[Kenny_S]

Ladies, simply OUTSTANDING.

Susan, If I may be permitted, I like the relief carving and burning of the Fireman and would like to attempt a burn of iot for my son who is a paramedic/Fireman. Asking permission to burn your pattern. hmmm, That didn't sound right!

[Irish]

Oh Kenny ... That is soooo cool! Yes, of course you do have permission and I hope that you will post it when done. We have the old timer fireman burned and watercolored on our website if that is of any help. www.CarvingPatterns.com/projects/watercolor.htm


Susan

(Oh ... wait a minute ... is that like a book burning sort of thingie If that's what you are doing I hope you printed enough copies to toast the marshmellows because I don't think just one would be enough!)

[Donna_T]

Hey Susan,

I got my holiday issue of WCI today and I absolutely love the Snowman relief. It's adorable and I can't wait to try it. The other guy is cool too, but I am partial to the snowman. Thanks for doing them for us...and for doing the tutorials for us here. Great help.
Donna T

[Thor]

Susan,
I don't know if it is the lighting when you photographed the face, but he looks luminus like the moon. Kind of scary and cool. Love it.
Thor

[Carp]

Here is my current project. Half Susan Irish and Half Bill Judt. I've got two problems with it that I could use help on.

1) Background is rougher than I like and getting tools in amongst the letters is nearly impossible. Any thoughts on smoothing the deepest layer short of (ugh) sanding?



2) I'm worried about the finish. The piece is poplar and very brittle. Hence some breakage occurred while I was carving and I used CA glue to fix. I sadly spilled a drop of CA right on the house last night

[Thor]

Wow Carp, that's amazing.
Hopefully, Susan will chime in here soon and give you some good advice on getting in the small places. I just use my smallest gouge very carefully and slowly shaving tiny bits, and then angle in with a small straight to get down into the inside stop cut. I don't know if I've done tight spots as deep as that, and I know how heart breaking it is to have a piece break off.
That is some very fine lettering you have done, and I really like the image of the house.
It really is a great example of how good a relief carving can be.
Thor

[wade clark]

Carp,
Very nice work! Great carving! Don't fret too much about the background, it just shows that it's hand made. Beautiful!
Wade

[Carp]

Thank you for the ecouraging words.

My reply did not get all the way published. The glue might impact my ability to put a stain on this piece. Any thoughts about how I might be able to get a good finish?

[Irish]

Hi Carp,

Beautiful Carving!!!! I love the depth your captured in the background of the lettering. The oval inset being raised above that depth really gives me the feeling that the barn is actually set on a mountain side. Excellent use of changing depths for emphasis.

Deep relief carvings often require some sanding. As you stated there are areas that you might not be able to get to otherwise. Before I would sand this piece I would try a couple of tricks.

First is to use a very narrow straight chisel on profile edge to shave the areas in the background. This is done exactly as chair makers do to create that wonderful smooth curve of a Windsor chair bottom. Before sand paper was invented they used cabintery scrapers. Many years ago (No, I'm not telling how many - GRIN) I purchased a cheap set of carving tools from Harbor Freight. Now that alone tells you how cheap those tools are. Of the set of twelve, which cost me a whole $3.95, there are three tiny chisels that I use exactly for this purpose. The smallest is a 1/8" straight chisel and the steel is soft enough I can quickly change the angle on the edge. That tool drops down into tight areas wonderfully and can scrape away much of the roughness left from tight area carving.

Second is to use a coat or two of sanding seal over the entire piece and when it has dried use a very stiff brush to remove the fuzz bunnies. I have several ox haired oil painting brushes that I have cut the bristle length in half. They are much stiffer then a toothbrush but don't do the damage that a wire brush would do.

A third idea is to give your work a coating of oil finish as your next step. During the carving process, especially in deep relief, you often have areas where the wood gets pushed or dented as much as it gets carved. By doing a light coat of linseed oil you refresh the pushed down fibers and they will raise back into position. Often a coat or two of linseed eliminates a lot of fuzz bunny chasing for me! You can recarve as needed after the linseed has had a day to soak in deeply. With your glue drop this may not be appropriate but I wanted to throw it out anyway.

Four ... tired of me yet ... GRIN. You can use riflers instead of sand paper. They will help to keep the background floor nice and even in the depth.

But as a deep relief carver I have come to accept that sanding is part of my carving work as there are times that the only thing that will reach into those hard areas is sand paper.

I don't know which glue you are referring to ... CA Glue? Is it a white or yellow glue? You might be able to carve a light layer off the barn area to open that wood for staining. An easy way to check if the glue spot is going to affect your staining is to brush a coat of water over the work. Where the wood is open the water will darken the coloring. Where there is glue the wood will remain white. So you can lightly carve the glue spot area then check if you are deep enough to accept stain.

Now as for the glue spot and staining. If it were me I would spot stain the lettering area and then paint the scene! You can use thinned acrylics if you don't want too strong a coloring. The stain would emphasize the writing while the painting would overset that beautiful scene. And acrylics go over glue very very well.

Great job!!!!

Susan

[Mottles]

Wow Susan he's looking really nice thanks for the large image. Helps us beginners a lot! I was thinking while looking at him add some grapes and leaves incircling him--he make a terrific Napa Valley California Winery logo. grin
Kathy