Mary May - Woodcarver
  • Blog Home
  • Mary’s Carving School
  • Home
  • Antique furniture reproduction
  • Carving a Scroll on a Chair

Carving a Scroll on a Chair

May 15, 2014 / Mary May / Antique furniture reproduction, Scrolls, Wood Carving Tips

Last week I put a new video up on my online school on carving a scroll design for the “Angry Swan” chair. I wrote a blog post about this chair back while I was working on it.

Back of chair - or would this be front of chair??

Back of chair – or would this be front of chair??

All the chair backs with scrolls and angry swans carved into them.

All the chair backs with scrolls and angry swans carved into them.

 

I now have a video lesson on carving the “angry swan” and also carving the scroll that appears on either side of the swan.

The "angry swan" carved into the back of the chair.

The “angry swan” carved into the back of the chair.

Scroll on the "Angry Swan" chair

Scroll on the “Angry Swan” chair

Scrolls (or sometimes referred to as volutes or spirals) are a fascinating shape in that they are traditionally based on the nautilus shell shape. Such a graceful shape created by the greatest designer ever! And we endeavor to recreate this shape in many of our carved designs – such as the violin scroll, the volute on an ionic capital, scrolls on Windsor chairs, etc.

nautilus

spirala

The design I carved for this chair is very close to an actual nautilus shape. Often, carved scrolls end up being tighter and not splaying as wide towards the outside such as the volute on an Ionic capital.

You can set up the scroll mathematically.  There are a lot of resources out there on the proper proportions of drawing an scroll. Here is one  (you might need to learn Russian). Here’s another.

If you wanted to draw a scroll by not using the mathematical technique (which works way better for me), keep in mind that there is one thing that all scrolls have in common – as the curve twists outward from the center, the distance between the edges always increases. These lines creating the edges of the spiral are never parallel.

Photo from Appassionato Music Instruments https://www.appassionatomusic.com/

Photo from Appassionato Music Instruments https://www.appassionatomusic.com/

If you really wanto to know the math behind it - Do you read in Russian? https://www.forumklassika.ru/entry.php?b=7071

If you really wanto to know the math behind it – Do you read in Russian?
https://www.forumklassika.ru/entry.php?b=7071

Design from a blog post on George Walker's blog - https://georgewalkerdesign.wordpress.com/2011/03/01/

Design from a blog post on George Walker’s blog –
https://georgewalkerdesign.wordpress.com/2011/03/01/

I had heard that if you take a particular number gouge (let’s say a #7 curvature) and take a 2mm, 4mm, 6mm, and on up to whatever they go up to (50mm?) and start with the smallest mm in the center and make continuous cuts using increasing mm that this will create a perfect spiral scroll. Sad to say, I do not have all the curvatures that are required for this, so I never really did a full test (also if you have several different brands of tools, they are not all exact). But when I was teaching a class recently, one of my students had all #7’s from 2mm up to 35mm in the Pfeil brand (I am SO jealous). What an opportunity! I finally had an opportunity to test this theory. And it worked! If you are fortunate enough to have every width of every curvature (how many tools would that actually be??) give it a test! It actually created a very even, gentle scroll.

Maybe one day I’ll be lucky enough to have every size tool – maybe when I’m retired?

Comments are closed.

Watch a Sample Lesson from my Online School

Your Free Membership offers 12 Free Lessons. See more at My School of Traditional Woodcarving.
Facebook You Tube Google plus Linked In twitter-24

Recent Posts

  • Carving the Acanthus Leaf Book with Videos and Study Casts
  • Last Chance to Pre-Order Carving the Acanthus Leaf Book
  • Enter to win FREE resin castings of acanthus leaves
  • Preview a FREE Chapter of my Carving the Acanthus Leaf Book
  • Carving the Acanthus Leaf – Now Available for Pre-Order
news-sm

Keep up with my online Woodcarving School

A weekly newsletter tells of the latest video episode. My monthly newsletter announces upcoming video lessons, carving tips and tricks, a free template and class schedule.

Categories

  • Acanthus book
  • Acanthus Leaves
  • American College of the Building Arts
  • Antique furniture reproduction
  • Book Review
  • Brookgreen Gardens
  • Cartouche
  • Carving wildlife
  • Carvings for churches
  • Chair Carving
  • Charleston Rice Bed
  • Creche
  • europe trip
  • Finials
  • Fleur-de-lis
  • Grinling Gibbons
  • Guest Blogger
  • Handworks Show
  • intaglio- maple leaf
  • Magazine articles
  • On-Line Woodcarving articles and TV interviews
  • Online carving school
  • People
  • Philadelphia Highboy
  • Savannah
  • Scrolls
  • Shows
  • Society of American Period Furniture Makers
  • Tools
  • TV Shows
  • Uncategorized
  • Videos
  • Violin Scroll
  • WIA Show
  • Wood Carving Education
    • Ball and claw foot
    • letter carving
    • Mary's story
    • Tips & Tricks
    • Woodcarving classes
  • Wood Carving Projects
    • Acanthus Leaf Repair on Tables
    • Bed Carving
    • Carving faces
    • Carving Hands
    • Carving Reeds
    • Celtic design
    • Church carving in Savannah
    • Coat of Arms
    • College Sign
    • Corinthian Capitals
    • Deep relief carving
    • Dragon Carving
    • Egg and Dart Molding
    • Kings Head Bracket
    • Misc. Antique Furniture Repair
    • Newport Shell
    • Period Furniture Carving
    • Picture Frame
    • Rosettes
    • Shell and Acanthus Leaf
    • Shell Niches
    • Shell wall sconce
    • Sunburst
  • Wood Carving Tips

Archives

  • January 2018 (1)
  • November 2017 (1)
  • October 2017 (2)
  • September 2017 (1)
  • July 2017 (1)
  • April 2017 (1)
  • March 2017 (1)
  • January 2017 (3)
  • December 2016 (2)
  • July 2016 (1)
  • May 2016 (1)
  • April 2016 (1)
  • March 2016 (1)
  • February 2016 (1)
  • January 2016 (2)
  • November 2015 (3)
  • October 2015 (3)
  • July 2015 (1)
  • June 2015 (2)
  • May 2015 (2)
  • April 2015 (4)
  • March 2015 (4)
  • February 2015 (5)
  • January 2015 (9)
  • December 2014 (8)
  • November 2014 (6)
  • October 2014 (6)
  • September 2014 (9)
  • August 2014 (4)
  • July 2014 (8)
  • June 2014 (2)
  • May 2014 (8)
  • April 2014 (13)
  • March 2014 (3)
  • February 2014 (1)
  • January 2014 (3)
  • December 2013 (1)
  • November 2013 (1)
  • October 2013 (5)
  • September 2013 (5)
  • August 2013 (2)
  • July 2013 (8)
  • June 2013 (3)
  • May 2013 (3)
  • April 2013 (5)
  • March 2013 (9)
  • February 2013 (3)
  • January 2013 (3)
  • December 2012 (6)
  • November 2012 (5)
  • October 2012 (5)
  • September 2012 (4)
  • August 2012 (4)
  • July 2012 (6)
  • June 2012 (5)
  • May 2012 (7)
  • April 2012 (8)
  • March 2012 (7)
  • February 2012 (9)
  • January 2012 (11)
  • December 2011 (8)
  • November 2011 (7)
  • October 2011 (21)
  • September 2011 (18)
  • August 2011 (7)

Blogroll

  • Bob Easton
  • Giant Cypress
  • High Rock Woodworking
  • Matts Basement Workshop
  • Modern Woodworkers Association
  • Penultimate Woodshop
  • Renaissance Woodworker
  • The Sunday Woodcarver
  • The Wood Whisperer
  • Tom's Workbench
  • Wood Central
  • Wood Net
  • Wood Talk Online

Links

  • Alan Breed
  • Alf Sharp
  • American College of the Building Arts
  • Charles Neil Woodworking
  • Charles Ramberg Furniture Maker
  • Christopher Schwarz
  • Connecticut Valley School of Woodworking
  • Dan Hamilton
  • Greg Guenther Wood Group
  • Highland Woodworking
  • Kelly Mehler School of Woodworking
  • Lucy Churchill
  • Lumber Jocks Woodworking Showcase
  • Marc Adams School of Woodworking
  • Mark Van Abbema
  • Philip Lowe
  • Pro Woodworking Tips
  • Ronnie Sextion
  • Society of American Period Furniture Makers
  • Studio 3d Creations
  • Thaddeus Stephens College of Technology
  • The Acanthus Workshop, LLC
  • The Mill, Inc
  • The Renaissance Woodworker
  • The Woodwright's School
  • Wood Carving Guide
  • Woodcraft Supply
  • Woodworking Workshops of the Shenendoah Valley
Mary May - Woodcarver - Copyright © Cornerstone Creations, LLC, 2015
Privacy Policy

Thank you

Your feedback have been received.

Close