It has been over 20 years since I fell in love with European decorative carving. I was absolutely mesmerized by the carvings that I saw while traveling in Europe – the cathedrals and castles, the stone carvings on the outsides of buildings, the wooden carved details on the insides of the cathedrals. I was the typical wide-eyed American tourist wandering aimlessly down the streets with camera in my hand and my head mostly tilted up to see the decorations on these magnificent buildings. I truly did not want to blink or breath for fear of missing something. Even after being there several months, I still never tired of being amazed at the wonder of it all. And this was before I ever put chisel to wood! There was an instant fascination with this ancient art, and when I returned to the US, I was determined to learn how this was done.

I was living in Minneapolis at the time and met Konstantinos Papadakis, a master woodcarver from Greece, and began my adventure with this new fascination. I studied and worked with Kostas for 3 years, and learned the pure and traditional techniques and styles of woodcarving that have been used for centuries. While working with Kostas, I made a decision that I would some how, some way become a professional woodcarver, and… hopefully… make a living at it, and not starve in the process.

I then had an opportunity to study for several months in Greece with the people that Costas worked with when he was an apprentice. That was an incredible experience working in a traditional Greek carving workshop. I did not know much greek, but when they wanted to make a point, you could tell by the tone of their voice – you didn’t even need to know what they were saying. I don’t think they knew what to think of me – this crazy American woman wanting to carve??? Why not??

Icon stand made for a Greek Orthodox church

The next opportunity that opened up for me was to study in England at the City and Guilds of London College. There was a program at the college that specialized in traditional European-style woodcarving. I only had enough money for 3 months, so I packed as much studying and learning as I could (in between the cups of tea, and visits to the pub). I also helped out at a picture frame carving shop where I learned the great technique of mass production of woodcarving. It has been a great help when I need to knock something out very quickly with as few cuts as possible (bead molding, rope molding, egg and dart, etc).

While I was in England, I had an opportunity to try my hand at stone carving (I actually carved a hand holding a rose for my first stone carving project – about 17 inches tall in limestone).

It seemed to come quite natural – it was just figuring out how the tools worked, and how to move the stone with the chisels. I already understood the 3-dimensional visualization from the woodcarving. The interesting thing is that moving from wood to stone is easier than moving from stone to wood. With stone, you really don’t need to consider grain (usually). I have spoken to people who were first trained as a stone carver and then tried to move to wood carving and they discovered the frustration of the grain. I definitely did it the right way around.

Stone carving for me was more of a discovery in fully 3-dimensional carving. For some reason I tend to stick with more relief carving or one-sided carving with wood – I suppose the reason is that wood carving is often used as ornamentation on pieces of furniture, rather than sculptural. The bottom line is – that was what the customers usually requested. I have had more requests for sculptures in stone than in wood.

While I was carving my first stone sculpture (the hand holding the rose), a professional stone carver saw my work and asked if I wanted to go to Malaysia and help decorate a mansion with stone carvings. Hmmm. Let me think about that… YES!  I would have gone there for free just for the experience, but they were going to pay me!

I spent 6 incredible months as a stone carver in Pasir Gudang, Malaysia – just over the border from Singapore. That whole experience needs be a separate blog post. And I was still that wide-eyed amazed American wondering “how did I get here?” Since I really was never “officially” trained as a stone carver, a lot of it was learning on the job.

Large stone bracket carved in Malaysia

That was pretty much the last of my overseas traveling adventures with woodcarving, and that was nearly 15 years ago.

The largest stone carving I made was an 8-foot tall sculpture with 2 dolphins jumping out of swirling waves. This was carved in Indiana limestone and it took about a year and a half to complete it – from design concept to delivery. The most fascinating and surprising experience was after spending so many months looking at solid, still stone – once the water flowed over the swirling waves it actually looked like the waves were moving and swirling! It surprised me so much, that it actually made me catch my breath. It was such a wonderful surprise after such a long and focused project.

The finished piece

1-1/2 years of my life…

8 feet limestone fountain

It is truly amazing as I look back on all the opportunities and doors that were opened (and some that were closed). I can definitely see the hand of God walking me down some fascinating roads. I felt His guidance when I was going through it, but can see His hand a lot clearer looking back on my experiences – how it all unfolded into an incredible school of life and art.

I just returned from teaching a 5-day Fundamentals of Woodcarving at Marc Adams School of Woodworking and then a 2-day SAPFM (Society of American Period Furniture Makers) class on carving the acanthus leaf. Here are some great photos of very motivated students, and some beautiful carvings as a result.

The future of woodcarving hard at work.

What beautiful carvings!

Lowering down the background of the shell – interesting “eyelash” carving style.

A collage of carvings

David Reilly, my esteemed assistant (with e-steaming coffee) and also my steel and brass mallet-maker

Acanthus Leaf on a knee of a cabriole leg

Gadrooning

Chapters 5 and 6 of the Dragon and Acanthus Lesson have just been added to the online woodcarving school. I think I am about half-way through editing this project.

It’s sort of an ordeal going through and editing this – it’s like carving it all over again. Even though I am not doing a lot of editing (just removing the areas where my hand or head totally block the carving and identifying what tools are used when I switch) it feels like a very long process.

I am currently teaching a 5 day beginning carving class at Marc Adams School of Woodworking in Indianapolis, IN. I’ve got 16 students in the class, and it’s going great! Everyone is really doing well. All the students are very ambitious and eager to learn – several of them have stayed into the evening to continue their projects. It’s wonderful from a teacher’s perspective to have eager and enthusiastic students.

It reminds me of when I first started to carve. I was working at a full-time job in Minneapolis as a desk-top publisher (computer graphics). The more I learned to carve, the less I wanted to be at my day job. While I was at my “real” job, I would dream about what I would carve when I got home from work in the afternoon. Then I would carve into the evening and wouldn’t want to stop – sometimes not realizing that it was after mid-night.

Living in an apartment and carving on a bench in my bedroom caused some awkward moments with my neighbors. There was one time that I lost track of time and was carving well into the night – using a mallet – completely in my own carving world. I got a hysterical phone call from my neighbor – “I can’t stand it anymore – STOP!”.  I stopped. My neighbor and I are still friends to this day – we still laugh about those times.

I still have the great love for carving that I had when I first started – it has just evolved into a more “mature” love… more stable, and not completely consuming – isn’t that how love should evolve???

Last night I added another video to my online woodcarving school. It contains about 2 hours of the process of carving a very classic design of a shell in the center and acanthus leaves scrolling on either side. This particular one will be placed on top of a square mirror as a sort of “crown”. This design is just one variation of this very classical motif.

The video shows the technique of carving one side of the acanthus leaf (you just need to turn your brain inside out to carve the other side) and how to carve the shell. The most difficult part in this project seems be working with grain issues when carving the shell. Because of the scroll design in the way, you are really limited to mostly carving from the outside of the shell towards the center – which can give you some real challenges when the you are cutting into the grain. The bottom line is make sure those gouges are razor sharp – it will make life much easier!

The acanthus leaf part of it is similar to others that I have carved, but since it is scrolling and twisting, it does not have the typical “eyes” and “pipes” because these are actually on the other side of the leaf (not seen). Tricky, eh?

I just finished 3 large shell niches and handed them off to the client last Friday. It’s always an odd emotional experience sending off a creation after  having it in my shop for so long. These shells are very unique in that instead of just a scroll in the center of the shell, there is an acanthus leaf with a scroll.

Matt Yank, who is a student at the College of the Building Arts here in Charleston, was a great help in finishing up the last shell. He asked me several months ago if he could help around the shop – just to have an opportunity to work in a woodcarving studio. He was very persistent and said “I’ll do anything – sweep your shop or whatever.” I finally agreed to give him a try. I was a little reluctant, and I wasn’t sure how it would work, because I never really had anybody else working with me in my shop. I thought “but it’s my space – my little world – I’m not sure if I want to share that.” He turned out to be a great help – both in helping to work on the shell and also several other projects that came in during that time. And I discovered that I actually like company while I am working! He’s also great at sweeping the shop… He’s off to work in Minneapolis for the summer, and hope I have enough work in the fall to keep him busy!

The shell openings were 32″ wide and 16″ tall and 12″ deep. They were carved in basswood and painted with 2 to 3 coats of white base coat.

I filmed the process of carving the acanthus leaf, but only have still photos of the process of making the shell.

I do not have much shop work at the moment, but there’s always things to keep me busy! Like video editing!

I recently added another video to my online carving school. It is a very sweet carving of an incised maple leaf – also referred to as intaglio. This project is great for if you just want a nice design in a flat board – such as a jewelry box. Instead of lowering the whole background outside the design, as in a relief carving, the design itself is carved down. This was carved only 1/8″ deep. You can use this technique for many different designs – leaves, flowers. The video is about 22 minutes long.

The simple technique is as follows:

1. carve with a v-chisel inside the leaf edge just under 1/8″ deep

2. define the edge of the leaf with a vertical cut with gouges that fit the curved edges. Make the cross grain cuts first to create stop cuts so when you make the cuts along the grain, the fragile pieces don’t break.

3. lower down much of the leaf with a #8, 6mm.  Then flatten and shape the background with a #3, 3mm, #3, 6mm, #3, 14mm.

4. with a v-chisel, carve the vein lines

And there you have it!

Happy carving!

The protective mommy.

Have you ever heard of a cat just having 1 kitten? What would you call that? Certainly not a litter. Maybe a lit. Or a little.

I was on the road returning from Berea, KY when my husband, Stephen, calls and tells me I’m a grandma! Our little stray cat (we call her squeek) who showed up at our doorsteps a couple months ago was giving birth. I was a young child the last time I had a cat that had kittens, so I was quite excited about this.

When Stephen called, only 1 kitten was born, but we were expecting 4 or 5 or 6 or… isn’t that the way it normally happens? That’s how I remember it – I guess things do seem bigger when you’re a child. Well, by about midnight still only one kitten. So Stephen decides to go to sleep – expecting several more squirming squeeking little fluffy things by morning. Upon awaking, still only one kitten.

Stephen heads off to work and I arrive back in Charleston in the afternoon and there is still only 1 very cute kitten. I start to get more concerned that there may be some issue that is preventing the others from being born, or maybe the babies had died. So I take her to a vet around the corner and they check her out and lo and behold – no more kittens! They said the one that was born is big enough to be about a week old. It definitely had enough food! And room to grow!

So there you have it – a litter of kitten.

How can anyone possibly have a frown on their face when they look at a kitten? And how can you possibly not let that little “aaawwww” slip out. As soon as a kitten comes into view, those uncontrollable muscles on the side of your mouth automatically start to curve up – “aaaawwww”.

I think I’ll call him “mini-squeek”.

Ahhh… spring time in Kentucky. The wildflowers blooming, the subtle shades of green as the trees slowly release their new leaves. The pleasant, cool crisp nights, the balmy days. And carving in the midst of that. Is this heaven? Maybe…

I am just finishing up 2 great carving classes at Kelley Mehler’s School of Woodworking in Berea, KY. What an absolutely pristine place this is. I call this a “woodcarving retreat” for me because I get the stay in this lovely cottage about 100 feet from the workshop while I teach. Three of my favorite things – relaxing, carving and teaching… Quite often the relaxing and carving don’t go together, but when they do, it’s great! Kelley and Teri Mehler are great hosts and I always enjoy my time teaching here.

Everybody working hard.

Each class was 3 days long. The first one was a basic beginning class where we carved a snake (instead of the donut) the camellia flower, acanthus leaf and scallop shell.

Similar to the donut, the snake project works through a lot of grain issues. I had everyone draw their own snake – some were quite interesting shaped snakes, worms, amoebas, or other mysterious twisting organisms. You just never know where these things will take you… But we all learned a lot about grain!

The snake! First project to learn how to work with grain.

Basic acanthus leaf.

Scallop shell half finished.

Demonstrating how to carve the scallop shell.

Beginning class proudly displaying our carvings.

I had Sunday off and went to Anglin Falls (about 8 miles from Berea) to view some amazing wildflowers. It was a lovely day, and I was absolutely mesmerized by the trillium that were blooming. I was inspired! I thought “hmmm. I wonder whether we could carve that for the advanced class next week.” So I pondered that…

Incredible trillium

The next day was the first day of the advanced carving class, and we spent that day carving a trillium! It was a great project, and since I was carving this for the first time myself, the students were able to see the process of sorting through a project from start to finish – how to think through the stages, what to carve first, how to not carve yourself into a corner you can’t carve yourself out of, etc. etc.

First step of carving trillium

Defining the petals with a vertical cut – after outlining with a v-chisel

After shaping the outer leaves.

Then we went through a more advanced acanthus leaf carving – using mahogany. Much different world than basswood, but it’s good to let people get a feel for “real-world” wood (in other words, the kind of wood you would actually use if you were carving for furniture).

More advanced acanthus leaf carving.

The final project was a sign with a flowing flag pattern. So we went over letter carving and also the linenfold process in one project.

Linenfold sign – before letters carved.

Mary May attempting to use a “real” chisel for carving letters.

Both classes did great. Well done ya’ll!

It is always exciting to see the progress that students make – sometimes they don’t even realize the gradual confidence level that builds over the days. It’s just great to see.

The proud results of the intermediate class.

Chapters 3 and 4 of “Carving a Dragon with Acanthus Leaves” video has just been added to the video school site. These chapters start going through the process of carving the acanthus leaf design.

It’s strange going through the experience of carving this all over again (in the editing process). I am figuring out the design as I go, so I attempt in this video to explain how I am thinking through the process as I am carving. I am letting you into all the deep dark secrets of the woodcarving mind… A scary and mysterious place!

I recently received a question from a SAPFM (Society of American Period Furniture Makers) member, Frank Duff:

“Hi Mary, I’ve been carving legs for a Phila High Chest for over a year now and
I’m now in the final smoothing stage prior to starting to glue things together.
I have not used sandpaper yet! I’ve been able to get the surfaces of the ball
and claw feet and the ancanthus leaves in a finished state with a variety of
small scrapers and several fine tooth files. I’ve done the same with the
background surfaces as well. However, on the larger surfaces both the scrapers
and the files leave some tiny tracks. How much of this is acceptable when one is
attempting to replicate an 18th century surface?”

Well, my short answer was simply “I will check with the experts”, as my area of knowledge is carving with gouges, but the preparation for finishing is often done by the furniture-makers and restorers that I work with. I am usually reluctant to sand my work much, as it can dull the details – but there are times when it is definitely necessary. I would probably lightly sand the surface mentioned with around 400 grit sandpaper.

I asked several friends who are in the furniture making and furniture re-finishing business that I have worked with. Here are their answers:

DL Hamilton, Furniture Maker, Beaufort, SC
“In larger cities like Phladelphia, the 18th century cabinet makers would have used shark skins, glass paper or reeds, pumice or other abrasives that were available in that time frame. Tool marks should be faint on face surfaces and more pronounced on back surfaces, in my humble opinion. In my work I would lightly hand sand with 320 or 400 grit sandpaper at the point where you are and then apply the finish of the period.”

David Beckford, Charleston, SC
“There always is evidence of hand work on period things – one should be able to feel them. Also, what looks like a canyon to you probably wouldn’t show to most.”

So, the conclusion that I got from the replies was that we need to relax a little. The 18th century cabinetmakers did not make the surface ”perfect”, these pieces were hand-made and had a hand-made touch. So relax…

Any other comments or suggestions are welcome! I know there are a lot of people out there who know much more about this subject that I do. Please share!