Types of carving?

[dudee321]

Ok guys so what is flat plane carving? and chip carving and relief carving??? what's the difference?

Also, I was wondering if I would be able to create artistic abstract sculptures with just a knife and not any of the other tools (Vs, gouges, etc.).
I really love those wavy abstractish animal sculptures but I really wanted to keep the carving techinque as simple as possible, with a knife.

Thanks!

[Paul_Guraedy]

I had eye surgery yesterday and, even with the view percentage cranked up, typing and reading is diffidult. I will leave the carving genre explanations to someone else. (Ron, I thought of you both because of this paragraph and especially the next one.)

I would like to ask a question about your carving technique comment. Why do you want to limit yourself? A gouge is nothing but a curved blade or anothr type of knife. That being said the answer to your questiion is that you probably can. I have been carving quite a while and have become convinced that, given incentive (search Ron Davidson blind carving), woodcarvers can do just about any type of carving with any tool.

[AlArchie]

OK, I'll take a stab at this.....,

Flat Plane Carving is simply carving figures of people or animals, usually with exagerated features, and without rounding off the cuts made with the knife. Thus the "flat plane" effect. Each cut leaves a flat surface. Instead of rounding off the features, the contours are developed with many simple flat cuts. Not as simple as it sounds.

Chip Carving is generally done on a flat board, where a geometrical pattern is first drawn on, then individual chips are removed to accent the drawn pattern.

Reliefe carving is also generally done on a flat board, where a pattern is first drawn of a scene or face. Background material is then removed leaving the main subject standing out from the background. The subject of the scene is then refined to look as natural as possible, but will only be "relieved" from the background by small increments. All this requires quite a bit of planning to assure proper perspective and shadow in a very shallow medium. Sort of like drawing a picture on a board but with some actual depth.

And I'd say YES you can do a lot of abstract carving with only a knife. It all depends on the amount of time you are willing to spend and the depth of the skills you are willing to develop.

Al

[mark yundt]

You can certainly use any tool you wish to carve and create all sorts of things limited only by your imagination. But there are inherent limits as to what can be accomplished.
I don't know exactly what sort of sculptures you have in mind or how big you anticipate them ending up.
Keeping things simple might be a goal. Or an uncertainty of making what could be a large investment in tools questionable. But if you were interested in for example painting the outside of your house you COULD use a small artists brush,,but other tools would facilitate the job much better.
For each of the styles of carving you asked about,,,there are tools that are generally used for each where their design allows you to do the work faster,easier and more accurately resulting in less frustration and a nicer result.
A knife is a great universal type tool.But depending on the type of carving you wish to do,,some type of sculpture,,you might find it's limits pretty quickly.

[pallin]

Probably the easiest way to understand the different types is to see them. Go to the carver galleries and click on the type, such as chip and relief. There isn't a flat plane gallery, but you may find some among the caricatures.
I like to think of flat plate as faceted. For example like a diamond. At first glance a diamond may appear round, but at closer study it is a complex set of flat surfaces - facets - that makes the actual shape.
I spent many years carving with only a pocket knife. There are some shapes, such as fluting, that would be very hard to do with a flat blade.

[dudee321]

Thanks so much!
This really helped me out.
I don't really WANT to limit myself, I just like to imagine that I can just keep a knife in my pocket and carve on my free time, not taking out a bunch of tools out of a box...

I guess I'm into more of the smaller stylistic designs, not the huge intricate masterpiece kinda thing.

[mark yundt]

You don't have to imagine doing that,,,you CAN do that as many do.
When you said "sculptures" I just imagined something more than you can keep in your pocket. Though a sculpture can be of any size you want.
Get a knife,,a piece of wood and have a go at it,,,any time you like.Sometimes just turning a stick into a tooth pick is relaxing.
See what you can come up with and remember to let us have a look at it as well.
Have fun!

[Ron T]

Hello and welcome, Dudee. It's nice to have you here with us.