Relief Carving Wood Spirit Grape Man WIP

[Irish]

Step 143: Now I could roll the sides of the mustache down to just touch the leaf area and I think that would look great. But since I have plenty of room I am going to under cut along the sides of the mustache. There is at least a 1/4" of space in my carving.

Step 144: Under cuts are made in two cuts. The first is made at the level of the element below the main element .... so for us this means the first cut is at the level of the leaf below the mustache. The second cut is made about 1/2 the way up the wall of the main element and angled down to meet the first cut. This frees a wedge or triangle of wood and leaves an open space below the top surface of the under cut element.

OK ... I tried to take this photo about a dozen times but my hand is always in the way of the camera when my hand is in the right position. Sorry! I have laid my chip knife very low to the surface of the leaf and then made a cut into the lowest edge of the mustache area. This makes the first cut of the under cut.

Step 145: Here's the second cut made at the half way point of the wall and angled down towards the first cut.

145a - visual aids time !

Step 146: Because of the shape of the area I am under cutting I needed to free the top side of the under cut with my chip knife/bench knife.

[Irish]

Step 147: There are two great reasons to make under cuts in a relief carving. First, it hides the joint line between two elements. There are times that no matter how carefully you work you just can not make a joint line clean .. so hide it instead with an under cut. Second, and most important, under cuts cast black shadows onto the elements below them. This gives your carving a stronger feeling of depth and dimension.

Step 148: Even though no one will see into that under cut joint I still do my best to clean it to a smooth angle. I have added a tool to my table, this is a dog leg chisel.

Notice the odd angle on the shaft that places the cutting edge of the this chisel flat against the wood. This is perfect to sliding right into that under cut.

You can use any tool to clean the under cut including your bull nose chisel, straight chisel and your rifflers. Use whatever you can to tease those extra fibers out.

Step 149: I will re-cut an under cut several times until I have a strong dark shadow created. With each cutting I clean the joint line.

[Irish]

Step 150: I am going to under cut most but not all of this beard area. I am not doing the areas near the nose and I am leaving a little at the bottom tip. I don't want the beard 'outlined' with the black under cut shadow but accented and by not doing each and every area I leave a few spots of soft shadow.

Step 151: I have worked both sides of the beard and you can see how dramatic those little cuts can make an area of work.

Step 152: Because I am working the under cuts and about to work around the mustache areas I have made a quick roll of sand paper. This is great for teasing out those little fibers in very, very tight spots.

Step 153: OK ... I've had a small chip out. No big deal, I will simple cut out the area completely. I could glue it .. but I'm not ..

[Irish]

Step 154: I have moved onto the top surface of the beard and mustache areas with my chisel to start smoothing the rough out ridges.

Step 155: I have tucked the top edge of the beard a bit more under the level of the
mustache. I made a stop cut along this joint line with the chisel then lowered the
beard side of the stop cut.

Step 156: Since the other side of the mustache has a longer overlap or shared joint line I grapped my chip knife to make the stop cut.

[Irish]

Step 157: While I am smoothing these areas I am also rolling over the outside edge of the hair slightly with the chisel.

Step 158: In the center mustache area I have rolled the sides sharply into the joints
of the side mustache areas. I am also tapering this area down to the nose.

Step 159: I am taking the chisel right inside the nostril areas as I smooth the side
mustache areas.

Step 160: I'm going to do a quick and light clean up at this point with my roll of sand
paper, riffler and finger nail board. I want to get rid of some of the extra fuzzy
bunny fibers that I am collecting but not loose that plane look.

So ... back in a little while! Oh, and I don't think I'll get this done today. We are too a point where there are so many little things it's taking a little longer than I expects ....

Susan

[Tidewalker]

Thanks Again for the great help. I am going to try and work on cutting mine down to size this afternoon so maybe I can catch up a little. My son takes up alot of my time everyday so I get little precious time to carve but I get alot of precious time with him.

Thanks again,

Darren

[Irish]

How do you do that, Darren??? Man, you must be the Fastest er in the East! Are you sitting there just watching your e-mail notices from WCI (Like I do) ?

Oppps!!!! I missed a photo! Back at step 148, here's the photo of how the dog leg chisel rests on the wood and is used to cut exactly at the surface level of the work.

My apologizes!

Susan

[Tidewalker]

I just seem to be printing out the new steps when you stat adding more. I think it is great. Did you happen to see what I was talking about in my pictures about the thickness? should i just bring everything down about an inch and then re draw everything and start from there? I think you are such a great and giving person Susan I can't compliment you enough. My son and I spend everyday in the car 3 hours round trip to the hospital , 7 days a week and we bring these printouts with us and he reads them to me as I drive. He really loves dragons and gargoyles and he thinks this is very cool, he told me to tell you that hehe , anyways hope you are having a great day !

Darren

[Irish]

Yes, I would take everything down so that your lower level is about 3/4" to 1/2" thickness, except the nose! The nose I would leave proud.

Since you have the room why not use it. And don't worry at the early stages about being too neat or smooth. A relief carver makes many changes to a carving as they work you can simply wipe out all those smoothing times with a blink of the eye.

You're doin' great!

Susan

Oh, and although I do like it, the compliments really aren't necessary and they make me blush anyway! I, personnally, am having an absolute blast with this thread. It's like teaching a summer seminar, all the fun and joys of sharing what I have learned along the way and sharing some chocolates and coffee while we chat ... without having to wash your dirty dishes after the lunch break

[Kenny_S]

What, a woman not likeing compliments? Unheard of for sure. That tears it, no more compliments to you lady.

Nah, You are truely a nice and very talented lady and I like your tutorial.