Basics of Classical Relief Carving
Basics of Classical Relief Carving
Basics of Classical Relief Carving
with the grain as much as possible. Don't get uptight about this; lay down as they do naturally; on the other side of the cut, you're
cutting in the right direction on the first try isn't a matter of life or forcing the fibers apart, opening the grain. These sections of open
death. Learning to distinguish between smooth cuts and rough cuts, grain are difficult to finish and prone to break off as you carve.
and then adjusting to the changing grain, is the key to success. The
whole process will be a lot clearer once you put tool to wood. Carving flowers as a first lesson
To start, clamp the basswood to your bench so the long grain Now that you understand the basics about grain direction, you're
runs from right to left. Begin carving by making some practice cuts ready to really start carving. But first you need a sketch. It doesn't
with the V-tool. This tool is essential for outlining any carving be- have to be very elaborate, especially for practice pieces. In my
fore you begin shaping details. You may have seen other carvers classes, everyone usually has a coffee cup with them in the morning,
outline a carving with stop cuts, which involves driving a tool and that becomes the pattern for the first flower. Trace the bottom
straight down into the wood. This operation wedges the wood fi- of the cup to form a circle, and then sketch a smaller circle free-
bers apart, rather than slicing them, and leaves weak areas that are hand in the center of the first one. Next, draw in petals and round
likely to chip out later, Outlining with the V-tool actually removes their ends (see the flower at the far left on the bottom of p. 70).
wood and gives you space to work. Once the shape is outlined, Begin work by outlining the flower with the V-tool, as shown in
you can form deep perpendicular walls by making converging the top photo on the previous page. Again, keep your forearm and
cuts, one straight down and then one at an angle to the first cut. wrist on the wood, and make light strokes to determine grain di-
To practice with the V-tool, make a series of small, shallow cuts. rection. At first, don't worry about making a perfect line. That way
For the first 15 minutes, cut diagonally, working from right to left. you can change your mind about the shape as you study the grain.
Then switch and cut from left to right, nearly perpendicularly You want to cut in the direction that will leave the inside of the
across the first series of lines, creating a pattern that resembles the outline smooth and the outside rough, If the internal area is
checkering on a gunstock. Hold the V-tool close to the cutting rough, it will be prone to break as you shape the various compo-
edge (see the top photo on the previous page). Most people are nents of the flower.
reluctant to hold onto the metal below the handle and therefore Continue making light cuts as you outline the center circle and
hold the tool too high. Keep your arm and wrist on the work, and petals. When you outline the petals, always cut toward the center.
tap the chisel with a mallet. To save wear and tear on your hands To begin shaping the areas within the V-tool outline cuts, use your
and muscles when roughing out, use a mallet, but don't swing so #7 gouges. If you need to deepen or clean up any of the outlines,
hard that you lose control. When working with a mallet, the more switch back to the V-tool, as shown in the left photo above, rather
you push your wrist down on the board, the better the cut and the than making stop cuts with the gouge.
greater your control. Another way to increase control is to take As you carve with your gouges, once again hold the handle
light cuts. Most beginners mistakenly cut straight down into the down low, so that your hand is partially on the blade, for maxi-
wood; they look as if they are going right through, the workbench. mum control, as shown in the above photo at right. Experiment
Once you've covered a small area with a cross-hatch pattern, with the #7, #5 and #3 gouges, but practice your cuts on scrap
look carefully at the lines you've cut. You'll notice that the wall on before touching the real carving. This practice time will let you
one side of the V appears smooth, and the wall on the other side discover what cuts work best with each gouge. If you have honed
will be rougher. This shows the relationship between direction of an inside bevel on your tools, as described in the sidebar, also
cut and wood grain. Think of wood grain as the straw bristles on a experiment with carving with the main bevel up, as well as down.
worn broom. If you rub the bristles on the bottom of the broom in At this stage, your flower carving still looks rough, but you can
the direction the broom is used for sweeping, the straw lays flat refine it by rounding over and smoothing the flower's center before
and feels smooth; if you rub in the other direction, the straw re- working any more on the petals. The petals can be shaped in a vari-
sists and the feeling is rougher. Cutting with the grain is smoother ety of ways. Try hollowing them slightly with a #5 or #7 gouge, as
because you're pushing in the direction that causes the fibers to shown in the above photo at right. As you smooth out the shape, use
feel of your work. Sharp edges and crisp corners are the hallmark
of high-quality carving.
Teaching yourself
Continue to practice by carving the other flower designs in the
photos on the bottom of pp. 70-71. When you think you've learned
all you can from carving flowers, you might try letters, grapes,
leaves or other simple shapes. Then you can put those shapes togeth-
er into unique arrangements. Once you begin to master the basics,
you'll discover thousands of subjects and millions of design vari-
ations to explore. Check your library for books with carving illus-
trations, such as The Manual of Traditional Wood Caning by Paul
N. Hasluck (Dover Publications, 31 E. 2nd St., Mineola, N.Y. 11501;
1977). Most of my students find that once they get started, they can
improve their skills on their own; if they are very observant and
practice a lot, they don't need me or any other teacher for long.
Here are some additional hints to help you along the way. I
carve all my letters freehand, but you can find books on the sub-
To form the notch between the ends of the petals, Hall makes ject at local libraries and art-supply stores. Just remember to relate
two converging cuts with a gouge and then pops out the chip be- tool size to the size of the shapes in your design. Be conscious of
tween the petals with a third angled cut.
grain direction, and don't hesitate to make practice cuts until you
get a sense of the movements needed to cut a graceful letter.
hand pressure rather than a mallet to move the tool, and be careful Leaves are carved just like a flower: outline the shape, rough-
not to chip out the edges of the petals. All the petals are shaped in carve the features, refine the details. Again, you want your work to
the same way. Again, rely on your V-tool for refining outlines. reflect life, so most of your cuts should either originate from the
Shape the notches between the ends of the petals with a #3 center or go toward it. Grapes are another good practice project.
gouge. You need to make three cuts in from different angles, so When drawing out the pattern, you can obtain a more realistic
you should make a couple of practice cuts first. Continue practic- look by determining how the grapes will be hanging; the bottom
ing the moves until you master the angle needed to pop out the of each grape should be somewhat fuller than the top.
chip. The two cuts going into the corner, shown in the photo There's no end to what you can do. As you proceed to more
above, must be deeper at the V of the notch between the petals. elaborate reliefs, you might want to experiment by modeling the
The third cut frees the waste because this cut is angled in toward piece in clay before working in wood. I definitely recommend clay
the other two. This method for coming in from three different an- modeling when you are ready to try carving a human face. A face is
gles is a very important maneuver; you'll use it for years to come. one of the hardest things to carve. But, like any other carving, all it
Finally, smooth the surfaces with your gouges and the outlines takes is practice, practice, practice and a little imagination.
with your V-tool to eliminate any rough or torn areas. If you work
carefully, you shouldn't need to sand much at all, except perhaps Nora Hall has been carving wood professionally since 1941. She
to freshen areas that appear soiled from being handled. Don't rely carves and teaches carving at her studio in Clover dale, Oreg., An-
too much on sandpaper; it will destroy the hand-carved look and derson Ranch in Colorado and Peters Valley in New Jersey.