Win a Premium Full-Year Membership!

December 1, 2016 / Mary May / Wood Carving Tips

In the Spirit of Christmas, we are giving away a Premium Full-Year Membership to my online school! That’s a $159.99 value! Add your name for the raffle here. A lucky winner will be drawn on December 9.

The only requirement is that you are a registered member of my online school – either Free Member or Premium Member. (By the way, did you know Free Members have access to 16 beginner lessons?) If you are not currently a member of my school, please register here.

Please sign up to receive my school newsletter that keeps you up to date on the latest video lessons. There are currently 266 unique videos and 133 full lessons.

Check out the latest Christmas Newsletter to see what’s happening at the school.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Bob’s Excellent Grinling Gibbons Tour

July 21, 2016 / Bob Easton / Grinling Gibbons, Guest Blogger

Hello, Bob Easton here…
I have the pleasure of being one of Mary’s students, of having helped set up her online woodcarving school, and of having become acquainted with many of you, both through her classes and her websites. Today, I have the pleasure being a guest on her blog and writing this article. THANK YOU, Mary.

Who is this Gibbons guy?

It’s all Mary’s fault.

I don’t know if she does it frequently, but while I was in one of her classes she mentioned several styles of carving and some of the practitioners of those styles. I hadn’t heard of Grinling Gibbons and did what most of us might do, went to Google.

Oh My! <<<< click to be impressed … then, come back.

The baroque style of interior decoration died a long time ago. There’s none in my house, and I don’t ever anticipate trying to do much baroque carving. It’s not the style, but the absolute virtuosity that left me wanting to see more of Gibbons’ work.

photo of a statue of Grinling Giobbons on the facade of the Victoria and Albert Museum

photo: Bob Easton

Grinling Gibbons is a woodcarver of the late 1600s who worked in London. He carved palace decorations for royalty, as well as for churches and country houses. He took a fairly common format, the baroque three-piece surround, and raised it to a level of beauty and perfection never before achieved. Surrounds were used as extra framing elements around very large pictures and over mantels. A “surround” was made up of a horizontal piece, or “crest,” and of two vertical pieces or “drops.” While other carvers carved flowers and ribbons in their surrounds, Gibbons added fruits, vegetables, game animals, hunting trophies, fabric (i.e. linenfold) and even putti.

What does his work really look like? How was it created? I found photos of Gibbons’ work online and in books, but not enough to satisfy. Many photos were very small, especially in books, and there were very few detailed closeup shots. I wanted to see more. My wife and I had talked of visiting London, but put it off because we didn’t find the “Royal Theme Park” tours appealing. Seeing more of Gibbons’ work gave us a reason to go. She did all the travel planning work. I went along and took as many pictures as I could. To avoid driving on the wrong side of the road, we kept ourselves to central London, used the underground, buses, and trains, and had a fabulous time. Of course, we didn’t see all of Gibbons’ work, but enough to sate my curiosity. …for now…

Two things I learned:

HIGH relief is really, really, really high.

Mary’s style of classical carving shows us how to carve in low relief, sometimes in very low relief such as the McIntire Fruit Basket, and occasionally higher, such as the Fleur-de-Lis, Highboy Cartouche, or Dragon. I’ve become accustomed to seeing those styles through Mary’s school and by learning about American Period furniture decoration. Then, I came across the photos of Gibbons’ carvings. Photos are always two-dimensional and don’t represent depth at all. I knew that Gibbons’ forms were deeper / thicker / higher relief than I’ve seen before, but I had no sense how high.

photo of left drop in the King's Eating Room at Hampton Court Palace

photo: Bob Easton – in the King’s Eating Room at Hampton Court Palace

Wow, was I surprised. They are stunning! Some of the carvings stand out 10-12 inches from their backgrounds, and they are open and airy, as well. Gibbons’ predecessors also carved high relief, but a cluster of their flowers is tight, dense and full, very little space, or air, between flowers. Those dense clusters were carved from a solid block of wood, the way many of us work in low relief.

What makes Gibbons’ carvings distinct is the open appearance he achieved: large flowers floating in front of other leaves and stems, thin leaves and buds floating in front of other background material. Yes, some of this can be done by careful piercing and delicate undercutting. But, much of it needed very radical undercutting (oops, broke something) and was achieved by carving the face of an object and then flipping it over and carving the back, and by building up layers. None of the places I visited would let me take their carvings apart. 🙂 So, I learned about the layering technique by reading David Esterly’s books. He is today’s expert on Gibbons and helped restore the Gibbons carvings that were damaged in a fire at Hampton Court Palace in the late 1980s. He has a couple of postage-stamp sized illustrations about layers in each of his books.

photo of reredos detail at St. James Picadilly

photo: Bob Easton – Reredos detail – St. James Piccadilly

photo of reredos detail - St. James Picadilly

photo: Bob Easton – Reredos detail – St. James Piccadilly

Each of the putti is an individual.

photo: Bob Easton – in the King’s Eating Room at Hampton Court Palace

We’ve seen classic putti everywhere, and they all seem alike. Their facial shape, expressions, and even curly locks of hair seem universally common. Not so with Gibbons’ putti.

Mary says Gibbons’ putti “creep me out.” I think there are two reasons for that. First, none of the eyes have inner details such as irises or pupils. Second, they are remarkably varied.

Yeah, it’s boring carving the exact same thing over and over … nearly 60 of them at St. Paul’s Cathedral. I’ve heard two stories. One suggests that the putti are images of Gibbons’ own children; he and wife Elizabeth had 10 children. Another story suggests that everyday on his walk to work, along the street he would seek out and remember a child’s face and make that face his putto carving for the day. No matter what the truth, the expressions on Gibbons’ puttu differ distinctly from one to the next. These aren’t your common classic putti. … and maybe some of the models actually were mischievous and creepy.

: photo: Bob Easton

: photo courtesy of: Chapter House, St. Paul’s Cathedral, London

: photo: Bob Easton

: photo courtesy of: Chapter House, St. Paul’s Cathedral, London

: photo: Bob Easton

: photo courtesy of: Chapter House, St. Paul’s Cathedral, London

See more…

I’m writing more articles about Gibbons on my own blog. I have an article for each of the locations we visited. See them all here.

Oh, by the way…

photo: Bob Easton

We’re all proud of carving “by hand,” right!? I remember Mary once talking about doing demos at a woodworking show and the guy in the booth next to hers was using a CNC machine. He challenged her to a carving race, as though speed is the only thing that matters. 🙂

Well, it turns out that machine carving started a very long time ago. I learned at the Victoria and Albert museum about some of the first machine carved furniture pieces. A pair of carved legs caught my eye. No, they are not part of Gibbons’ work. The legs were simply near one of Gibbons’ pieces in the museum’s furniture room. A carving machine in Thomas Jordan’s workshop carved these legs two at a time in 1848. A few years later he had a machine that would carve 8 at a time.

Upcoming Classes – Only a Few Spaces Available

May 30, 2016 / Mary May / Wood Carving Tips

I have 3 beginning woodcarving classes coming up and there are still a few spaces available. Come join the fun! You won’t regret it!

This weekend I am heading to beautiful Port Townsend, Washington to the Port Townsend School of Woodworking for 2 weeks (June 6 – 10 and June 13 – 17). I have never been to this part of the country and am really looking forward to it. I will be teaching 2 individual 1-week long beginning carving classes. The first class is full, but the second still has a few spaces available. We will be going over the basics of relief style wood carving – including sharpening gouges to a razor sharp edge, techniques of working in the correct grain direction, how to make clean, efficient carving cuts, and tricks on how to make shallow relief carving appear to be much deeper than it actually is. Projects will include several different floral carvings, classical shell carving, fan carving, and acanthus leaf carving. We will be working with basswood, walnut and mahogany. These week long classes are always fun because it is similar to total emersion language classes. I love to see the confidence and control increase from day to day. By the end of the week, the chips are flying!

The next class I will be heading to another beautiful part of the country – Warren, Maine. I will be teaching a weekend workshop on carving the acanthus leaf at Lie-Nielsen Toolworks, July 23 & 24. This is a beginning carving class, but if you have experience in carving please join us! We will accommodate all skill levels, and walk you through carving basics, tool sharpening, how to draw this classical leaf, and how to carve it’s flowing and curling details. I am finishing writing a book on how to carve this wonderfully versatile leaf and you can sign up for a newsletter to follow along on my book writing journey here. Why not get one step ahead of my book and learn the basics before it’s published!

And last, but not least, I am going to Manchester, Connecticut to join my buddy, Bob Van Dyke at the Connecticut Valley School of Woodworking, August 8 – 12. I will be teaching another week long beginner wood carving class (very similar to the Port Townsend classes above). Last time I taught there, Bob chaperoned me to New York City and we spent the afternoon at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. What an amazing place! I think I was able to see about 1/10 of the museum. Experiencing Grand Central Station in Friday afternoon rush hour was an extreme culture shock for this simple, small town gal. Thanks, Bob, for keeping me from getting swept away in the madness!

I am considering opening my workshop in Charleston, South Carolina to more classes also. I can fit a maximum of 4 people in my workshop, but 3 people is best for ample elbow room (sharp tools and tight spaces do not work well together). I have held several classes in my workshop over the past few months, and it has worked out really well. It forces me to clean my shop every once in a while. These classes can be customized to whatever you want to carve, and if you are a beginning carver, I can get you started with the basics. I may start this in the fall or next spring. Those are the best times to be in Charleston. Come to Charleston for a vacation and spend a few days or a week carving! If you are interested, contact me.

What’s In a Name – The Acanthus Leaf Book

April 18, 2016 / Mary May / Wood Carving Tips

OK, I’m almost finished with my book on Carving Acanthus Leaves. I’m going through the final editing process and hope to get it to Christopher Schwarz at Lost Art Press for the final, final editing and book design by the end of May. I’m trying to be realistic in that I have been hoping to get it to him over the past 2 to 3 months, thinking – it’s just around the corner. So hopefully it’s not just wishful thinking.

But I am really surprised how much work is involved – AFTER I feel like the book is nearly done. I think that’s my perfectionist personality coming out. I have this problem with carving also – I just don’t know when to stop sometimes.

So I keep fussing and picking and correcting and adjusting. I keep writing and drawing. Then I let others read it and give suggestions, and I change some more.

I am still enjoying the process, but I’m sure I will need a break from acanthus leaves after my book is finished. “Step away from the acanthus leaf.”

I’m sure many writers discover this – especially with their first book. I am learning so much more about this amazing leaf than I ever have imagined! I just never knew there was so much to write on, and so many different styles. I’m really tempted to make this a 2 volume set, but I guess we will see when it is put in book form and find out how many pages this will be. My guess is over 250 pages at this point, but it is so difficult to predict. It might be more if we decide to make the photos larger, or less with smaller photos. I just don’t know…

Just a brief overview of what will be in the book: 3 Chapters will be on the history of the acanthus leaf, woodcarving basics, and specifics on drawing and carving details of the acanthus leaf. Then there will be 12 chapters (or more if I get ambitious over the next month) showing how to carve 12 different leaf designs, using photos and drawings. Here are some photos of some of those leaves. Isn’t it amazing the variety?

I need to settle on a good title soon, so I am asking for feedback. Please share your thoughts and ideas.

Here are some title ideas. The first line is the main heading and the second line a subheading. I guess they could be mixed and matched:

Carving the Acanthus Leaf
A Rite of Passage for the Classical Woodcarver

The Art of the Acanthus Leaf
A Woodcarver’s Perspective

The Acanthus Leaf
A Woodcarver’s Guide

The Acanthus Leaf
A Woodcarver’s Guide to a Timeless Art

The Acanthus Leaf
A Practical Guide for Woodcarvers

Please sign up for my Acanthus Leaf Newsletter HERE, as this will be the first place where I will announce when the book is available and you can get sneak previews of details of the book. I also am giving away resin castings of the leaves I have carved for my book.

Learn to Carve in Connecticut!

March 8, 2016 / Mary May / Wood Carving Tips

Spaces are still available for a class this weekend at Connecticut Valley School of Woodworking in Manchester, CT. The weather is starting to warm up, so come out and join us! The class is open to all levels and also use your imagination and bring whatever project you want to carve. It is completely open and it is going to be an adventure!

I’m flying out in that direction early because I am going to do some “museum exploring” before the class. On Thursday, Bob Van Dyke (of CVSW) and I will be heading to New Haven, CT to see the Yale Furniture Study and their Art Gallery. Then on Friday we’re heading into the grand city of New York to go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Very excited! I wish I had more time because I would love to head to Boston also. Another time…

The last time I was in New York City I was 11 years old. My father built a sailboat and 7 of us (Dad, Mom and 5 children) lived and traveled for an entire year. Coming up the Hudson and seeing the Statue of Liberty was a memory that will stay with me forever. Even at that young age I could imagine myself coming from a far-off country with the excitement of being welcomed into America. It was an amazing experience.

Hope to see you in Connecticut!

2016 Class and Show Schedule

February 24, 2016 / Mary May / Wood Carving Tips

It looks like 2016 is going to be a busy and adventurous year for teaching! I’ll be participating as a teacher/demonstrator at 2 shows this year – the SAPFM Mid-year in Lancaster, PA and Woodworking in America in Cincinnati, OH. I’m also looking forward to teaching at a new school this year – Port Townsend School of Woodworking in Port Townsend, Washington.

There are still spaces available for the “Open Carving Class” that I will be teaching at The Connecticut Valley School of Woodworking in Manchester, CT on March 12 & 13. This class is available to all levels, and the carving project is completely open to your choice. I can provide a project idea, or if you are working on a project and need some guidance, this is your class! I will also be teaching a full week beginning carving class there in August.

Then I’ll spend much of July in Maine teaching a week long class at the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship, demonstrations at the Lie-Nielsen Open House and also an Acanthus Leaf carving weekend workshop at Lie-Nielsen.

In addition to traveling to teach, I continue to add a new instructional video each week to my Online Carving School.

Somewhere in all this I will need to finish several carving commissions that have come in.

And, last but definitely not least, I am finishing my book on carving Acanthus Leaves. So as I said… It’s going to be a busy and adventurous year!

March 12 & 13	Open Carving Class – for beginners or experienced carvers Connecticut Valley School of Woodworking, Manchester, CT
June 6 – 10	Relief Carving Fundamentals Port Townsend School of Woodworking, Port Townsend, WA
June 13 – 17	Carving Workshop Port Townsend School of Woodworking, Port Townsend, WA
June 24 – 26	2016 SAPFM Mid-year Demonstration – topic still to be determined SAPFM Mid-year, Thadeus Stevens College, Lancaster, PA
July 8 & 9	Lie-Nielsen Open House Demonstration Lie-Nielsen Toolworks Warren, ME
July 18 – 22	Introduction to Relief Carving Center for Furniture Crafsmanship, Rockport, ME
July 23 & 24	Acanthus Leaf Carving – Open to all experience levels Lie-Nielsen Toolworks Warren, ME
August 8 – 12	The Joy of Woodcarving – Beginning carving class Connecticut Valley School of Woodworking, Manchester, CT
September 16, 17 & 18	Demonstrator/Teacher Woodworking in America

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