Journal Articles

Articles on Travel, Thoughts & Opinions, Book Reviews , Presidents Messages, and Letters from the Editors that have been published in NWSSA Sculpture NorthWest.

Grinder Blades and Diamonds

Some thoughts on diamond blades

If you only get one…..

which one will do you the most good?

For the sake of clarity, let’s just talk about what you could get that would be most useful with any small electric grinder, rated for 4 1/2″ or 5″ blades, single speed, for a mix of hard and soft stones.   I will try to offer my reasons for choosing one of the many kinds of diamond blades available, based on what different chores it can do, how versatile it is, and how affordable it is.  

diamondBladesAdjI will talk about the different kinds of diamond blades, what each is best at, etc.  First we must acknowledge that none of them were designed for carving.  We are a tiny fringe market, and we use tools that were made for construction and industry.  Most of the work we do with diamond blades is on the manufacturers’ DON’T DO THIS list, which just means we have to be cautious and not push the blades too hard.

Die Grinders

Die Grinders At A Glance Commentary For who: Metal workers to smooth out irregularities. Polishing For sculptors to do the

CampB Symposium 2011, July 9th to 17th


Mount Vernon International Symposium 2011 is pleased to announce Guest Artist: 
Matt Auvinen(mattauvinen@gmail.com)

CampB-BrochureImage-4CampB-BrochureImage-8

Matt Auvinen has been carving for over 30 years. He received his BA from California State
University, Chico and his MFA from Bowling Green State University in Ohio.
In 1988 Matt moved to Pietrasanta where he worked as an artisan for several sculpture
laboratories. For 12 of his 20 years in Italy, Matt taught sculpture and drawing for a private,
university level, art program in Florence. His sculptural foundation is from working with
mixed media. Matt has worked with cast bronze, welded steel, plaster and wood. Found object
assemblage became a focus of his work in the late 80s and this sensibility has been projected
on to his work in stone. In 2001 Matt curated an exhibition on stone carving techniques in
Settignano, the town famous for its stonecarvers just above Florence. In 2002 he translated
Francesco Carradori’s Elementary Instructions for Students of Sculpture into english (Getty
Publications).

Matt Auvinen has been carving for over 30 years. He received his BA from California StateUniversity, Chico and his MFA from Bowling Green State University in Ohio.In 1988 Matt moved to Pietrasanta where he worked as an artisan for several sculpturelaboratories. For 12 of his 20 years in Italy, Matt taught sculpture and drawing for a private,university level, art program in Florence. His sculptural foundation is from working withmixed media. Matt has worked with cast bronze, welded steel, plaster and wood. Found objectassemblage became a focus of his work in the late 80s and this sensibility has been projectedon to his work in stone. – Matt will be offering  comprehensive workshops on mold-making, reproductions, pointing, and direct carving methods. 
Symposium Schedule (as of June 28th) [click here]
Register on-line[click here]
To download a PDF of the registration form: click here
To view and download a PDF of our 2011 Camp B brochure- click here
To view and download a flyer for the Art Walk in the Meadow July 16th – click here
(For those who registered, due to the Canadian Postal strike, we are posting
these “post registration”  documents: “Registration Thank You” & “What to Bring“)

CampB Symposium 2009 Video

July 2009 we came to carve, learn, share, create, and be part of a community north of Seattle at Camp

2009 Oct-Nov-Dec

2009-q4-cover

Inside:

  • Spotlight On Three Artists
  • A Nancy Green Commission
  • Camp Brotherhood Quotes
  • Karla Matzke’s Gallery And Sculpture Park
  • Loveland Sculpture Show 2009
  • One Of Terry’s Top Ten Tips

    View or download the Oct-Nov-Dec 2009 issue of the NWSSA journal and newsletter….

Related Topics:

Recent News & Updates

2024 Oregon State Stone Carving Symposium

August 25th – September 1st, 202429th Annual International Stone Carving Symposium at Camp Suttle Lake near Sisters, Oregon Early Birds! Sign up by July 15th

Log In

We need some kind of descriptive text here.