bone carving - a skillbase of techniques and concepts

5/22/2018 Bone Carving - A Skillbase of Techniques and Concepts

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ONECARVING SKILLB SE OF

TECHN IQUES ND CONCEPTS

Stephen yhre

REE


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Published by Reed Booksdivision of Reed Publishing Group (NZ) Ltd ,39 ~ w c n R o ~ d Birkenheok is copy rig ht Except for the purposc of filirrev iew ing, no P;Ht of thi s public tio n mJ Y be reproducedor trilnSIl 1ittcd in tlny fortn or by


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ContentsIntroduction 1Carving n Perspective 3Skillbase 20Material and Prepara tion 23Des ign 33Safety 40T ools 44

Gravers 44Met l po ints 5

ndles 55afting 56

Sharpening 58Saws 61Dr ills 63f iles 65andpaper 71

T echniques 74Crosscutt ing 75Faceting 76Po lish ing

El ectricity 79Pendant/workshop dr ill 81Point carver 8Buyer beware l 86

Finishing 9Co rds 93Whipp ings and lashings 95Brooch pin 10 7Recording and signing 1 8

ConclusionInd ex 115


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L B ON E C R V I NG= = = : : : = : ~ : : : = = _ lcknowledgements

There are many people who over the years have he lped me with thewriting of this book. Some have helped in the most oblique of ways bymaking small things possible fo r me; they are too ma ny t name so allI can say is a co llective thank yo u to them all

Those who have been most directly helpful are: uy Ngan forplanting the idea in my head; Betty McFadgen of the NationalM useum We llington for giving me access to the fish-hook collect ion;and Mark Strange for helping me with the superb photos of the o ldTa onga and criticising my own shots

I also owe a special debt of thanks to Hirini Moko Mead of Victor iaUnive rsity of \Vellington for his expert help with the taha Maoriaspects of the text. Kia O ra Syd.


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ONE C R VIN G

ntroductionThis boo k is a response to a need for hard information on the carvingof bone. ]:\;o t much has been written in New Z( aland abo ut th( carvingof any material other than wood , and I have come to rea lise thatbecause the contemporary carving scene is so dynam ic there is a riskthat it w ill grow tou fa st anu as a result the overall standards w ill fall. Ifirmly be lieve that the future of carving will be best served by hav ingstandards that are set at a high leve l.

Th E book is not designed to be a standaru, but I hope that itstimulates all who are invo lved in carving to direct their energies toachieve the highest possible sta nd ards in their work, thus ( nsuringthat carving remains a dynamic, open ended skill that can achieve itsfull potenti al. There are many people in New Zeal and interested indo ing carving but not enough expert teachers to satisfy the demand forinforma tio n. I think that the more people there are who ca rve , themore meditative, thinking people there will be and this is rea llyneeded in a tim( when our lifestyle is so fa st and tem po rary

Learning from a bouk isn t necessarily the right way to learn. Thereare grea t d iffe rences in peoples abdity to understanJ a thing whenpresented in boo k form , but at th is time and with such a shortage ofteachers it is th l:: most efiicienl way I knQ\ v of covering the ground .Personal teac hing o n a o ne to-one basis is s till the bes t poss ibl e way,and Pacific traditions have always po inted to this in the waykn owledge is passed on.

Bone carving is quite accessible because of the ease of obtainingmatenal. Lots of ppopk arE becoming interested in it regardl ess of thelack of information , and withou t ade qu ate know ledge and p rac ticethey are produc ing carvings th at are obvious ly not completely thought


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ON RVING

through. I am sure that the general standard of carving wou ld be betterif these carvers had a source of the technical detail s needed to make thework convincing hi s is especially highlighted by the high quality ofthe old work. with which a lot of contemporary work doesn t comparewell. \\ ith the materials and techniques ava ilab le to the modern

~ r v therE' is really no excuse for producing substandard work. hefreedom that modern technolog y a llows has such an enormouspotential for helping to express the creative spirit, it is a shame to see itused m an offhand or poorly prepared manner.


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B ONE C RVI NG

arving in Perspective


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BO N E C A R VI N G

Bone carving is as old as civilisation itself. Archaeology has shown thatbone lmplements and personal adornment have been a part of humandevelopment from its origins to the present Many of the oldest boneartefacts may seem crude, but the) allowed the people to manipulatetheir environment, tnus enriching their lives and cultures. Some of theold est bone artefacts have decorative features that are clearly notnecessary to their function, showing that there have been complexcultural aspects to the carving of bone hom time before time.

t is easier to see' the functional meanings of the old tning O; than tograsp the more inaccessible leve ls of cultural significance assonatedwith the ritual and symbolic aspects of the cultures. The stories.legends and myths connec ted with the oldest artefacts are buried withthe people who used them. \Ve are fortunate in the Pacific becausehere there exists a living, unbroken line of cultural information tosupport the forms. \long v:ith the forms there are the unseen,symbolic parts of reality. and it is these aspects that interest me themost Beauty of form and material is significant, but carving is farmore meaningful than the mere fashioning ofbeautiful things to adornpeople or places t is the strong connection bet\veen carving and tnespiri tual side of life that attracts me.

The elements of structure , ritual and myth are commun to allcultures but in the Pacific basin the carvers are intimately involvedwith these because they are the holders and teachers of knowledgeabout the spiritual parts of reality. The field is so vast that I can tpossibly cover it in full here, so I have chosen a few exampl es toillustrate these concepts . All the objects used by a cultu re, the culturalfa cts , have some kind of meaning to a greater or lesser degree, and th efish-hook is just one of many that are important to the peopl e of thePacific. The t1sh-hook is one cultural fact that covers all the range of


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RVI NG N PER SP E T 1 V E

mea ning from functional to ritual and symb olic leve ls o f thE culturL sof Pacific people

For the insul ar peop lf of t1w PacifIC, a prime source of protein hasalways been fish. The methods of catch ing them are many and varieJ.Any one \vho has had the f-Jkasure of ca tching anrl eat ing frE sh flsh,and o ther for ms of kai moana, knows the co mplexity of th( ( xercise,and the amount of luck that is needed. Even with th e b( st ofJud gement and gear it is still an inherentl y magic process that requireseverything to be righ t for it to be successful.

The need t be effic ient at ca tching fish led pe ople to t ake care wi ththe ex( rcis( . Even a cursory loo k at the fish-hoo ks of the pre-metal

s o i of the Pacific shows the great care and the command overres is tant materials that were exercised to ensure the success of foodga thering . i close look sh ows the amazing ski llbase necessary toconstruc t th e wide ra nge of hoo ks that we re used. Com pos ite hoo ks,made up of a numbE r of diffE rcl1t p;lrts, are usua lly pu t together insuch a skilful manner that ti1E re is no doubt about the carvf rs controlover such diverse materials as bunC , s tunC , wood an d shell. Theconstru c tion of the kah awai lur , pa kahawai. especiall y the fming ofthe wood to the shell, is indica tive of the high standard ofcra ftsmanship that was common th roughout thC Pacific.

Fi shing is by nature a seasonal ac tivity with many typ s of fish beingavailabl e at d ifferent times of the year. There is a wid f range of fishth at inhabit the waters of the Pacific. Their varying m ( thoJs offeed ing influenced the pre-me tal fishing m ethods, which needed to bequit(, div ers e in order to assure a stabl e supply of kai moanathroughout the year Many fish arE bo ttom feeders, for exa mplerawaru (blue cod ), hapuku (groper) and tarakihi, but the ta rakihi hasonly a sm a ll mouth wh ile the rawaru and hapuku have hugE mouths.,\nother complica tion is that m any fish feed at the surface, or justbE lov. it. The kahawa i and manga barraco uta) are exa mples of the

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Hei matau carved out of whalebone . (See also page 28). his isa ftsh-hook pendant that is obviously not functional but withthe emphasis on its ritual and sy mbolic value. It is a focus forritual to ensure the success of ftshing expedition s and alsoembodies the abstract concepts of abundance and plenty .

B O N E C R V I N G

fast-swimming, surface-feeding, pelagic fish which had specialfeatures requiring quite different hooks to catch them. hese fish hadto be trolled for with a hook that floated at the same depth at which thefish were feeding or swimming. hey will strike at a moving targetthat they think is a fish. he flash of the paua shell rotating on pakahawai (see photo) attracts the kahawai s powerful strike.

he many features of the flsh life of the waters around Aotearoameant that many different types of hooks, rather than different sizes,were needed , and a comprehensive system of species-speciflc hookswas developed. I have done enough fishing to see the sense in thesystem of hooks that developed here. he fish-hooks show afunctional beauty that most people are unaware of or disregard. heoverall impression that I get is one of highly sophisticated technologythat reflected a feeling for aesthetically elegant, functional simplicity.

Many of the functional hooks have added decorative features that inmy opinion are the likenesses of gods, Tangaroa perhaps, and manaia- forms that certainly weren t necessary for the function of catchingfish. his practice was highly developed here in Aotearoa in preEuropean times and reflected the high ritual value of functionalobjects where the mana of the individual (hence the use of manaiamasks was believed to be involved in the exercise of flshing and manyother aspects of Maori life. he decorative features of the hooksillustrate a shift in society from the mere struggle for survival to asophisticated, ritualised, highly developed culture. Because the carverartisan provided so many of the implements necessary for the culture svarious activities, his was an important position, and he played a largepart in the development of civilised society in the Pacific.

Lots of cultures see objects as capable of having power or magicalqualities that are beyond their form or function, and in the Paciflcmany things are seen in this light. he power an object possesses cancome from various sources, such as the power that comes from the


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C R V I N G N P E R S P E C T I V E

holder, or the accumulation of power from the previous holders. Somematerials are thought to be better at accepting energy than others.Pounamu Uade) is perhaps the strongest, being crystalline, andcrystals readily take up vibrations. But ivo ry and bone along withmost organic substances, also share this potential. Personal objectssuch as those used for adornment have an ability to accrue reflectionsof the mana of the wearer, and these become available to the person towhom the piece is passed on.

Personal objects are one way to pass on energy from one generationto the nex t or from one individual to the next, during culturalexchanges that mark impor tan t points to the community such astimes of birth, death and marriage. Along with the object went thestories, and shared myths thus provided a tangible form to ensurecu ltural continuity. The objects provided the community with visibletokens of the unseen spiritual exchanges so that there could be noconfusion about, for example, who received the mana of a dyingtupuna. Various pieces that represent differing aspects of a person smana, shared out at the instruction of the holder, made for a prettygood system of power sharing.

I believe in magic, not grand magic like the transmuting oflead intogold, but small magic, that is proper preparation and judgement inorder to get in tune wi th the natural flow of energy. Some people call itcoincidence and talk of probability theory and the random nature ofthe universe but I prefer synchronicity, and talk of magic in anordered universe. This is not to be confused with hocus-pocus that isdesigned to confuse the less agile, like the mystification of a subject orpractice to protect knowledge or the lack of it Small but real magicdoes exist; people, places and objects can have power beyond theirform or function. Th is ritual, magical quality of things is important tome, bu t it is far outweighed in importance by the symbolic va lue ofthings the quality ascribed to objects by a culture in order to express

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8 ONE CAR V INGthe complex realm of ideas and struc ture that makes up the sp irituallife of the community.

Cultur l objects are used by many cu ltu res to express symbolicvalues. \ \lestern culture uses the formal symbols of flags to expressnation l identity monuments to symbolise the loss of peop le in warsand many less fon-ral ones for example the motor car to express allsorts of looser concepts such as status.

The Pacific has highly developed symbol systems where many ofthe individual symbols such as the adze and the fish-hook are sharedby different societies. This kind ofobject has moved from a functionalro le to the higher cu ltu r l value of ritual and then on to the symboliclevel. Th e fish-hook is accessible on three different levels: it is theprovider of food; it is the focus for ritual and magic; and it representsthe abstract concept of abundance and plenty which the cu lture as awhole sees as important to the on-going success of the community.

One particu lar fish -hook that illustrates this we ll is the hei mata u ofthe Maori a jade sometimes bone non-functional hook worn aspersona l adornment but largely the focus for rituals to assure thesuccessful outcome of various activities such as fishing. Theutilitarian elements of the form have been done away with completelyleaving the ritual and symbolic aspects as the most important. Thissimp le but elegant form is a triumph of design with the material inmind as it largely consists of one hole to which the rest of the formrelates so that there is only a sma ll amount of material to be dr illedand ground away to achieve the impression of a hook fish or bird.

The symbolic level of meaning is the lev el of myths and legendswhere the shared va lues fundamental to the success of the communityare expressed in a practical ye t abstract way. The fish-hook featuresstrongly in the myths of Maui Tiki Tiki a demigod of the Pacificregion who went all over Te Moananui a Kiwa the Pacific fishing allsorts of things including Te Ika a Maui the North Island of New


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C R V I N G N P E R S PE C T I VEZea land , with a hook made fro m his grandmother's jawbone. n thesestories the fish -hook is a st re ng, tang ible, fo rmal sym bol showing theabundance avaiJable from the descent of mana through family tiesfrom one genera tion to the nex t.

The more learn abo ut Pacific culture, myths and legends , themore fee l that it is far from primitive (how dislike that wo rd) nfac t the system is so deep, and yet cohe rent, it is as effec ti ve as awrit ten language at holding people together. The carvers are central tothis system as the y provide the tangible fo rm s to which the o ral.symbolic values are bo und. The very durable materials such aspounamu make things available to continuing generation aftergeneratIon.

Contrary to popu lar belief, Pac ific cultures are not purely o ral innat ure. All sorts of methods of storing and hardening info rmation areused by Pacific people, and one of th ese is ca rv ing the importantin formation into objects both perso nal and public, such as meetinghouses. t is cu ltural arrogance to believe that the hard est forminfo rma tio n can take is that which is almost wor shipped by Westerndeve loped cultures, the prin ted \vord on paper, or now a few gra ins ofmagnetica lly se nsitized iron ox ide in a computer sys tem somew here.

Matau , whalebone. See also page 28 .)

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Stone carving also holds an important place in tradition . Thispiece is carved from argillite.

B O N E C R V I N G

The term greenstone is one I avoid using where possible, as I thinkthat it does the stone a disse rvice to name it in such an offhandmanner. Jade has been va lued by widely diverse cultures for a v ry longtime The Central and South merican Indians va lued jade abovegold. The merindians were amazed at the Spaniards' lack of interestin the far more wonderf\}I jades. The Spaniards were most upset whenthey were offered stone as a symbol of their impor tance. Chinesepeople have treasured its man y qualities for thousands of years. NewZealanders have undervalued our stone in many ways, not the leas t ingiving it the meaningless name of greenstone .

Stone carving is directly related to bone carving because both werepart of the same skillbase in traditional soc iety. Th ey are par ts of awhole rather than separate fields or styles. Looking at the old stoneartefacts can be a great help when cutting bone. Making bonereproductions of th e old stone pieces can help us understand the waythat the cuts were made, and thus assist us when designing newpieces. Bone and stone are related for me, as the bo ne has beenpreparation for my stone carving.

Islands throug hout the Pacific have histories of whale strandings.The tambora the whale tooth pendants of Fiji, are made from theteeth of stranded sperm \Vhales. This has been the prime source ofmaterial th rough the history of Pacific ca rving of both ivory andwha lebone with moa bone featuring strongly in ea rly Aotearoa. NewZealand has a vas t coastline compared with most islands of the area,and there are quite a few places on the coastlines of both islands thathave a history of repeated strandi ngs. Th is means that there is goodmaterial buried on some of our beac hes. and from time to time piecesmake their way to the surface, during storms that move sa ndhi s fo rexample. t the moment this material is relat ive ly inaccessib le to thecarvers because of the law concerning the ownership of things that arewashed up on the shore. With a change of atti tude and a great deal ofcare this source of ma terial could suppl y many carvers for nlany years.


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C R V I N G IN P E R S P E C T I V E

Stranded material is seen by the Maori as a gift from the sea that isavailable for people to use wisely. It in fact has a strong energycomponent, mauri, that makes the finished work suitable for thecultural, symbolic functions that the carvings can fulfil. tVIaterial leftby the whaling industry, both past and present, though usable, is seenas corrupt and without the special energy that makes the carvingpowerful on the spiritual level.

Whales strand for many reasons, and recent thought has debunkedthe theory that they commit mass suicide for some mysterious reason.The truth that is now emerging is that these tragic accidents of massstrandings can occur for quite explainable reasons. Water conveyssound in a different way from air, and the whales' echo-locationsystem works on the projecting of sound. clicks and whistles, andlistening for the reflection. rather like the sonar system used by

submarines. Whales' eyesight is not good at long range but the echolocation system allows them to know what is around them even incloudy water. We are only just learning of the complexity of thissystem. and as with any complex natural system things can go wrongwith it Whales can become confused and think that they are headingfor open water when they are in fact heading up a gently sloping.sandy beach.

Whales are air-breathing aquatic mammals. and it seems that theyshare with us the fear of drowning. often choosing to cast themselvesashore when ill or dying. or in situations such as difficult births. Thiscan sometimes be the cause of substantial strandings when theindividual involved is of importance to the pod. a patriarch ormatriarch. But groups are so dedicated to each other that they willsometimes endanger their own lives, and sometimes lose them, to stayand support a distressed member of the group regardless of itsposition in the pod.

f the slaughter of whales can be stopped. and their population in

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Harpoon tip, moa bone, Nga Kak ano period (900 -1200 1 137m111.National tv[use u111 . From Banks Peninsula.This type of ha rpoo n tip was used by the ea rly inhabita nts of:\ otea roa in th e l ga Kakano and Tc Tipunga periods, but di d n'ts ~ r v i v th e changes that occurred during th e dev e lopment o fl\1acm cult ure here, This sho ws th e dy nami c , grow ing , nex ihlenature of the people who ca me from the northern Pac ific. It IS a(ine example of good des ign w ith fun c tio n in mind but al so asu b tl e sense o or l11 that g iv es the piece an aesthetic ljual ity t hatli ft s it beyo nd the me re ly (uncti o na l.

BONE C l \ ,RVIN Gthe South Pacific is allowed to regenerate. then it can he supposed thats trand ings \\'ill co ntinue to assu re a small supply o t' high-qualitymate rial to r can' ing, This mate rial should he treated with the utmostrespec t and use d for on ly [he bes t of work It is irres ponsible to usewhale material,iust becau 'e it is there and becau se there is a publicdemand tClr i\'()ry and \\'halebone The precious material shoul d beuse d fo r onl\- the finest \\ 'ork. and the bul k o t' the rehearsa l andcommercial lines of ulty ing should rely on non-prec iou s bee f bone

_ s the contemporary caning sce ne O\\'es so mu ch to the tr aditional\laori ca n 'ing sc hools. it is use ful to try to understand the nature.struct ure and p ractices of pre- meta l caning, The art lfl11S that

h r i \ ( , here in _-\o tearoa were based on kno \\'lcdge and traditionsb rought here fro m the northern parts of the Pacific. an d app lied tolocal mate rials and conditions, Thi s l)rociuccd a \'igo rous ca n 'iog stylestimulated by the Cl\'ailab ilit\' of the righ t types of \\,(lod, tota ra andka uri. along \\'ith the bes t of stones from \\ 'hich to fashion the can ingtoo ls.

T e \\'ha re \\ 'an anga. the teac hing str ucture, \ \ ' , lS large ly eso te ric clxlhidden ti-om the genera l popula tion. especially l l \\'ananga \\ 'hakairo.th c CilT ing sc hool. that \\'as usually kept fo r the hig h-born . T e clrikj.-\cccss was restricted to pro tect the r ~ spec ial na tu re of thekno\\'ledge in \,(lkecl, : \s in many cul tures. \ \ est ern cul ture included .a fundamental theme of Maori soc-ie ty is that know ledge is powcr . andthe knm d eclge of thi ngs like ca ning \\ 'as neWf \\' ideh' spread throughthe community. but \\'as he ld in only a te\\ h;:ll1ds. ensuring purit\. and\\ 'as passed dO\\' n ('rom one ind i\idu al to ill10ther \'ia the oraltrild itions, The can'ing sc hool was \'ery strict. and not on1\' a good\\'ha ka papa, a ge neaologlcal descl' nt line. hut talent and obedicnce tothe ma ster \\ C IT ke\' cle ments te)r se lection tCt- the man\' le\ 'els of- Leachi ng in the scho() \. This sckct i'.m process \\'as graph ical lyp()rtrayvd when I heet rd em olcl.'vlam i man talk of hO\\', ()n his first cla\'as an apprenticE' car\'L'l' in the ca d y pe1rt of this cenLun". he stol ) lx'ci to


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have a cigarette and the master sent him out of the workshop andnever allowed him to return. This old man said he always regrettedthat cigarette.

The discipline and strength of the master in this situation are notplentiful in the modern world, but the process is still there and thecarving information is still being passed from one hand to the next inthe old ways. Granted, the colonialism of the last century wasresponsible for the destruction of many of the traditions, and we havedone little better in this century, but the carving is still alive andvigorous but, as always, hidden from the general population

Within the various forms of traditional Maori art there has been agood deal of dynamic development, with the artefacts from thedifferent stages of pre-European occupation ofAotearoa showing thechanges that took place. There are two broad categories that areaccepted by the intellectuals - the early moa hunter people and theClassic Maori encountered by Cook. This argument is a little toosimplistic for me. I see the development of art here rather as acontinuous process punctuated by new ideas and new people as theyarrived and discovered the potential of the resources here. The Maorifeeling towards this is well reflected in Professor Hirini Moko Mead sdating system used to describe Te Maori exhibition that travelled tothe USA in 1984-85.

rowth is continuous through the different stages.Nga Kakano - The Seeds (900-1200)Te Tipunga - The rowth (1200-1500]Te Puawaitanga - The Flowering (1500-1800)Te Huringa - The Turning (1800-present)

The earlier artefacts show a marked difference to the later ones,both in form and materials. Many of the early ones were made frommoa bone, whereas the later were usually made from whalebone. The

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Stone tools used by Maori stone age carvers for carving both boneand stone. Upper left: round greywacke spall used for cutting andgrooving; lower left and centre: pakohe drill points; right: stonefiles of various sizes. Simple, but in skilled hands they producedremarkable results.

O N E C R V I N Gforms that were popular also changed from artefacts such as harpoontips and bead-like reels that were parts of necklaces of many pieces.The later people concentrated more energy on the making of weaponsin whalebone than the earlier people, and the fish-hooks of moa bonegave way to more complex hooks made from whalebone. Thedevelopment ofdifferent styles is also evident in the stone blades. Moahunter stone blades were mostly made from stones that could beflaked using stone-against-stone knapping techniques, much the sameas the flint-knapping cultures of pre-metal Europe. There is a gooddeal of suitable stone available here, such as the pakohe,metamorphosed argillite, an indurated, fine-grained mudstone thatoccurs widely in the South Island and in a few places in the NorthIsland. Other hard and coarser grit stones, such as greywacke, werealso used by the early people.

The very tough nature of jade means that it can t be flaked, but itcan be cut or ground. The technology supporting the cutting of jadewasn t developed till Te Tipunga - The Growth (1200-1500),though this doesn t discount blades made from pebbles exactly theright size being used by earlier people. \\lith the advent of the newcutting technology, the older pakohe blades seemed to take secondplace to the finer, sharper pounamu blades.

t is interesting to note that the later pakohe, or argillite, blades werenot as highly fashioned in their construction as the older blades. Theolder blades were worked far beyond their functional nature, that ismore than was necessary for them to function as a tool. The time andcare taken in the making of the early blades leads me to believe thatthey were not only tools to build a canoe or house, but substantialcultural property that may have been a tradeable commoditymeasuring some aspects of the mana of the holder or, in the case of thelarger blades, the wealth and mana of the wider community.

The arrival of the Pakeha had a profound effect on the culture,


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C R V I N G N P E R S P E C T I V Eespecially on carving with the introduction of metal for tools. DuringTe Puawaitanga and during the arrival of metal which started TeHuringa the forms that were important to the cultures changed. Theform that was the most important in the earlier part was the warcanoe and substantial mana was attached to the cultures whopossessed the large waka taua. Though on one level they were warmachines on others they represented the way the community lookedat the world and this was expressed in the carved decorative elementsof the canoe. The canoes became repositories of knowledge in a codedform. Really this was just the people hardening information by usingthe central community objects to portray the symbolic spiritual life ofthe community.

The war canoe was replaced in importance by the highly carvedpataka or food storehouse and these structures were central to tribalareas giving the formal symbol of abundance along with a host ofinformation l ke the origin of the eating ofmen in the story ofTinirauand Kae of the crooked teeth.

With the advent of metal tools and the ensuing ease of workingwood the pataka became eclipsed by the bigger whare whakairo thecarved meeting house where the amount of information coded intothe decoration on the house is a picture of the people who built thehouse and includes masses of whakapapa. Thus the tangata whenuathe people of the land there or in this case of the house itself had ashared identity that came from belonging to the house andsurrounding marae gaining that precious commodity the sense ofbelonging somewhere turanga waewi\e literally a place to stand.

This is only a brief description ofwhat has been a complex part ofour New Zealand history but it shows that development wascontinuous and dynamic throughout Maori history. As the timeschanged the orms that were important changed.

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Rei puta, sperm whale ivory, Te Puawaitanga period (1500-1800),150mm. National Museum .Part of the tooth has been cut away, exposing the dent ine layersand providing a flat, thi n section for the holes to be drilled throughThe addi tion of the eyes and nostrils, using scr imshaw techniquesof scratching and add ing pigment to the scratc hes, gives this piecea great dea l of presence and life . Another example of the use. ofthe tooth form so much used by the Maori. Whales played a bigpart in the myth system of the M aori and feature on carvings offood storehouses, pataka.

B O N E C R V I N G

Maori art is seen as a taonga, a treasured possession, which givesrise to strong emotion and resentment at Pakeha intrusions. There isgood reason for this considering the history of colonial interven tion,and I respect it, as I am aware of how dreadfull y most indigenouspeople have been ripped-off. t is a sensitive issue and I don t pretendto have any solutions. Each culture, Maori and Pakeha, hasincorporated into itselfelements of the other. This is acceptable only ifthere is a thorough knowledge of the forms and what they rep resen tto avoid the possibility of offence being taken when a particular thingis used inappropriately.

There is far too mu ch inappropriate use of cultural symbols byPakeha society, so much that there isn t room here to go into it fully,but there are a few obvious examples that illustrate the point. To theMaori, the head is the most tapu part of the individual, and use ofdesigns that include the head on things associated with food, wh ich isnoa, the opposite to tapu , such as tea-towels and bo ttle openers is seenas a gross insensitivity by most Maori who are close to their cu lture.This may not, at first sight, seem serious, but the Maori sense of thesethings is quite different from that of the Pakeha world. Ignorance is noexcuse, of course, and the almost who lesa le abuse of the culture ssymbols is why many people feel hurt and become protective of thatwhich still has some purity.

Japanese and Chinese calligraphers paint many word picturesrepeatedly, as the old ones go away and various rituals dictate. In fact itis possible for a master calligrapher to have painted the same pictureseveral hundred thousand times, and yet no two pictures are exactlyalik e as they would be in a printing process. Each painting is seen tocontain some small part of the crea tivity of the painter, and the valueof the painting includes this component as well as the message,information or poetry of the painting s words. \Vorks on paper thatself-dest ruct, or are used only for one occasion and then discarded,aren t regarded in \Vestern society in this light, so it seems alien. But it


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should be remembered that Japan and China are both Pacific nations,and what seems foreign in the practices of the people may not in factbe that way when inspected more closely.

Both Japan and China have such a long history of carving tha t theymust be seen with the other Pacific cultures, some of which havemuch shorter histories. New Zealand s culture, both Maori andPakeha, amounts only to 1 000 to 1 500 years, but the Chinese havean incredible history of carving jade for 4 000 or perhaps 5 000 years.Not only that, but the carving has been continuous to the present dayin an unbroken sequence of creativity. The Pacific s such a vast andfull place.

The Ainu of northern Japan are a people genetically dissimilar tothe rest of the population of Japan; they are more like Maori to look at.They have a history of carving that s older than the entry of thecontinentals into their islands. Does this sound familiar? They are aproud and fierce people who have a strong history of facial tattoo, whocarved wood with stone tools. There s quite enough evidence for meto beJieve that the Pacific s one place into which so much creativityhas been poured that it all belongs together. I suppose a classificationsystem s useful when trying to understand a complex number ofthings, but not to me if t makes it hard to see the unity of the manyparts.

In 1982 I was fortunate in receiving a travel grant from the QE IIArts Council to travel to Papua-New Guinea to study the Melanesiancarving schools. I visited the Highlands, the Sepik River and theTrobriand Islands. This visit changed the way I look at carving, asalthough there were many similarities to our carving, the way thingswere expressed often looked different because of the people s choice offorms.

Sepik carving of masks comes from the practice of carving the polesthat support the house, of which the entire front and rear are

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18

'Pr

Titled nfinity Unfolding this was carved during the author s 1982trip through New Guinea.

BO NE C ARV INGconstruc ted of thatch and woven elements to represent the face of anancestor of the extmded family who live in the house. Entering thedoor, the mouth yuu enter a living entity.

As soon as it is safe for a boy to use a knife in Sepik society he isencouraged to carve, and is set a range of tasks that all the men of hisvi llage have done in their time. The usual start for a Sepik boy is tocarve a crocod e, wh ich is a central theme to living on the Sepik. Itwasn t till I lived on that river and travelled often by canoe that Iunderstood just what a central theme it is. These creatures are asscary, and worth y of respect , as any 1 have ever been close to, andwhat s more there are rather a lot of them , and death by crocod ile is nostranger to many Sepik households.

Using the traditional methods the contemporary Sepik carvers havedeveloped their art on a scale that could almost be described as anindustry. Ways of earning money in this out-of-the-way place are few,but selling or trading carving with the outs ide world has beenpractised for perhaps a hundred years and there are many householdswhose yearly income derives in large part from carving. Though manyof the carvings produced are obviously tourist rubbish, there are somethat are so breathtaking that I was hard pressed to take it all in. Someof the works I saw were incredible achievements in both practical andartistic terms.

The fact that all men were expected to carve was ofgreat interest tome , and it has influenced me to make the decision to write about, andthus broadcast, the carving which here has always been so hidden.The achievements of both systems are substantial statements, andboth are capable of expressing the way that the cu ltures look at theworld. With the growth of carving here, perhaps it is time for it tobecome a larger part of the experience of more people, both men andwomen. This tactic would go well with our increasing dependence ontourist dollars for a large part ofour income. People travel for miles tothe most isolated parts of the Sepik to get carvings, and at least we are


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on a regular canoe routeThe Trobriand Islands are a small part of Papua-New Guinea, half

way between the main island and the Solomons. t is a very interestingplace because they carve hardwoods there, ebony and a tropicalhardwood called quila. They carve sticks that look like walking sticks,but in fact are talking sticks very much like the tokotoko sticks manyMaori elders have and use while speaking. The longer hardwoodfighting sticks of the Maori recent past were not only weapons buttalking sticks conveying the spiritual message of the speaker.T robriand food storehouses, yam houses, are central features andmany have carved parts The production of food and its display is acentral theme in Trobriand life.

The Trobriand outrigger canoes are still being built in thetraditional manner, even down to regular use of bark-fibre sails, andthey show so much similarity to the carvings on our war canoes that Ifelt the interrelationships of the Pacific strongly during my stay there.The outrigger canoes that they sail are capable of extendedjourneying, which the T robriand people still regularly do, usingtraditional routes and destinations that make up part of the extendedtrading system known as the Kula Ring.

Maori culture is a blend of influences that are made up of elementsthat the tupuna the Polynesian ancestors, brought with them whenthey came, and a lot of things that were responses to the environmentand culture that developed here. But it is so blended with the widerPacific cultures that it is hard for me to see where Maori culture andart finish and other Pacific cultures start. The many connectionsbetween the artefacts, myths and legends of the Pacific lead me tobelieve that there is a Pacific quality to what happens all over the area,and the creativity of the Pacific peoples is oceanic in that each cultureexpresses itself clearly but as a part ofsomething larger, a synergy thatclearly demonstrates that all is one.

Auika, whalebone, Te Puawaitanga period (1500-1800), 253 x19mm. National Museum. From Puketeraki, South Island.This tool was used as a needle to thread fish on to a line, andshows that the highest quality of work wasn t always used forwearable adornment. The manaia (birdlike guardian form) handleis carving of the highest quality in terms of both design and crafting.The manaia is a common form throughout the carving and probablycame here with the people from more northerly islands of Polynesia .It is also tempting to see a relationship with the frigate bird formused a lot in Melanesian carving.

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20 ONE C R VIN G

killbaseBone carving is growing very quickly in New Zealand, and to a largeextent individu al ca rvers have de veloped in relati ve isola tion fromeach other, deve loping sometimes quite different ways of doingthings . Contemporary carving owes a lot to traditional Ma o ri carving,but can t be called that because the contemporary scene is made up ofpeople who co me from a wide range of background s. who bring manydifferent skills and technologies to the carving along with mate rials,and forms. from all around the planet.

There hasn t been an established school of bone carving except thearea of the traditional carving, to which access is difficult . My lack offormal traditional training has meant that I have put together the skillsand attitudes that make up the skillbase from many differentdisciplines: jewe llery, enginE lTing, and furniture making being a fewof them.

Sk illbase is not the only way to cut bone, but it is a reliab le set ofpr actices and atti tudes that work. It is not my intention to try to set arigid pattern that should be slavishly followed (contemporary carvingis moving and growing far too fast for that to be useful) But it is a wayof avoiding the long slow process of trial and error that is necessary todevelop bone carving from scratch, though there is merit in lea rningthings this way. Mistakes can be very memorable ways of lea rning,especially if they are cos tly in time or energy Give it a go and find out

I am, on my fa ther s side, a second-generation. and on my mothersside a third-generation. New Zealander. M y ancestors were artisansfrom the northe rn hemisphere, a mixture of J\jorwegian Frenc h.Danish. Eng lish and Scottish. They were goldsmiths Jewellers andwatchmakers on nly father s side, but there were quite handy people


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S KILLB S Eon my mother s side as well, a cooper being one of them. I learnt thislong after I started carving, and although it has been three generationssince my paternal great-grandfather worked as a goldsmith, 1 thinkthat my desire to work with my hands comes from that far back in myfamily history.

All I have every really wanted to do is work with my hands, but mymentors pointed me away from this option early in my life Societyseems to downgrade working with your hands, and promotes workingwith your head. t is useless to complain about the state of theeducation system when I was herded into the middle of the road andencouraged to stay there, but the centre of the road is a very dangerousplace to drive. t took me a long time, and a part of my liver, to come toterms with the fact that I was not cut out for the world of business. Ican still recall that moment when I looked down and realized that Imust be able to find something else by working with my hands.

n important part of my personal history is that I had the desire tocarve. but had no formal training such as doing an apprenticeship atany established trade or school. This lack of training, with no directinfluence to take up the jewellery trade. meant that I was stronglyinfluenced by my environment. Cut off from my northern hemispherehandcraft heritage. I was naturally attracted to the forms and materialsused here in the Pacific. The woodcarving of Norway (my nam e.Myhre . is Norwegian) has forms that are very much like the forms ofMaori carving. such as complex surface decoration and sinuouslyintertwined forms carved in low relief on structural members ofwooden houses and churches.

t the start. I was influenced by what was close at hand. Maori art,but as I became more aware of the wider Pacific. and the things thatare carved there. so my work reflected this. In my carving I am tryingto reach the unifying elemen ts and principles that hold the Pacifictogether.

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22 ONE RVI NGMy learning has been rather informal. not lineal or structured .

Putting together the sk ills that I use for bone carving has led me intovarious fields of engineering, jewellery, printing and traditionalcarving from many different sources. There was no set goal, so someof my time I have perhaps wasted by going off at a tangent. ut oftenthese invest igations have turned up something that has been useful formy work, and at least interesting. I also have rather a passion for triviaand wasting time, but I am a little more tolerant now because this wayof doing things can produce the most fortunate blunders. Thisseeming ly aimless play is too often discouraged in young restlessminds in favour of a programmed trek through the proper way ofdoing things. Being too strongly programmed is uncreative, stiflingthe ability to think beyond the rigid patterns

It should be like the stones and st icks on the tide line on the beach infront of my house. They are in a basic order, with all the stones of onesize in one place and all the sticks of another size in another pl ace, butthere is a certain in formality which allows fle xibility in the deta il ofhow things relate to each other.


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BONE C RVING 3

aterial and preparation


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24 ONE C R V I N G

The basic raw material for my carving is beef bone. The main piecesthat are suitable for carving are from the unsaleable parts which areturned into various by-products such as tallow and fertilizer. Butchersare , by and large, more than happy to provide the material if they areapproached in the right manner. Most are happy to give it away butremember that if you use the butcher s eq uipment to cut the bone up,you must look after it. You can quickly deter a butcher from keepingthe suitable bones for you if you break the blade on his band saw, soplease be careful when collecting material. Sometimes it is better tohave the butcher cut off the knuckles and, of course, pay him for hiswork. Remember: the bl des o butchers' band s ws re very sharp

Bone is more easily cleaned of all the stains and adhesions if it isfresh. The bloods tains seem to set in place if left too long and the oi lfrom inside the marrow seeps into the bone from the inside if notremoved quickly. Only the centre section of the major leg bone isneeded , so the knuckles and the porous end sect ions should be cut offat the butcl1er s shop. Any of the big leg bones can provide ca rvingmaterial, but I prefer to use the shank (the lower rear leg) as it has oneside that is almost nat, for slabbing, and the other side is bone of a verydense quality where the muscle only lies against the bone and isn tattached to it. vVhere the ligaments and tendons are attached, thebone is highly flecked and a lot more porous I prefer the more ivorylike ma ter ial from the shank that has an attractive grain pattern ve rymuch the same as wood.

A strong, short-bladed , sharp knife is ve ry helpful when cutting offthe meat, ligaments and tendons. Using the blade at right ang les to thesurface of the bone can sometimes be more effec tive than merelycutting the outside layers of though this depends on the blade ssharpness and the amount of pressure applied with the knife. This job


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M T E R I L S N D P R E P R T I O N

needs a good deal of elbow grease. As many as possible of the outsidelayers should be removed by cutting and scraping to expose the boneunderneath.

The marrow should be removed from the centre of the hollowbone. A thin, flexible table knife is good for this task You can becomea dog s best friend with thi s stuff; also, birds are fond of it in a feeder inthe winter when they need highly nutritious food to withstand thecold.

Care with the scraping makes the later soaking stages easier. Afterscraping, the bones must be soaked in enough hot water to coverthem , to which is added half a cup of both a detergent and bleach. Thekinds of detergent and bleach that are common in the laundry aresuitable, but stronger ammonia based detergents are better thandishwashing liquid The water should not be boiling, but just from thehot tap, as boiling the bones tends to set the stains instead of drawingthem out, and boiled bone is chalkier and more difficult to carve in finedetail.

Soaking the bones in the hot water, detergent and bleach draws theoils out and cleans them , but it is wise to have a bottle brush to cleandown the hollow section of the bone to remove the excess that is hardto remove with a knife. Failure to do this means that the inside layer ofbone becomes stained with spots of oil. Bottle brushes are cheap andeasy to find. The first soaking should be for at least two or three hours;this causes the surface layers of the bone to soften, and these should beagain scraped away with the sharp knife to ensure th at no stainedlayers remain to be reabsorbed into the material after the soakings.

After the second scraping the bones should be soaked again in anew solution of hot water, detergent and bleach for a further three orfour hours, or longer if there are still signs of staining that might beremoved by the solution. Some stains are too deep to remove and thematerial must be discarded. The second soaking, like the first, softens

The rear lower leg bone, the shank, has the best bone available forcarving, because one side is flat and the other has very fine-grainedbone free from flaws.

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26 ONE C R VIN G

the surface slightly and this should be scraped off for the last time.The bones should then be thoroughly rinsed in cold water to get ri ofthe detergent and bleach and then left to dry for at least 24 hourspreferably standing on their ends so that they can drain properly.

When dry the material is workable or storable but before storingthe bone I like to file and sand the surface in order to see what featuresor flaws ifany it has. It is wise to cut offany bits of bone that still haveany translucent oil showing as these sections will gradually soak outinto the material and discolour it The filing and sanding of thesurfaces at this stage is more work but makes selecting material fromthe stored resource easier depending on the project in mind. Thebones should be stored where there is no chance of them being soiledby water oil or grease as the material is porous.

Material preparation is an unpleasant task for someone of tendersensitivities but that is the cost. Instead of the bone costing money itcosts the time and energy to prepare it. Patience and discipline arehard to keep in focus during the hours of toil but proper preparation isas important as the more exciting stages of the job. It must be kept inmind that all the stages of the carving are important and a properattitude towards every aspect will be reflected in the end product.

any carvers like using the features and stains that go with foundmaterial but it is my personal preference to completely clean thematerial of all the organic oils so that the carving will willingly acceptthe oils from the skin of the wearer and the patina the surface colourgrows with the age of the piece. any of the oldest items of personaladornment are valued not only for their obvious beauty but for thebeautiful patina of age that has been added by previous wearers andholders of the piece. The oils from the skin of the wearers haveassociations with the power of the previous holders. I like to think thatmy carvings are empty vessels that can be filled with the energy of thewearer.


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ONE C R V I N G

Pa Kahawai. Te Puawaitanga (1500-1800), wood, bone and she llNational Museum.These hooks were extremely well crafted showing command ofsuch diverse materials as wood. bone and shell. The wood providesflotation, the shells flash as the hook rotates and attract thekahawai s st rike , embedding the barb. This is a very elegant wayof solving the problem of catching the fast surface-feeding, pelagicfish such as the kahawai; it is a tec hnical marvel when you considerthe power and speed of the kahawai.

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28

Matau, whalebone, Te Puawaitanga 1500-1800),30 x 21mm.National MuseumThis functional hook has added decorative features both ritual andfunctional in nature. This kind of hook played a part in both foodgathering and the ritual life of the community. The smaller of thetwo masks is where the bait line was tied on, leaving the barbs freeto catch in the gill rakers at the back of the throat . Its sma ll sizemakes it worth considering: the carver was able to create a hookthat was well balanced functionally. and yet it has a scu lpturalgrace that is both powerful and easily overlooked.

B ONE C AR VING

Hei matau, whalebone. Te Puawaitanga period 1500-1800),65 x mm . National Museum.This piece is a good example of we balanced d esign, where thehole drilled n the centre becomes the organising element for theoverall form . The hole is large ly unchanged from the round apartfrom the fine cut into it , yet it expresses the idea of the fish-hookvery well, with an economy of work thaI makes sense. The formhere is cut n whalebone but it is one of the form s that is commonin pounamu Uade .


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B O N E C R VING

Matau, wha le ivory, Te Huringa period (1800-present). 60 x 40mm.National Museum . From Hawkes Bay.Th is is a very good example of the Pacific gorge hook, whichwhen swallowed by the fish, was pulled so it caught in the gillrakers at the back of the throat. It lacks the sharp points and bentshank of the Pakeha metal hooks and represents quite a differentfishing method. The hole in the bottom is to attach the bait-tyingline. Though a functional object, it shows a control of the materialthat makes it very pleasant to look at, and ergonomically sound. Itwas probably used to catch the wide-mouthed, bottom-feedingfish such as rawaru (blue cod) and hapuku (groper).

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Ivory reel , whale ivory, Nga Kakano period 900-1200), 50mmNational Mu seum .This s one of a number of bead forms that were made here n thevery early period of the growth of Maori art, and was graduallydiscarded by the later people who seemed to put more energy intothe cutting of pounamu Qadel. showing the dynamic nature of theart forms.

B ONE C A R VING


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M T E R I L S N D P R E P R T I O N

Beef bone has little inherent value, but because it isn t precious thecarver can be quite a bit mo re adventurous with it and not run the riskof ruining a piece of va luable material. This freedom to explore formsand ideas is one of the material s greates t virtues, though if the bone isprepared and carved with care it can compete with much moreprecious material. like ivory, quite eas ily.

Ivory, whales teeth and elephants teeth don t usuall y need anypreparation as they don t come directly from the animals. /\ny freshlystranded material, especially the bone, has a powerful , offensive odourthat means it sometimes needs years in the g round before it iscarvable. Boiling the teeth to clean them can cause some internalcracks and delamination of the enamel from the dentine.

Whalebone is a lot more flecked and featured than beef bone, andsometimes it isn t as strong but this depends on which part of thewhale the bone comes from. The primary source of goo d carvingma ter ial comes from the jawbones of whales, and sometimes from thepalate . The ribs of large wha les can provide carvable material, thoughusua lly just the thin ou ter wa ll of the rib is usable and this isn t asstructurally sound as the other larger pieces that come from the jaw.

Ivory var ies a lot as the teeth of an individual are as distinct as afmgerprint. The most-used ivory for carving, world-wide, is Africanelephant teeth , with Indian ivory next, wh ile whale s-too th ivory iscomparatively rare. There is a large market for ivory, but there are alsoquite a few ivory barriers where countries have prohibited its importand placed strict controls on internal trafficking. The USA is one ofthese countrie s and throughout the world there are moves beingmade by watch gro ups to try to stop the illega l traffic in ivory that isjeopardising the very existence of the eJepnant in Africa. You shouldtake account of this when considering working with ivory.

Whale ivory, like all teeth, has two la ye rs the enamel on the outsideand the dentine on the inner. Th ey a re fairly homogeneous, being of

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32 BONE C R V I N Gthe same density and strength, and are usually but not always)bonded together so well that the structural nature of the joint betweenthe enamel and the dentine isn t a worry. The enamel s white. whilethe dentine s a beautiful honey colour.

Elephant ivory has enamel that s a lot more dense than the dentine.and it s not often used on elephant ivory carvings. The dentine has acharacteristic criss-cross pattern that enables identification of itsonglO.

Large pig tusks also provide some nice carving material, but theenamel s very hard to work and must be removed from the moreuseable dentine before carving. There are some very big sets of pigtusks around New Zealand. considering the number and size of someof the wild pigs in the bush here. The ivory available from this sources fine grained and quite beautiful but has a curve and triangular crosssection that must be kept in mind when designing a carving.

Most mammalian teeth are carvable. and throughout the world theivory from less well-known animals, such as the walrus,hippopotamus, wart-hog and crocodile has been carved. Because of itsgreat density, rat-tooth enamel was used a lot in pre-metal Pacificcarving for fine chisel points. A lot of the very fine-feature carving inthe Pacific that s called stone carved s in fact carving using the rattooth chisel


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NE C R V I N G

esign


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34

Showing the three stages in the design, roughing out and detail ofthe hei toki, before the lash ing is added to complete the piece. Th ecurve of the bone is incorporated into the form of the adze blade.These three stages are also shown the ot her side up on page 23.)

NE C R V IN

D esign is a combination of va rious facto rs such as the form desired,the nature of the mater ial. the technology ava ilab le, making timecultural meaning, and th e use that the piece is to be put to. It isd ifftcu lt to descr ibe the process of designing as it is some thing that Ihave not been very formal wi th . Good or bad design is something thatI feel rather than und erstand. Sometimes when look ing at a piece I cansee that something is right or wrong with it , but I am often hardpressed to flOd a reason for feeling that way There are obvious flaws indesign, such as a lack of balance of mas s the combination ofconf1icting elemen ts, or inadequate control of the material or process,but most of the time I rely on the less formal feelings in things of thisnat ure.

I c n say that a close look at the artefacts of the Pacific in ourmuseums around the country will give the carver a good idea of whatboth good and bad design can be. Many of the old artefacts show abeautiful simplicity, where the forms are derived rom varioussources , for instance. the human figure, birds and plants. These arethe tangible forms that the deeper meanings can be lashed to. Copyingthe old artefacts can give the carver some insight into good design, butnot all of the old pieces are perfect by a long way.

Many carvers start by copying things that they have seen, and thatis al l right, but dull, repetitive copying is a corrupting practice, and thecarvings that result have little attraction, especially if the copying hason ly been done for money. Copying can be very helpful on someleve ls to assist in understanding the cultural sign ificance of an oldpiece and the cut s that might be required for future p ieces, and tostrengt hen the skillbase in order to go deeper into the creativity.

orking one form repea tedly need not be dull , repetitive copying.


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ESIGN

t is possible to put a bit of creativity into a repeated form, and that isthe challenge, to stay honest with the material, form and meaning. Myhei matau are a case in point. I have made quite a few of them over theyears. but each one is different to the rest, albeit in a small way It isdifficult to find two pieces of material of the same thickness, with thesame curve or the same surface grain patterns, which accounts for a lo tof the differences but it is also because I try to put something differentinto each hook by staying fresh and positive with the form each time Ido it.

Impressed upon me after a lot of time spent looking at the artefactsof the Pacific is the overall theme of simplicity that runs through thework. \Vhat appears, at first sight, to be complex design often has asimple principle directing what can be exp ressed in different ways. Asfar as poss ible I have tried to incorporate this into my own work.\Vhen I get lost or confused I often close my eyes and read the wordsthat are indelibly imprinted on the inside of my forehead: keep its mp e

Many of the surface decorations on the old Pacific carvings arebased on a s ingle motif that can be scaled up or down to fit theintention of the carver and the space available on the carving. t isuseful to learn the basic pattern and then practice fitting it into thevarious compl ex surfaces and spaces that come up on figures. Th esepatterns should not be treated as mere ftllers of space, as they have awhole lot of information stored in them. some of it quite beautifulPuwerewere a pattern that I have some times worked, is the graphicrepresentation of light refracting through dew drops hanging in aspider s web. The dew drops are represented by triangular prism-likeforms. Poutama one of the notched ridges, is the stairway to heaven.They need to be understood and respected.

Te pounamu is a clear example of how the nature of the materialaHected the design of the pieces. Because the jade is so hard and

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36

Th e nat ural cu rve o f the bone can be of advantage in getting moredepth of fie ld than is ava ilable in the thickness o f the bone.

BO NE C A RVINresistant to work, th e forms carved by the pre metal lapidaries wereoften simplified so that there was the minimum of cu tting to create themost effec t. Te hei ti ki pounamu is a good example; the head of thefigure is tilted so that the cu ts that form the neck can be smaller. Someof the figures are a set of elabora ted holes. fo r exampl e. the pekapeka.

Beef bone has few lim its to wh at can be carved in it. except that, likewood , it tends to split along the gra in , so carving too thinly in cross-grained mate rial can make a carving very fragile. Al so. the mater ia l isalways in the same thic kn ess and ho llow cross sections . makingca rving in the round qu ite res tricted. D urability and strength arequalities that I think must be kept n mind when designing.

Elect rickery . as I call elec tricity. has taken a lot of thetechnolog ical limits away, becau se it make s it a lot easie r to cutmaterial quick ly and save time. This is especially so in the cu tt ing ofstOne, but it is useful to look at the old stone artefacts with the limits ofhand tools in mind.

Beef bone doesn't come in a regular. flat. slabbed form. Almos t allof the bone is of a cu rved n ature. and fo r a long ti me I was upset by thisuntil I started to use thi s curve to ge t more depth of for m th an wasposs ible with the thickness of the material. Mo st pieces of beef boneare onl y five to six mm th ick, but using the curve I can get th e tail s ofwhales and dolphins to be as deep as 30 mm at righ t ang les to thebody. W hat at first sight is a limit ing factor can with a change ofperspective become an advantage.

Some of the old wood carvings show the way that the carver had torespect the end functi on of the work . The pieces that ma ke up thecarved meeting houses aren't ju st decoration but have rea l structuralro les to play, so they are carved in such a way th at the s trengt h of thebeam or p lank of wood is not compromised. Holes cu t right th roughthe pla nk s t create a des ign are cut evenl y so tha t the st ructuralintegrity of the wood is maintained, or figures are cut in low re lief


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ESIGN

leaving the bulk of the wood to do the job of holding the house up.A common design fault occurs when a carver takes a figure out of

the context of a larger group which is a structural entity , and forgetsthat that figure s leg is resting on the head of the figure below, or isconnected to some element in some other way, and leaves it stickingout into nowhere. t is better not to slavishly lift the design from aphoto without attention to the stance or overall look of the figure.Sometimes all that is needed is a simple realignment of the legs orarms so that they don t stick out in cross-grained material.

Refinement of design is simply doing it again and again till you getit right.

Over the years my drawing skills have improved from a very poorstandard to a functional level, with the help of an eraser. t is good totry to make the mistakes on paper, rather than n bone, so I oftensketch a carving in various different ways and pick the one that looksthe best to actually carve. This helps stop the monster box fromoverflowing. As I have already said, most material doesn t corne in auniform shape ready for you to impose your design on. Sometimes it isgood to work with the form that is suggested by the shape of the piece,and work to uncover that which is within it

Sister nature is the most amazing carver of all, from the complexityof a snO\vflake, to the simple elegance of a beach pebble. Natural formsare everywhere, and can be good points of reference when designing.The koru, a common element in surface decoration, is the adaptationof the fern frond form. There are lots of things that can be of helpwhen designing; the only limit is the imagination.

ood design is when things look as if they could not have been anyother way.

There are quite a few forms used by Pacific people to express thesame concepts as in other cultures. Indeed some of them hint at

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Heru (comb), whalebone, Te Huringa period (lSOO-present), 165 x?6mm. National Museum From East Coast.

The simple single koru cut into the top of this comb is verydramatic. Somet imes it is not only important to look at the solidparts of the carv ing, but also to be aware of the negative spacesthat the holes create. Th is is especially trlle of work with the korllform, which is quite common in the contemporary carving scene.

B O N E C R V I N G

universal qualities. Forms such as the adze or blade representautho rity and power. The whale's tooth is a form that is used by somePaciflc cultures, though the meaning of this is a bit more difflcult toput into words, but it has a strong personal feeling for me.

t is quite we l known that the fish-hook symbolises abundance andplenty, but some of the ot her forms are less obvious and I have had topiece their meanings toge ther much as I have put this techniquetoge ther, in a bit-by-bit jigsaw manner, fitting a piece of informationinto a place and see ing its relationships to things from other parts. Indo ing this it is quite possible that I have got the wrong end of the stickbut it has helped me unders tand their unity so I am willing to believethings on ev idence that a stricter intellect might laugh at. The thing isthat they make sense to me and if they fit in, albeit not too we ll. I cancope with it

I want to make it cl ear that much of the content of this book is mypersonal opinion, and I'll st ick to it, but each individual is free tobelieve and accept what I say, or not. I am certainly not trying to se tmyself up as an authority whose opinions are to be taken as facts. Myintention is to offer my opinions in the book in the hope that theymight he helpful to others \Vho may be thinking along the same lines.

The concepts that I'm trying to express in my own work are mostlyfeelings that I fit on to the form that is appropriate, but it must berealized that this part of the designing process is subjective. Whatworks for me may not be of use to anyone else, when looked at \Vith anintellectual pair of blinkers. In other words, and on a different sca le ,the artefacts of the Pacific can be seen as collective feelings of a culturefor the things that need to be explained, but can' t be clear ly statedbecause of the difficulty of putting the unseen parts of reality into aso lid, coherent form. So they are hinted at or dep icted in myths thatthe carvings represent

Many old and contemporary carvings are made with a myth, story


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ESIGN

or idea n m ind and novice carvers can estab lish this practice by tryingto understand the old pieces. hen they will be able t become part ofthat very old way of doing things and incorporate some of their innerfeelings into the work.

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4 B ON E C RVIN

afety


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S F E T Y

Safety sense is the awareness of imminent disaster. As the carver getsthe tools sharper the danger of serious injury increases. t is a soberingthought to realize that the tool in your hand can cut straight to thebone . The cost of a lack of safety awareness gets higher and higher asthe tools get more sophisticated.

Safety sense is important for the sake of the piece of work as weU asthe carver. Not paying attention to what you are doing can result indamage to the carving itself. t doesn't take long to realise thatthrowing away several hours' work because of carelessness is veryuncreat ive. The apprehension of damage to yourself is akin to thesense of the danger to the carving. On the same level is the awarenessthat the tools are fragile and are easily damaged by improper handlingor use. There is so much sharpening to be done it is short-sighted toadd to the amount by not guarding the fragile edges on the tools orbeing slack about workshop practices.

The equipment that is available to safeguard your eyes, ears andlungs, such as safety glasses, ear-muffs and dust masks, should havethe very highest place on your list of things to buy. t is a false economyto skimp on these purchases.

Dust is a very vis ible part of bone carving, and though it isn't verytoxic , it is quite sharp and flbrous, with a substantial irrit ant effect onthe lungs. The lungs are self-cleaning to a certain extent, but they cancope with only a small amount ofdust at anyone time, so a dust maskis part of my workshop attire. Masks are a little uncomfortable to wear,but the long term cost of not wearing one is quite high. A mask ismore important when using a machine, because the dust is usually ofafiner, lighter consistency than that produced by hand tools, andconsequently it floats around more easily. Hand tool dust, beingheavier, usually falls to the ground or table top, and doesn't present

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42 ONE C R VIN Gsuch a problem but it is still wise to use the mask.

As more machines are added to the tool repertoire of the workshopso the need for more safe ty consciousness increases. Most electricdrills are ve ry noisy so a pair of ear-muffs of a standard safety type isneeded. Many drilling jobs require close proximity to the drill in orderto see what is go ing on. espec ia lly when the hole is small or beingdrilled in a tricky place. This means that not only should a pair of earmuffs be worn but also a pair of safety g lasses that are not tooscratched.

A full set of safety equipment shou ld be worn when using theflexible grinding discs in the point carver. These discs are extremelynoisy things and can damage your hearing as well as eyes and lungs ifthey are used in a confined space. amage to the hearing happenswhenever there is a ringing in the ears after doing a task that generatesnoise above certain levels. It causes slow and insidious damage thathas a cumulative effec t rather like damage to the lungs. so please becareful when doing anything that may affect your health. The bigthing is to be aware of the dangers. and a bit of paranoia is also helpful.


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ON C R V I N G 4

ools


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Pakohe adze. metamorphosed argillite. This triangular adze had abig effect on my gravers. The smaller form is a flaked blank showingthe stone-against -stone knapping technique used by the earlyM'aori stone workers. The fin ished blade is an example of howdetailed the grinding and finishing was on these tools . Th ey a resubstanti al ac hievements. and show the command possessed bythe Maori artists over resistan t materials.

BONE C R NG

GraversAfter I had been carving and working wood fo r a couple of years,Ow en Mapp introduced me to the tools for bone carving. The graversthat he showed me really changed the way that I looked at carving .Graver is a rather general term for any small-bladed tool that is used

for cutting a number of materials by being pushed by, or used in thehand. These small, chisel-like tools have traditionally been associatedwith the jewellery trade for cutting metal, and in the printing trade forcutting both metal and wooden printi ng blocks, though in the lattercase they are called burins .

I worked for one year with one graver. and after a bit ofexperimenting it became clear that the edges on the tools that wereused for cutting metal weren't entirely suit able for cutting bone. Withbone in mind I looked at the stone blades of the whole Pacific area. butmostly toki Maori. The edges on the stone blades are curved andsnub-nosed, a lot thicker than the metal blades used for carving wood.

The result of quite a few weIl-planned blunders was the tool that Ica ll Number One. which is an adaptation of two basic tools. thejeweller's lozenge and the moa hunter pakohe adze ca lled hogsback.The lozenge is a square rod of hardened high-carbon steel that has theend cut off at a 45 angle to create a diamond shaped facet making apoint and two edges leading back from it. The toki pakohe arebasical ly triangular where one apex of the triangle is a sma ll facetending in a sma ll chisel blade.

n the Number One graver blade I d ispensed with the small chiselleading edge. and subst ituted the po int of the jewe ler's lozenge, butstill kept the basically curved nature of the stone blades. There aremany fine collections of stone artefact s in the museums aro und the


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T O O L Scountry, and time spent looking at them carefully can be helpful forany carver of any material.

The Number One has three functional edges that cut differentlywhen pushed in either direction, and the point gives the tool sevenbasic options. Each edge can be used to either cut or scrape. utting iswhere the edge of the blade is guided along the surface by the heel ofthe blade, that section of curved metal behind the edge, and scraping iswhen the edge alone rests on the material, and a finer cut is produced.The tool is flexible in its function, whereas the jeweller s gravers areusually used to make one cut in one direction.

The other smaller points are also basically triangular, having threeuseable edges. It is possible with a few tools to have quite a few cuttingoptions, though there are a couple of tools that have single-cut uses,

Number One is ground from round cobalt super blank stock. Carein getting the facets flat one way and curved on the other willreduce hand stoning.

Number One should be ground to resemble the pakohe triangularadze, then close the end to form a point, rather than a chisel edge.

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46

Number Tw o is used for both scraping and cutting but the edgesmost used are the less obvious ones that lead back from the point ,rather than the skew chisel edge.

The metal used for the blades is fragile so it is wise to pul a smallsecondary bevel on the tip to help prevent this part from breakingoff.

ONE C R VIN G

for example, to cut the snap for the brooch pin to go through Thefiner points are good for doing cuts like fine grooves to undercut a bitof bone to make it appear to be lying on top of the piece underneath. Inmost of the cuts using the fin er tools the edges that are used are theless obvious edges leading back from the point, rather than the onethat forms the skew chisel.

The finer points, though made of very strong hard metal. are quitefragile, breaking if the blade is used incorrectly Using the point tolever out the waste can break the tip of the tool off. and because of thisit is good to put a sma ll edge on the very end of the blade.

The better the edge on the tool. the better the surface that resultsfrom its cutting A tooled surface can look quite attractively finished ifthe grain of the material is respected, and the tool s edge is sharpenedwell on a fine stone. The tooled surface can be used to create texture togive differe nt qualities to the light reflecting off it If the detail of thecarving is complex the sanding is often difficult, so the better thegravers the more convincing the fine detail of surface decoration canbe.

I rarely use the gravers on a mounted, stationary piece of work, butprefer to work with the carving in one hand and the graver in the other,creating an isometric tension between the pushing and the holding.Mo re control is achieved with this method , and fewer slips Theamount of tension that is generated is at times considerable, causingsome stiffness in the neck and forearms . The hand held system ismore flexible because it allows you to work the entire surface of thepiece and turn it around in order to see the sculptural quality ratherthan its being mounted and only one-sided.


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B ONE C R VING

Albatross hook , bone and wood. Te Huringa period 1800-present).90 x 6 mm . National Museum .The wooden shank is beautifully decorated, but it has a sensiblefunctional look . These hooks were trailed behind a canoe to catchtoroa albatross), whose bones were used for v ry special purposes- as uhi blades used in Moko, i.e tattooing) and as togg les forthe cords that suspended valuable pendants such as hei tiki. Theform of the carved shank is of two faces looking at each other, aneye on each side of the shank, and joined together by their tongues .Its highly decorated nature points to the v ry ritua lised activity itwas used for.

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8

Hei niho paraoa, whale ivory Nga Kakano - Te Tipunga 900-1500), 1l0mm National Museum. From Seatoun.Whale tooth pendants are common to many Pacific peoples,sometimes whole and sometimes split into parts to form pin-likeforms. This is an example of the form worked here in Aotearoa . Ithas some surface decoration scratched into it. though it is now alittle indistinct. and the two different colours are where the lighterenamel has been removed to expose the darker dentine layers ofthe tooth. This piece may have been strung as the centrepiece of anecklace with reel-like beeds on each side .

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B ON RVI NG

t.IPnfinity Unfo lding beef bone, 1982. 120mm. This was carved while

[ was travelling through Papua New Guinea look ing at theMelanesian carving styles.

Whal e s tails, beef bone, 1984. 120mm. The series of tails is carvedin the overa ll shape of a whale s tooth, a very common form inPacific adornment.

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50

Cloak pin , Te Huringa period l800-present), National useum .Th is pin is very beautiful with well cut surface decoration showingthe passion for adorning things that is a common e.lement ofM il ri and Pacific carving.

BONE CARV NG


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T O O L SMetal PointsThere is nowhere at present where you can buy bone-carving graversready for use. so to be a carver is in essence t be a tool-make r. Thegraver po in ts can be ground fro m any available metal . but obv iouslytoo l-stee l is better than a four-inch nail. There are relatively low costop tions in buying the right type of metal or the job. Old fdes. orhacksaw blades supp ly some good quality high -speed stee l as do olddrill bits. but the metal that I have found bes t for the job is cobalt superblank stoc k. which is used for the cu tting tools in metal-cutting lathesused by eng inee rs. Blank stock doesn t have an edge grou nd on it so itis cheaper than those too ls that come with a prepa red edge on them . Itcomes in a variety of s izes and cross-sections; the ones I use are Vinch, -:; fl inch and 1/ 4 inch round .

The coba lt super op tion is a lot cheaper in the long run than buyingthe spec ia lly manufactured jeweller s g ravers. The super cobalt may bea bit harder than the graver stee l making the grinding a little moredifflcult. but th e jewe llery tools are sold in a form that needs muchpreparation before they can be used. The gravers are sold as a blade ofstandard lengt h that is usually longer than necessary for bone carvingchisels. So they need to be cut dow n, which is a grinding job. and thehandl es are sold separately so they need to be hafted . These are bothjobs that have to be done whichever type of tool is selec ted.

Because the jewe llery trade is seen by the powers-that-be to be aluxury. it is taxed accordingly. making the too ls expensive, even intheir constituent parts that need to be put toge ther. The super cobal tis an engineering trade necess ity and consequently isn t given the sameattention as the tools for the Jewe llery trade.

The stockists of ewellery gravers are few. so it usually means a tripto a centre like Auckland. but the super cobalt is available from manygood engineering suppliers As I have sa id before, it is wise to see what

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52 B O N E C R V I N Gis in stock in your immediate neighbourhood, rather than going off toAuckland to buy the expensive option, though sometimes this isunavoidable for some special ist tools, as Auckland is the biggestindustrial base in New Zealand. Engineering supply outlets stockquite a range of too] steel , from tungsten carbide to silver steeLTungsten carbide is too hard for most common abrasives, therefore itis a bit impractical for most workshops, and the heat-tempered silversteel s hardness is fragile if it is heated up too much during thegrinding of the tools. Cobalt super is easy to use and just able to be cutby a standard bench grinder.

Cobalt super out-performs any metal that I ve tried, becausethough it is a little harder than most metals, increasing the grindingtime, it takes less time to maintain the edge once it is established. Withsuper cobalt the time cost of setting up is higher, but this is a one-timecost, rather than the continuous open-ended cost of more worksharpening. Looking at the long and short term cost of a project ishelpfuL

There is no option other than to use electricity to grind the points,as the hand-powered rotary grinders are difficult to control unlessthey are of the highest quality. t is possible to do the whole job on asimple bench sharpening stone, but this is a very slow op tion. Electricgrinders rotate at frightening speed, so they are very dangerous to theeyes, as grit and waste metal are flung at you at beyond blinking speed.The grit and waste metal is rather more active dust than bone so caremust be taken to avoid contact with this stuff by wearing all theprotective safety equipment, safety glasses dust mask and ea r-muffs ifthe grinder is too noisy.

Graver steel is usually made from a high carbon content s teeLCarbon fibres are the hardest thing that we have. Heat is used tocombine the carbon with the steel, and once the metal has all thedesired constituents, which in some tool stee ls are many in number it


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T O O L Sis formed into its desired shape while the metal is soft. t can even befiled easily at this stage. The hardness of the metal isn t one of itsprimary properties, but is added after the tool is formed by baking themetal in a high flre till all the molecules are lined up in one directionThen the tool is quickly quenched in a coolant, either water or oilbefore the molecules can v from their optimum posi tion, creatinga strong, hard metal that will cut the file that previously cut it Thewhole heating and hardening process is called tempering, and it is easyto dest roy the temper of the tool with over-heating and improperquenching.

rinding metal generates a lot of heat, which can damage the toolunless some kind of coolant is used. A container of water in which todip the point is sufficient, but haste in this job will compromise thetemper and thu s the hardness of the point. The best types of grindersare the ones that have water trickling onto the grindstone while it isgrinding, but these are not as common as the bench grinder types. Number Two is basically triangular to start with, but it is finished

in the shape of the skew chisel.

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Haehae chisel and gravers . This type of graver comes di rectlyfrom the wood-carving kit of chisels; it is very useful fo r liningout. or making the first cuts. as with its wings-forward shape itcu ts the top of the groove before cutting the bot tom . Th is minimisesbreaking of the grain in front of the chise l which is common inmaterial with a grain like wood or bon e.

BO NE C R VINGThe photos of the stages of grinding the points are clear enough to

follow

bone carving - a skillbase of techniques and concepts

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