Sometimes I get some very interesting work. A client has brought a 4-post bed in that has a pressed acanthus design. I am not really sure how they did this, because it is very deeply pressed. Maybe this wood allows it. He wants me to touch it up to look hand carved. I never turn down a job! Not in this economy. He didn’t really want me to completely re-carve it, but just to put some hand cuts in and give it a little more shape. I could really go to town on this… but I had to hold back
Last year I scored at a Good Will store and bought a machine-carved rice bed for $100. It was actually a nicely carved bed, but I couldn’t have a machine carved rice bed! So I spent a week re-carving it and making the details more crisp and defined, and then refinishing it (I am definitely NOT a finisher). The one way you can tell if it is machine carved, or mass produced, is if the edges are not a sharp corner. In other words, if they use a router, there will be a softened look without much crispness, because the smallest router bit they usually use is about 1/16″. There will also be a general sanding over the whole surface which really makes the details all blend together.
I went to the Citadel College this morning and gave a slide show and carving demo to 3 art appreciation classes. I was trying to recruit for an apprentice (i.e. 7 years of slave labor in my workshop) but I was disappointed that there were no takers. What is happening to the youth these days???
Never a dull moment on these shores…