I recently have been going through a “scroll” carving phase. When I posted photos of some of the scrolls I have carved on my facebook page, I got a request to carve a violin scroll. I thought – sure, I’ve carved a lot of scrolls in my life – how difficult could it be? Plus I was up for the challenge.
So I went to the internet, and there is an amazing amount of information out there. If you have ever studied violin making, it is an incredibly beautiful art. Everything is designed for beauty, grace, balance, symmetry, and elegance. All this makes an amazing sound, but also a beautiful work of art that requires incredible discipline and accuracy to make.
So I got my piece of wood, cut out the profile on a scroll saw and transferred as many lines as I could from any reference material I could find, and started carving. It was a real brain tease to get a nice sweeping flow to the scroll, and it is carved surprisingly deep.
Then once you get one side that you are happy with, it’s time to carve an exact duplicate on the other side – only in reverse. It’s like carving a ball and claw foot. The first one goes great, then you have to make another to match it. Not so easy…
I was able to video this process, so it should be on my online school soon.
I’m tired. That took more energy than I imagined…