006 Form Plaque Progress: Beginning Carving

This year I will work with the Student Council officers from the Form of 2012 to design and carve their plaque and to continue the Form plaue project forward. Additionally, there are twenty years of Form plaques that have not been carved preceding the recently completed 2011 plaque. The first of the missing plaques to be carved is for the Form of 2006, and following that will be the Form of 1996 plaque.

Four design elements were chosen by representatives from the Form of 2006 to be incorporated into their Form plaque design: The Sesquicentennial, the Mother’s Day flood, the beginning of Bill Matthews’s Rectorship, and Hurricane Katrina.  The final design sketch is shown below:

Here is a description of the design elements:

• Central Motif:  I have adapted the SPS Sesquicentennial logo design with St. Paul in the center surrounded by the four shields depicted in the logo (pelican, book, sword, Episcopal shield).  A scroll ties them together horizontally in the center with the dates: 1856 – 2006.
• Upper Left: The book symbol represents the Rural Record, a diary of day-to-day School life that was kept from 1857 into the early twentieth century.  William Matthews’s initials are incorporated on the pages of the  open book, symbolizing the beginning of his Rectorship and representing the recording of the event of the change in leadership into School history.
  
• Upper Right: The satellite view of the spiral of the storm – representing Hurricane Katrina
• Lower Left and Right:  The flood waters of the Mother’s Day flood of 2006

Following is a series of photos documenting the beginning carving process:

This first photo shows the plaque after the background level has be cleaned out using a router. You can still see the rough edges that are left from the router bit.

This view shows the background after it has been cleaned up.  The edges between the elements are trimmed closely using a variety of shapes of carving tools and the background levels have been further defined.  The spiral shape of the Hurricane Katrina symbol has been added.

In this picture the scrolls are beginning to take shape, and the spirals of the water element are starting to emerge.  The shield shapes have been brought down to their levels and are ready to have the emblems carved into them.

There will be more photos to follow as I progress – stay tuned!