Relief Carving - WIP

[Claude]

A friend gave me this chunk of walnut - measures around 10 inches high, 3.5 thick, and a couple feet long. I thought I'd try to make a relief carving of his 1953ish Chrysler for him. The car is 15 inches bumper to bumper, and about 3/8 inch deep to the deepest part of the relief. I've still got quite a bit to go, such as the detail on the bumpers, the mirror, the front window, and the tires, but I thought I'd post a photo and see if anyone has any good advice.

My thought for the finishing is to leave the outer wood rough, and use a flat varnish on it, then cover the car itself in a gloss varnish. I also intend to carefully sand, or use a riffler, to smooth the carving. This has taken me several months to get to this stage, as I have been shaving off very small and thin shavings so as to not mess it up...and a lot of other carving projects have had higher priority at times.

So...any comments?

Claude

[feb]

Claude, looks darn good so far are you going to paint any part of it. That was a silly question it probubly has to nice of a grain. That can be some pretty tough carving. That guy will be pretty proud of that one he'll be tellin everyone ,my friend Claude carved that just for me. Feb

[BobT]

That is really nice. Very detailed, well proportioned. Good job, wonderful carving. You can be proud.
Bob

[Irishman]

Its one thing to carve a car, its another thing to carve one just like the picture your showing us. Very well done...a carbon copy of the original. May want to consider carving some letters in the board of the make and year of the car.
Patrick

[Mottles]

Hi Claude, looks like you have a nice start and looking forward to following your progress with this one. On finishing I like the idea of using the natural finish. A semi-gloss over all areas would be nice--bringing out the beauty of the walnut wood. Keep up the good work.
Kathy
Oh and there really is a Santa Claus--nice avatar!

[MDWine]

That's pretty nifty Claude!
Definitely a faithful replication in wood... nice job.
Thanks for showing it to us!

[Irish]

Claude,

Great work. We can see why it has already taken you so long - the proportions are perfect.

FYI - when you need to cut very very straight lines in a carving get yourself a metal ruler. Glue a strip of gasket cork sheeting to the back side - for me that's the side with the metric marks. Make the cork about 1/8" smaller in width then the ruler so that there is a small lip of ruler left uncovered.

You can put the cork side of the ruler down on the wood. The cork grips nicely and helps hold the ruler from sliding. Then gently glide your bench knife along the edge of the ruler to shave the line straight.

Susan

[Claude]

Originally Posted by Irish

...FYI - when you need to cut very very straight lines in a carving get yourself a metal ruler. Glue a strip of gasket cork sheeting to the back side - for me that's the side with the metric marks. Make the cork about 1/8" smaller in width then the ruler so that there is a small lip of ruler left uncovered.

You can put the cork side of the ruler down on the wood. The cork grips nicely and helps hold the ruler from sliding. Then gently glide your bench knife along the edge of the ruler to shave the line straight.

Susan

Susan:
Thanks for idea - I've been doing it by eyeball, and trying for a thousandth or two of shaving at a time.

Claude

[Thor]

I'm really impressed with this carving. I missed seeing it before. How has it come since the first picture? I'm real curious about how the finish is going to look from your description. It sounds like a very interesting and good approach.
Thor

[pallin]

Claude,
This relief carving is looking really good. Achieving the smoothness and straightness of the car is a challenge. Since the wood is 3.5 inches thick, could the depth around the car be increased? If you do, I think you should treat the surface under the car differently than the upper background. I could be a rough textured surface sloping to an imaginary horizon behind the car.