flower bas relief - wip

mark yundt · #21 08-22-2008, 04:03 AM

Wow Doris,,reshaping a factory Pfeil chisel to make carving easier. I always thought that was a no-no from the feed back I get. AND it works well in hard wood as well as under a mallet,,,HUH,,go figure.

See...I always knew you'd understand.Works better doesn't it?

doris · #22 08-22-2008, 04:28 AM

yes much better :-) ... oh, it did take me some courage, i mean i not knew if i succeed, and i might spoil it, but then i thought, i just reshape it as long as i get it right, its lots of metal there. these guys not know what kind of chisel a woman needs ... and it was not carving so well, when i bought it. i actually was quite disappointed, for the money i had paid

chuckt · #23 08-22-2008, 10:31 AM

Excellent thread and as always Doris - you are a huge inspiration to so many of us here with (as Fred pointed out) your "Go for it" attitude. I too thought this was a much larger piece until I saw your tools. Glad to see you had the courage to shape your gouges to what works for you. I will be a bit nervous when I first start shaping/sharpening mine, but my visit with Mark and seeing someone do this really helped. So far I've been ok with mine as they came BUT I am sure once I get more hands on time with them I'll begin to want to make changes.

Anyway - neat project and thanks for another of your always interesting WIP threads.

ChuckT

doris · #24 08-26-2008, 07:11 AM

ok, i finished... well sort of... i have a problem, and need advise :

i had finished the carving, and all looked well. so i applied a thin layer of brown wax. and what happened is that after that it became apparent that i had not cleanly enough removed the stopcuts around the boundaries everywhere. i could not see that before the waxing, not even with 8x loupe. but the waxing now shows it clearly, and it strongly bothers me... so my question :

can i recut the background, even though it is waxed ? and what happenes if i reapply after that wax ? will it blend in with the color on the flowers ? also, i hardly can imagine i can reapply wax on the background, and not touch the flowers at all, the spaces are very tight, so they (the flowers,i mean) probably get some more brwon wax ... will that make it impossible to blend in the new wax color with the previous ?

please help, i usually not do anything once i have declared (for me) a carving finished, but this untidyness on the background bothers me really,,,,

Joy · #25 08-26-2008, 07:38 AM

Doris, I'm sorry about your problem. All you can do is try it on a scrap of the same wood. Maybe someone else will have experience with this problem and can help.

I also reshaped some of my gouges. It was really scary but I love the result. But I haven't had the courage to sharpen a V tool that I dropped and chipped.

mark yundt · #26 08-26-2008, 10:42 AM

Hi Doris,
I have never used only wax to finish a carving so I am only drawing on my other experiences with oil type stains.
The most direct answer is as was given. Try it on a piece of scrap,,if you don't have any,,use the back of the carving.
Using the finishes that I do,,I have at times applied a stain,,and low and behold it doesn't stick or cover an odd glue smear that I didn't see or stands out on some less than perfectly sheared end grain. So I just recarve the affected area right through the stain. Even the stain doesn't penetrate as deep as you might think. But it does leave a bare area next to a stained area. To help it blend a bit better without leaving a definite hard line a bit of sanding is in order to feather edge and help it blend. Why,,even though it's the same wood,,same stain and it doesn't just blend perfectly is beyond me. Maybe because one is fresh and the other has been on a while? I don't know but it seems to happen.
So,,yes,,I'd recarve that area. Using a brown wax I would imagine you should have little problems getting it to reblend. As far as getting into small areas without going over ones already done you might try this. Get an old junky artist type brush. There is always one around that isn't so good anymore. Or just buy one of those brushes that are just junk to begin with. Cut it very short to create a miniature stiff brush applicator. This will get into those little places without getting another coat all over the place or touching the flowers.
From my understanding though,,as Mike has pointed out recently as well,,a wax finish can be,,,and is applied repeatedly over time. So I wouldn't imagine two or more coats would really hurt anything. The wood can only accept so much wax,,and much of it will get buffed off. Some will stick in the corners,,bu this might add to the shadows and depth apperance.
I have used wax in this way,,just not directly. So I may be totally incorrect in my thoughts about using it. But I know if I wax my brown shoes repeatedly ,,,they don't keep getting darker and darker. The majority gets wiped or buffed off,,and just the thinnest film remains.

doris · #27 08-26-2008, 11:09 AM

thank you joy and mark... yes, i try first, and since i have no other of this wood, i do on backside ...boy was i shocked when these untidy areas came up... now i calmed down, i think the idea with cutshort brush will make me able to not touch the flowers. and then i dont care if the background gets a different shade of brown, if i cant get it seemless i recut the whole background, then it does not matter anyway if the brown would be a tad be different from that on the flowers.... the wax i have is brriwax, and is said the brown is stain mixed in the wax. i used that several times already like this, and i like it....anyway, thank you both for encouraging, i will go back to work. now i feel better. i just cant have it like it looks now. its embarassing ... ... thank you

Thor · #28 08-26-2008, 12:35 PM

Hi Doris,
You may have read this on the other thread about taking class under Chris Pye, but apparently he uses a hair dryer to melt the wax deeper into the wood. I will try it, and it might work for blending in your newly applied wax after to carve into it again. Just a thought.
Thor

doris · #29 08-26-2008, 03:23 PM

yes, thanks for that thor... i do use hairdryer for applying wax, otherwise it is so stiff and wants too much stick in crevices. it goes really well. i used it before, since a friend told me to try :-) thanks again.

carvendive · #30 08-26-2008, 04:47 PM

Doris,
Lovely work.
Regarding the wax. You say it's brown. Do you know if it's naturally brown or is it a tinting agent? If it's just the natural color then you should have no problem with a second coat. I've buffed out with burlap but on a piece with such small detail you might need something more controlable.

If it's a coloring agent... Again, on a scrap of "similar" wood. I've successfully removed wax with rubbing alcohol and even WD-40. The WD-40 takes a while for the smell to go away but it worked for me.

Not sure if this would work but for stained pieces (oil based stains) in the cabinet shops that I used to work in we'd leach the stain out using paint thinner - worked real good but we'd go through lots of rags.

Wish I knew more...