[mark yundt]

I'm guessing you are looking for something to appear similar to the top of this piece?

[doris]

BIG smile ...yes, excately, that was my reference image :-) ... thanks mark, yes, such curl i want, i just forgot the english word for it...good, i try the curl this way you describe. makes sense...and if it breaks, i can still find other design...

no, i have no v-tool that is small enough to cut those creases, ... i cut them by first stabbing where the crease should go, and then make the v-shape cut from both sides, with a number 2, or when curvy with a 5.... then i do further as you describe with caressing ... the fussy stuff you see is tiny pieces breaking out... boy this wood so crumbly, i wish i had taken some different...
hmm, thought my tools are sharp, they cut perfect on linden, even against the grain ...but better i try get them sharper, cant be wrong to try ... thanks for help , mark :-)

[mark yundt]

Ahhh,,Ok,,since you are using a 2 or a 5 to make the design,,,be careful of driving the chisel too deep. If you have wood that tends to be fragile,,or if you try to go too deep in only one shot,,you might run the risk of crushing the fibers or displacing them too much too quickly.

Instead,,make shallow score marks,,relieve them,,,go a bit deeper then relieve that. Do it in stages so as not to crush or displace the wood too quickly with one forceful blow. A wood like linden or bass will move out of the way,,some woods will not. Instead you'll damage the surrounding wood making it difficult to get clean cuts.

Again,,the piece I'm currently working on is doing this very thing. So,,,slow and steady,,in smaller cuts = ceaner carvings.

[doris]

now i do understand ! ... i tried now sharpen my tools more, but i think they are as sharp as i can get them, and i think this is really sharp, they do cut better than the new pfeil tools i just recently got ... but what you say, now lets me understand what i have observed : when i did my stabcuts to make the line for the crease, often enough already pieces of wood on either side of it broke away. and if not, then later when i did the v-cuts--- this never happened with linden on me... i need go slower with this wood, not like i carve linden... maybe is not that bad anyway that i carve this wood now, it teaches me a lot... i try, and if i can get the feeling for it, i recarve his left eye, there a lot of things crushed away... thanks a lot, this really helps :-) ...

[Bobla76]

Doris
I do a lot of Crow Indian dancer carvings. Some are done on found wood which often wont take good detail with out a little help. I use a penetrating oil finish and let it soak in well before wiping it off. It keeps the wood from crumbling while cutting. It seems to work best on smaller work about 15 to 20 cm. It has saved a few carvings from becoming firewood.

[Irishman]

Hi Doris,

There are some fine Greenman being posted here. I think I have a piece of basswood in the corner that looks like one...somewhere's in the fibres. I'm inclined to lean in your direction by having the face a little more expressive. I presently have three projects on the go so I'll put a Greenman on the list. Yours is coming along nicely...and its quite small which is surpising. Look forward to seeing the other phases as you progress.
Patrick

[Ashbys]

Doris ,

Nice , should be an impressive piece. Greenmen are just fun .

Ash

[doris]

ashby and patrick, hello :-) yes, greenmen are so much fun :-) and this one IS small, i made a foto with my thumb on it, so you can compare...but think tiny woman hand, not big man hand ;-)
bobla, thanks for the tip. very appreciate your help. i not needed apply it now. i made smaller cuts as mark recommended, and tried to imagine i carve an eggshell. this helped me handle the wood really carefully, and i think i finally got a feeling for it. almost no crumbling anymore accured...so, besides some cleanups, i carved the curl, and i tried to make a foto to let you look under the curl too, so that you can see i did undercut only a little. more i not dared, as i feared my tools digging under there would put pressure on the top part and then break it off ... hihi, it was so fun to challenge the camera to focus underneath the curl, it took me more than 20 tries...and in this magnification i see i can clean up there a little more ... i hope you enjoy, and mark, thanks for explaining that with the moving and shifting in wood when i put my tools to deep ...
next time i show finished greenman...

[squbrigg]

What a great thread.

Doris... your greenman is coming along wonderfully. You are pushing your limits and achieving great results, learning all the while. Great practice, and having fun at the same time.

Mark... I am continually amaized with your work. That greenman of yours and the other piece, the curled leaf block are impressive. The skill that it takes to achieve those types of carvings, regurlarly and consistantly, are the hallmarks of a true carveing master.

Bob

[mark yundt]

Thank you very much Bob,,,but right back at you. I have yet to see one of your ships that I wouldn't want to hang on my wall or display on my desk. The pieces you did for the show were just stunning!

As I said on another post somewhere,,these Acanthus leaves,,which all the pieces I've shown lately ( keystone,greenman,samples) are done with are so versatile.And I tend to think look pretty neat in the way they can flow and move.There is nothing stagnant about them. You get a lot of bang for your buck using them. They can be simple and quick,,,they just look like they're harder than they are. A handful of basic tools will make them all. If you remember,,the Greenman was done using only 6 chisels in the tutorial.

Doris. Your piece is looking good! Considering the size,,I can see where you had some difficulties. Walnut holds some good detail,,but I think you pushed it to it's limit. Even considering a "tiny womans hand" that curl is quite small and you pulled it off well. Linden or Basswood tend to be more stringy or fiberous whereas walnut doesn't. Walnut carves cleaner because chips tend to pop without strings holding them back. You only need to get close to your cut to get a chip to carve out cleanly. And because of this ,,small delicate pieces tend to crumble as you've noticed where in bass or linden it wouldn't. You've captured the movement of the leaves nicely,,the way they should splay,,the eyelets where they fold over each other..and the shape of each leaf.

You're almost at the point of doing that Japanese style carving,,,give yourself a break next time and go up a bit in size to be able to play with the leaves. I remember the acanthus you did not long ago,,looked similar in style to my sample piece with the S shape. You are doing well with this style of carving. You'll find ways to incorporate it into many other carvings.