Ornament relief carving

[CarverRog]

As most of you know I'm a chip carver and was asked to make one of 92 ornaments for the Indiana State Art Museums Christmas tree this year and the theme was transportation for your county. I didn't think that a chip carving, which is my expertise, would look very good so I chose to try a relief carving. Ouch! Not me! I decided that a canal boat would work because the Erie canal runs within 50 yards from my house and at one time was a very important form of transportation to the area. OK this is the question should I try staining it using shades or try and paint it. My gut feeling is to try painting with water colors but I'm not a painter. I'm open to any suggestions. Thanks!

[achaundy]

Great theme for your carving. It looks like painting would look good for a tree ornament a little on the brite side. The carving is really unique. Skip

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

Only 92? Geez, with all the extra time on your hands, how come you aren't signed up for the ornament swap?

[CarverRog]

No Hi Ho. I'm only suppling one ornament. LOL! Right now I have too many irons in the fire, if you know what I mean.

[markken5889]

look into Makinchips thread about painting with natural stain as a base and using oil paints as the pigment.

Mark

[Jim-Iowa]

For a guy who does not consider himself a relief carver, thats a neat carving.
I really like the subject and look forward to seeing the finished product.
It should look great either painted or stained(I know not much help).

[Robert Cahill]

I think it looks great as is. Perhaps soaking it in tung oil. Whatever you decide looking forward to seeing it finished

[arbarnhart]

I agree with Robert - it looks great as is. I prefer unpainted relief as it makes it obvious it is a single carving and not a glue up. I might use a little stain to get some contrast, but I would go no darker than a very light brown. But that's me...

Very nice work, BTW, and congrats on being asked to do it.

[Irish]

Roger, great carving!

There are several easy techniques to bring your carving forward without having the paint each and every detail.

You might try a few text samples. They do not have to be anything more than a small grouping of v-gouge lines carved into the sample species of wood.

First you can add artist oil paint to any oil finish. Place a small amount, about 1/4" worth of squeezed paint on a tile or in a butter tub. Add about 1/2 teaspoon of your oil. Mix this well. I usually use a small stiff brush that I will also use to apply the stain/oil mix. When you have the paint well mixed into the oil add some more oil, then a little more and then just a bit more.

I usually end up with a mix of about 2 to 3 tablespoons of oil to the 1/4" paint. Brush that across your carving, be a little generous. Then wrap a clean cloth around your finger. With that finger tip gently rub the oil off the high areas.

You will end up with very light stain on the high area with the colored oil in the carving channels.

The nice thing about mixing your own stain in this sample is that oil finishes often are much thicker than pre-made stains. That thickness gives you more control over the staining and color lifting step.

My second though was to gold gild the ornament. Ornaments are meant to be bring gaudy little trinkets ... even beautifully carved ones as yours.

You could apply several water thinned coats of gesso. Let each coat dry well and lightly sand those coats with crumbled up paper bag scraps. When I am gold gilding I will mix a little red brown or yellow ochre acrylic paint with the gesso so that it is not bright white. Adding a color to your gesso reduces the streaky look of the colors that you apply over them.

Apply one or two coats of good quality gold paint. These can be paper bag sanded also.

Now the fun ... Place a little oil paint on your tile, aluminum foil works great as a throw away pallette. Add an equal amount of linseed oil and mix. Fill a brush with the mix, blot off the excess and test the mixture on a scrap of newspaper or a text page of a magazine. You want enough linseed oil add to be able to clear read the writing but still see some color. Add more oil as needed.

Now with a blotted brush add just a touch of color onto your carving ... the canal boat's hull could be red, the hand rail along it's edge might be dark green, a little medium blue for the water.

The oil thinned oil paints will add a little color but (BUT) let the gold gild show through. We used to call it "stained glass" painting.

Don't paint everything with this technique. You don't want to lost the gilding - you just want to add a touch of color here and there.

Let it dry for several days and finish with a few light coats of poly.

Hope you find something here that might work.

Susan

(Opps ... forgot to note in the first idea ... you can use oil paint colors other than browns and blacks to make an oil stain. Try a test sample using cadimum red medium or ultramarine blue. You will be delighted how this can add the color you want without needing to do any painting at all.)

[Jim-Iowa]

Wow Susan you should write a book on this subject!
But wait you probably have and I just have not got it yet?