The seed of this project was the raw emotion of a battle cry, and the maker turned that shout into a carved bust named Hildr. The name pulls double duty: in Norse myth Hildr is a Valkyrie who revived fallen warriors, and the old Norse noun simply means battle. Both readings suit a piece built around a war shout.
The sculpture is a split bust, one half a screaming human face and the other an anatomical skull. Ronan White carved it from a laminated block of Limewood and Walnut, one pale and one dark. The light side forms the skull, complete with teeth, nasal cavity, eye orbit and cervical spine segments, while the dark side carries the closed eyes, open mouth and an ear. The finished piece rests on a circular wooden stand with a cylindrical light-wood base beneath it.
The carving was guided by marker sketches drawn from profile photos and anatomical diagrams, with a cast skull replica, prints of facial expressions and plaster or clay casts on the bench as references. Kirschen carving gouges in various sweeps and sizes did most of the work, with sweeps 5 and 6, in 12mm and 6mm, seeing the heaviest use. Micro carving gouges handled the fine detail, alongside flat chisels, a wooden mallet, a cordless drill, small carving knives, files and miniature dental-style carvers. The work was held in a swiveling carvers vice and smoothed by hand with sandpaper strips and blocks. Roughly two months of carving compressed into a two minute time-lapse is a treat to watch.
Two things stand out as open threads. The maker chose not to add the skull's fissures and foramina, so the anatomical side reads cleaner than a real specimen would. And Limewood finishing is admitted to be disliked here, since any patch missed with sandpaper becomes obvious once wax goes on. No cost for a commissioned version has been stated either.
Project by Ronan White. Watch it on their YouTube channel: