The shop is still too cold for what I want to do next; finish the “words box.”
So, do something else! There’s been a pile of little practice carvings stacked on a window sill for a few years. All were carved in February to April 2012. The stack made a nice home for spiders, but even they fled the cold. I could toss those carvings, but holding on to them has won out so far.
Let’s see…, if I rearrange them just right, maybe they can be put together as a “sampler,” a lot like cross-stitch samplers.
Getting them to similar sizes and nesting together was an exercise of time and precision, but work that could be done in a warmer part of the house. A piece of 1/4 inch plywood forms the backing. A rough dab of hide glue holds each. If there is any movement, they might be free to dance around a bit. And Ralph; no mitered corners. 🙂 Overall size about 18″ square.
Design sources:
- Most were carved before I took any classes from Mary May. In her beginning relief carving class she ~usually~ teaches the donut, simple flowers, fan and linenfold. Grapes come a bit later and there’s a big secret to them. 🙂
- The acanthus shapes, c-bar, and coils are from Kurt Koch’s Complete Guide to Architectural Carving: 7 Skill Building Exercises to Master the Techniques
. 1
- The stars and rosettes from Rein957’s “Esercizi su legno” on YouTube.
- Others from Frederick Wilbur’s Carving Architectural Detail in Wood: The Classical Tradition
. 2 ANY of Wilbur’s books
will satisfy.
1 “Complete” is completely inaccurate in the title of Koch’s book. It is a collection of 7 carving exercises. Good, but not “complete” in any sense.
2 One of 3 similar books, Wilbur covers a much broader range of architectural carvings than Koch. Very highly recommended.
Bob, like it a lot, good choice to keep the carvings. What type of wood did you use? I’m currently working on a college logo carving for a beer tap handle I’ll turn on my lathe. I’m using basswood and even with good stop cuts, the surface “layer” tends to come loose on narrow borders,etc. I use a very small amount of CA glue to repair but not sure if I’m using the wrong wood for this or my technique.Hope that makes sense. Didn’t see a place to attach the pic. Hope it warms up soon, finally seeing mid 50s here in Greater Cincinnati this week!
I can understand the miters not being done as the edge moldings are all different.
Glad you didn’t toss these and put them on a board – this would make a nice panel insert or maybe a lid for a box. Then you could put a mitered molding around the edges.
Hi Rick,
All of the interior pieces are basswood. The moldings around the outside are pine.
A lot of people use basswood for learning pieces and for some architectural carvings that will see low use. It’s too soft for rigorous handling. I’ve had a couple of pieces that crumble as you describe, but the really good stuff from Heinecke not as much.
Narrow details across grain are prone to crumbling in almost any wood that does not have interlocking grain. I’ve seen it happen in basswood, walnut, and even some mahogany. Not in Oak!
How much is that beer tap going to be used? 🙂
Thanks Ralph.
I rarely make boxes that large. So, it´s going to hang on a wall … without a mitered frame. 🙂
Bob, nice!
When I saw this panel I’d to think about the panels by Frederick Wilbur. For whatever reason his site is now not reachable.
But I remember an article in de WoodCarving Magazine #124 from jan-feb 2012:
http://tinyurl.com/m756hgd
Here is another picture of one of his panels:
http://tinyurl.com/lcavwue
greets, Sergio
My niece is giving this to her friend who bought it from me for a gift to her husband, they are 20 somethings ????, I imagine it my get some use LOL. I plan on painting the logo the appropriate colors then adding a clear poly coat so I hope that seals the wood. Ill share a pic when complete.
Very nice Bob, inspirational to say the least! I’m currently bogged down with a complex furniture project and wish I could spend more time carving. Really like your “carving sampler”.
Thanks John,
So,… your client doesn’t want any Acanthus carvings on the cellarette? 🙂
Bob,
I see you have deleted my comment. Would you please explain why did you do it?
Only to learn how to give you my comments… I’m an assiduous reader of your blog and been more than two year subscibed to Mary May’s site…
Thanks in advance.
With regards,
Sergio
Hello Sergio,
I would never delete anything from you!
Here’s what happened… Your comment went to the “moderation queue” and I didn’t see it there. My blog is set up to hold for moderation any comment that has 2 or more links inside. A comment with a lot of links is often only advertising. So, you’s got stuck and I didn’t notice it. It’s visible now. My apologies!
And, THANK YOU for those links. They are very interesting. Indeed, it was from Frederick Wilbur that I got the idea of a sampler panel. I saw one of his in one of his books. Much fancier than mine!
Now…. When do we get to see some of your carving work? Yo do know, don’t you, that you can upload pictures of your work to Mary’s Student Gallery. See it at: https://www.marymaycarving.com/carvingschool/students-gallery/
And for people who are not students at Mary’s School, Sergio displays his very fine carving work on his own site.
Thanks again,