November 19, 2013: World record 40-foot hand-carved sculpture

[Undertoad]

via My Modern Metropolis comes this work, from the Chinese wood carver Zheng Chunhui. He took four years to complete the project, which is all carved from one single log. Guinness certified it as the longest wood sculpture.

The scenes feature beautifully intricate details of both the rich and poor's life in a small town. When replicating such a famous painting, many artists tend to add a touch of modern day into the very ancient scenes. However, Chunhui stuck strictly to the culture from almost a millennium ago, focusing on the small houses, boats, and even 550 tiny human sculptures as they went about their daily lives.

[glatt]

wow

[Clodfobble]

I wonder where he stored it while he was working on it. A forty foot long studio probably doesn't come cheap...

[footfootfoot]

I wonder if there was a team of craftsmen involved in that carving.

Everything is cheap in china.

[lumberjim]

Originally Posted by Clodfobble

I wonder where he stored it while he was working on it. A forty foot long studio probably doesn't come cheap...

Yeah, and he wood need at least 42 feet. But even that's shaving it close.

[footfootfoot]

It wood knot be a proper thread without a post from lumberjim.

[CaliforniaMama]

I LOVE Chinese carvings, especially when so small.

BC (before children), we lived in San Francisco. The bus to Chinatown was only a couple of blocks away.

Side story: It was amazing how we would get on this bus full of a mix of people, but predominately non-immigrant. As we went through the various neighborhoods, the demographics of the bus would change with the scenery. By the time we got to Chinatown, we were often the only white faces around.

There was always something going on, a new store opening with a long string of firecrackers going off, or a seasonal festival with the lion dancers. Often, we would just stroll along window shopping.

There were always the tourist trinkets that were in every window, but there were stores that had fabulously carved furniture and art pieces, huge jade carvings, and lots and lots of jewelry with carved jade pieces.

Lovely memories . . . thanx.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Even more impressive he called the shot. By copying China's "Mona Lisa", if he accidently cuts off the head of one of the 550 people or their livestock, he can't just eliminate that person/critter and say that's what he intended to do.

I've gone to the link, and the links from the link, and the links from there. I went to the records site, and searched Google, but nowhere does it tell me what kind of tree that is. What's the wood?

Kind of looks like Teak or Padauk, but it could be a hundred other woods, some hard and some soft... it makes a big difference whether he should get sainthood or merely worshipped.

[lumberjim]

Looks like Cedar.

[footfootfoot]

The softer the wood, the more difficult to carve without tragedy. Cedar, in particular, dulls the shit out of your tools; they need to be razor sharp or the wood fibers will be crushed rather than cut.

Good point about his "calling the shot" Bruce. Otherwise he'd merely be just another guy with too much time on his hands.

[lumberjim]

But it does LOOK like Cedar. What else has that color variation? And grows 40 foot trunks?

[footfootfoot]

I've never seen cedar with that much contrast. Red, Atlantic white, and even Port Orford all are pretty plain looking. Looks more like Zebra wood or Olive, but I doubt Olive gets that big.

[Clodfobble]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

By copying China's "Mona Lisa", if he accidently cuts off the head of one of the 550 people or their livestock, he can't just eliminate that person/critter and say that's what he intended to do.

I think the individual figures are not directly part of the log where they stand. I think common carving procedure is to cut a big hunk out from the trunk in the beginning, where they know most of the negative space is going to be, and then they take a block off that, carve a person, and set it into the landscape. So you could screw up a little guy, and just take another small block and try again.

[glatt]

You may be right for some of them. For example, the towering vertical posts in this building don't match the direction of the grain with each other or with the rest of the log.


However, if you follow the wood grain lines on several of these people, horses' backs, and load, the grain lines do follow the lines of the log, and those figures are carved from the log.

[SPUCK]

"Where'd the sculpture go Ming?"
"They told me take the scrap out of the barn for firewood."
"This is NOT the barn! This is the STUDIO!!!"