Relief Basic Question

[Jodyb]

Can anyone recommend a good 101 tutorial for relief? Thanks
Jody

[Dundee]

Check out the book "Relief Carving In Wood: a practical introduction" by Chris Pye. He walks you through doing a simple fish in both low and high relief.

Chris

[Eddy-Smiles]

Try this....

Levels in Relief

[Joy]

Look in the tutorial section and Susan Irish has a green man/grape man tutorial which is a face in relief. It's what got me started on relief carving.

[Jodyb]

Thanks everyone. I did read through the grape man tutorial. That was your first project? I'll take a look at the Chris Pye book also.
Jody

[papasar]

IMHO Susan Irish's latest green man in relief book is one of the best on the market. It goes way beyond other books as far as pictures, explanation of steps, helpful hints etc. Next best thing to a one on one carving class with Susan.
Bill K.

[Joy]

Jody, the green man wasn't my first carving. It was my first relief carving. I had started carving about two years before I did the green man. But I don't believe it would be too hard for a first carving. For one reason--you can't go wrong with a green man---anything you come up with is OK. There is no "one" way for a green man to look.

[chuckt]

I will put in a hearty "second that motion" on the Chris Pye book. Very good introduction to the basic steps on a simple project - both low and high relief use the same basic project. He explains everything step by step clearly and with good photos. I think this is a strong first step, then move into Susan's Greenman patterns or her tutorials on here.

Chris Pye's material really helps you to get the feel for holding and working with your gouges to complete the steps in relief carving.

Of course - his book assumes you have at least a basic set of full sized carving gouges (which he outlines on his web site here: Chris Pye - Woodcarving Toolshop

If you're not prepared to make that kind of investment then I think Susan has some basic tutorial on her site that you can work with smaller palm gouges. But if you're really interested in relief I think you'll want and find you have much more control over the full sized gouges making them safer to use (two hands on the gouge at all times so nothing to get in front of the business end).

Cheers
ChuckT

[mdallensr]

Chris Pye uses his book to teach a one-week relief carving course at the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship in Maine each summer, and 2009 will be his 12th year for that course. Nothing beats hands-on instruction, but you could still work through the examples in the book yourself if you have basic carving skill (and tools). Chris Pye is pretty good about answering e-mails, and would probably comment on your effort and progress in working through HIS BOOK if you sent him photos and questions. Chris Pye: Woodcarving Mike