Celtic Cross Relief

[Whitie]

I am a newbe and I am trying to carve a Relief Celtic Cross. I got the pattern from Woodcarving Illustrated. I can't seem to get the knots looking very good. Lora Irish has a book on Celtic Pattern, I have not seen it does anyone
know if it tell you step by step on how to carve a Celtic Cross

[pallin]

Many Celtic designs have crossing bands to form elaborate knots or braids. If the cross stands out from the background, the first step is to make stop cuts around the cross and remove the wood from the background. Then determine where the bands cross and make stop cuts to outline the higher band, and slope the lower bands down to the stop cuts. In many Celtic designs the bands alternate from higher to lower, so carve each part appropriately.

[Ron Davidson]

Yes I think Lora's book does have step by step instructions. With pictures if I remember right.

[squbrigg]

Relief carving a Celtic design is a challenge, but it is straightforward. The difficult part will be to get into the corners and make the corners clean, without chipping the raised parts. Have patience and take your time.

I would suggest starting out with a fairly large piece and a simple design, so not to get overwhelmed on your first attempt. A good aid is a simple shoelace, to get an idea of how the knot work looks, over and under and turns.

Bob

[Thor]

Irish's book is a pattern book without carving directions, but the images would be helpful in any case, and the book is a favorite for patterns.
There are many other books out there that do include direction. One I have is
"Celtic Woodcraft" by Glenda Bennett. It goes through some step by steps that are easy to interpret.
pictures of problems and perhaps we can help you here also.
Christina

[paolo59]

Whitie, if you are still looking for help, check this short but well done tutorial on the celtic knots:
The Village Carpenter: Carving a Celtic Knot
Paolo

[Irish]

Good Morning Whitie!

Try our free online tutorial about carving Welsh Love Spoons. It has both general celtic knot instructions as well as free patterns. This tutorial has the classic ball and cage plus the chain link instructions.

As Thor suggests post photos of your progress so we can all join in.

Welsh Love Spoons Tutorial
Welsh Love Spoons Introduction
Basic Cutting Techniques
Page 1 - General Outline Shape
Page 2 - Cutting Inside Openings
Page 3 - Celtic Designs
Open Linked Chain
Page 1 - Measuring the Block
Page 2 - Establishing the Central Cross
Page 3 - Creating the Links
Ball and Cage
Welsh Love Spoon Pattern Package

I like to scale my celtic knots so that the thread width is just a tad narrower than one of my round gouges.

I cut out the lines with a bench knife so that I have "square" threads with the free spaces in between.

Then I move to my straight chisel to give the threads their general roll - tucking them down where they will disappear under the next thread.

Now I can turn my round gouge undside down and gently use it's round profile to create the round shape of the threads. By using that round gouge my threads come out an even thickness throughout the carving.

Watch your grain as you work! There will be places where no matter how you approach the wood you are working into the grain with your gouge. In those areas use the gouge as a scraper instead of a cutter ... place the gouge face down then pull it towards you. Scrapping wood is a traditional method of shaping especially when making chair seats.

It's fun to plan a celtic knot with several different sizes of threads so that you have both large threads and small threads interlocking. For this I scale the smaller threads to fit my the profile of my smallest round gouge.

Susan Irish