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i must have been very small when i started working with wood. i should also mention that before choosing wood i began by drawing. i was influenced by my older brother. i would stare at his drawings. after that he started making things out of small branches and sticks and i found this very interesting - i must have been in my 5th or 6th grade. some time passed and i started to train myself, just like small children do, to learn how to draw, to look at more complex things and then i started to make small sculptures, again kids’ stuff. i was impressed by monument pedestals,
by baroque curves and fillets and i tried to follow the proportions. that's how, step by step, the desire to work with wood grew inside me. in my opinion, wood-carving is definitely king of all the crafts. before taking up wood-carving there are many things you ought to observe. you can use wood-turning for making things such as souvenirs, furniture or for exterior work, you gain more knowledge each day. wood-carving is the final process in making an object - whether it's a door panel, an eaves capital or a piece of furniture. that's where wood-carving can be used.
we don't have to put up with what is available on the wider market. it's nice to produce an artisan product if you have the skill and the desire to do it. not in large numbers, but in small quantities. and the real value of things comes from the fact that you get satisfaction from creating something that hasn't existed up until that that moment. i begin with each new task with seriousness and responsibility and i become obsessed by it night and day. it's in my dreams, in my spare time, it haunts me incessantly. as my wife likes to say "you are married to your work, not me". most of my professional experience and time has been spent in my studio - this is my kingdom.
the objects that i make give pleasure not only to me, but also to others who see them. it's not a year or two - i have 35-40 years of professional experience. there are many things i've created and so many that i would still like to do but i'm not sure if there will be enough time to do it. once the project preparation is over, the execution begins. the task starts with the selection of the timber. after drying out it is suitable to work on, so having been cut out, the wood has to adapt to the environmental conditions for ten days. then it's calibrated to the exact size. the master knows that after the piece of wood is trimmed on all sides - along its length, width and thickness,
it will not change significantly and any deviations will be minimal and unnoticeable. after that the piecing together begins. the main parts in assemblingwood are mortise and tenons. that's how parts are put together, everything has to fit perfectly - not too loose and not too tight. the joints between parts should be no bigger than two tenths of a millimetre. depending on the specification, each object is given an undercoat or oils whether it is to be left natural or coloured, and finally it is coated with varnish,
depending on how the finished object is to be used and the conditions it will be used in. what does my profession give me? meaning to my life. as i said earlier, working with wood, although not what i wanted to do the most, it is the only thing i know because i have spent my whole life doing it my studio is everything to me - it's my kingdom. this is where i feel at my best, here when i am by myself with the wood. all my thoughts and love are for the craft. i feel glad to touch the wood, to mould it into whatever i want. there are no limits.
it's a pity that these days, professional wood-carving, which is wonderful, doesn’t provide a sustainable living. nowadays master wood-carvers have a low status, because everything is hand-made and has to compete with the free market and an ocean of goods, there is no way they could survive. and young people, who are vital to the continuation of the craft and of everything else, even if they have an interest in mastering the art initially, when they come face to face with the reality, they lose motivation
because they cannot make a living from it. the crafts have become more of a hobby to many people. we are the last few masters of the craft left - like living monuments of our cultural heritage. there still is a chance to pass it all on to the next generation. in order for the craft to continue it has to become government policy. despite everything, hope is the last thing to die. we, the masters, do all that we can do to convince the policy makers that even if a master cannot live by his craft we could at least promote its value and appreciation 7300:08:05,633 --> 00:08:10,633and so the master will feel supported in his job.
and when guests, friends and tourists see that these things could be hand-made using a technology that is totally different from the present-day ones, young people will be motivated enough to take up the craft. for me the craft is quite different to a business, it's ã¯â¿ ã¯â¾â° almost a museum exhibit and that is how we should value it. it may be very optimistic but we do hope and believe that there will be a time pretty soon when the crafts will start living again, that they will not die out and successors will come forward. masters will take on apprentices.
and then all the masters like me, who have had forty years professional experience can say "at least i have taught one or two". this will be our biggest contribution to the development, preservation and continuation of the crafts.