I recently finished a very delicate carving of a wheat and ribbon design. This was carved for a friend, Monty Hinson, who is a highly skilled furniture maker here in Charleston. Monty and I have made several ornate period furniture pieces together – Goddard/Townsend Newport dresser, Charleston Rice Beds, Philadelphia Lowboys. Monty builds the furniture and I carve the details.
These particular carved pieces are for the arms of a Duncan Phyfe style window chair. They are carved in mahogany, and the depth of carving is 1/16″ deep. There is a slight curve to the original surface, and the photo below shows a better view of the shape.
The process of carving was a follows:
1. With a 3mm v-chisel, carve around all the wheat and ribbon design and inside the square edges just short of 1/16″ deep. I left the lines visible.
2. With gouges that match the edges of the design, make precise vertical cuts, 1/16″ deep, to define the design.
3. With flat chisels, define the outside edge of the design. Make these cuts 1/16″ deep.
4. Lower down the back-ground with #3, 3mm, #3, 6mm, #3, 14mm, and #1, 14mm. This process took longer than carving the wheat and ribbon design. Much of the back-ground cutting had to be across the grain because the grain was pretty chaotic. This entire background was carved 1/16″ deep, with a need to get this as flat as possible.
5. Carve the overlapping sections where the ribbon overlaps the wheat.
6. Carve the wheat details (VERYdelicately). The only way I could carve this without breaking the little edges of the wheat was to make very slight v-cuts between each grain of wheat to start the separation. Then with a #3, 6mm make these little cuts defining the individual grains.
7. Carve the wheat stems to appear to be overlapping each other as they get towards the center.
8. Carve the ribbon.
Each step listed has its own challenges. My hands were actually more tired after carving this project than some larger pieces because of the precise control that was necessary. I was not aware when I was carving how tight my muscles were and how I had to remind myself to breathe when I was carving.
I was able to video the process of carving half of the design, so I hope to have this up on the online video school within a few months. The total video will be approx. 2-1/2 hours.
The final background surface was smoothed with very worn 320 grit sand paper and the stems were refined with a tiny riffler file. I did not sand any of the ribbon and wheat carving, as it is so fragile that the details would have been lost.
I love a good challenge, and this was one of those!
Using such fine grit sandpaper attests to how well carved the background must have been before sanding. (No use of the 80 grit shaping tool!)
My backgrounds often look like they’ve been tilled for spring planting. There’s definitely something to learn here.
Gorgeous results!!!
Thanks Code Monkey!
What would have really helped is using a #2 gouge (sometimes referred to as a #2-1/2). It is nearly flat, but has a very subtle curve – barely noticeable, but just enough to keep the edges from digging in. I do not have any of these, but that’s just another great reason to get more gouges! And we could always use excuses for that…
Cutting across the grain with a flat chisel would make quite a mess as the corners would be very likely to dig in.
Such subtle, restrained beauty, Mary. After all the controlled whacking and bosting to get levels and shaping done on the acanthus, this will be a challenge.
Thanks Autumn. Congratulation on your award at Popular Woodworking! You do beautiful work yourself. I hope you are enjoying adventures into the carving world.
Thanks, Mary. When I was 18 years old, I saved up and bought a set of Henry Woods carving tools. I spent many a hot, sweaty summer afternoon in my mother’s garage trying to teach myself carving, but I didn’t know how to sharpen my tools or do anything other than flat carving with no movement. In the early 70s in Southeast Texas, I couldn’t find anyone to teach me. All of these years, I’ve had acanthus leaves dancing in my head, and as they say, “When the student is ready, the teacher appears.” I’ve been ready a long time, and I’m grateful to have this opportunity in my lifetime.