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relief carving

I recently finished this.  I will be carving a walnut frame when I find an appropriate design.

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That's very nice. Carving faces in full 3-dimension is challenging, but carving in relief is often more so. Getting all the facial features to look correct in a relief carving is very difficult and you did a great job. Wonderful emotion.

Stay tuned for a frame carving lesson coming up in a couple weeks.

When I was carving this I wasn't sure that going from the surface down was best.  I had to add wood, almost twice. To get the affect I wanted.

Also, the piece cupped.  Maybe from the piece of wood I added?  Adding a walnut back and frame will hopefully flatten it.

That is a lot of wood that was removed, so cupping is a real possibility. Question - it looks like you put a finish on the wood. Did you make sure the entire piece was finished - back and front? Did it begin to cup while carving it or after? It's possible that the wood wasn't fully dried, and that the exposure to air of the newly carved wood compared to the back side that was flat against the bench caused warping. Were you carving in a air conditioned space or humid? Lots of variables and possibilities. I'm assuming it is basswood. I have had very little warping issue with kiln dried basswood.

The only time I had an issue with warping recently was when I used denatured alcohol to remove double sided tape. The denatured alcohol soaked into the wood made quite an aggressive bow in the wood. All I did to solve it was put more denatured alcohol on it and lay something on the carving to press it flat. I checked it the next day and it was flat again and stayed that way.

First thanks for all your comments.  It is basswood and the cupping isn't severe, maybe 3/16 .  It was stored and carved in a basement.  Winters in Wisconsin are very dry and now the humidity is high.  maybe that has something to do with it.  Also, the carving is very thin in some spots in the center and much thicker on the edges.  It was finished with 2 coats of Minwax  antique oil finish, only on the front since I am going to glue it on another piece.  It's fairly flexible so am hoping 1/2"  of walnut will keep it flat.  Thanks again for your help.