Relief Carving Wood Spirit Grape Man WIP

[Irish]

Step 205: You can see by how much of the riffle slips into that under cut area how deep it is.

Step 206: I left myself enough room in the thickness of the leave edge that I can now
roll the top side of the leaf with my large round gouge. Notice I am not exactly on the edge of the leaf but in just a touch. This type of rolling done too close to the dge can tear out your edge. So leave yourself room then go back after the rolling to thin that edge with your chip knife or chisel. I will thin that edge later ... when I add the leaf serrations.

206A This is a close up of that extra room. It's so much easier to leave extra than to repair a tear out.

Step 207: Clean the intersection, junction line, where the leave meets the upper stem
with a chip cut.

Step 208: Because the curling of the leaf effected my flow into the brow I am
re-cutting that area with my chisel. I want a smooth transition from the brow into the
leaf and then into that roll over.

.

[Irish]

Step 209: The stems on the right have been worked exactly as those on the left. Here you can see where I am making my under cut.

Step 210: This stem curl was not worked in the rough out stage as deeply as the one on the left side. So to make an under cut for this side I need to work from the leaf area and lower the surrounding leaf. So I am taking long chisel cuts into my under cut make with the chip knife. Again, this is a lower the water because we can't raise the bridge area.

You can see the long chisel cuts that lowered the leaf area in this photo.

I grabbed my bull nose chisel and am smoothing those long cuts into the leaf
area.

Step 211: It's quick check time again. You can see the in's and out's of the stem
curls in this photo. Also how the leaf has been re-smoothed into the roll over edge and the deep under cut on the right side.
We are ready to flip him over and do some work on the back ... so see you in a bit.

Susan

[Irish]

As we start this new section you may want to read through the entire posting to at least step 230. As I have worked this stage I chose to roll over or curl one of the leaf edges on the face of the carving. That's shown in steps 221 through 230.

I did only one edge but you might have a lot of fun rolling or curling over several of your leaf edges. So, read through this stage first then decide which edges you want to roll .... you can roll every one if you want and it would make this carving outstanding!

But ... I am only rolling one edge because of the number of photos it would take to roll them all

Step 212: I am ready to clean up and smooth out the back of my carving. So I start by finding items to prop him durning the work. I have my white erasers back on the bracing board and I have added some foam backed sanding pads that I keep for this type of situation. The pads are placed face down, sand paper side down, onto the board or table with the project resting on the foam side. The sand paper side grabs the work surface
and the foam side pads and grabs the wood. Those little pads offer a lot of holding power.

Step 213: I am smoothing out the gouge ridges with my bench knife and chisel. As I am working I decided to widen the curve areas on the back. That will make larger cast shadows on the wall later. Wide curves make wide shadows - sharp short curves make small shadows.
You want both wide shadows and small shadows in a relief carving. Don't get carried away and make every curve a wide one.

Step 214: The chip knife will go right into that tight curve we made with the band saw at the beginning cut out stages.

Step 215: To taper or smooth out the tight band saw curve I have grabbed my large round gouge. I am using it in a half circle cut that starts high on the wall of the band saw curve and ends low to the inside of that curve. In the phot you can see the comma cut just above where the gouge tip is ... that's the half circle cut.

Step 216: Once I have the curve opened with the large round gouge I use my chisel to do the final smoothing. I could also have used my wide sweep gouge for this smoothing step.

So, a quick review for these steps ...

1. Chip knife or bench knife to widen the back areas.

2. Chip knife to open and clean the band saw curves.

3. Large round gouge to widen the band saw curves.

4. Bull nose chisel or wide sweep gouge to smooth everything.

.

[Irish]

Step 217: I am moving along the sides of the back with my chip knife. I will use the steps above - chip knife widening and chisel or wide sweep smoothing - for the long open sections of the sides.

Step 218: You can see the Befors and Afters in this photo. I am not going for pristine smooth, remember that the real grape leaf has lots of little planes inside the veins. I want that effect on both the face of this carving and the back side.

You wouldn't think that what you do to the back side of a relief carving would have an effect on how the finished carving looks when it's hung on the wall. But in this photo you can see that it really does. I turned off all but one light source for this photo, the light is coming from your upper right towards your lower left.

The area we just did is the lower left side of the bottom leaf lobe. You can't see any of the work we just did, because it's hidden on the back of the project. But look at that wide dark shadow this area now casts !!!! Compare this area to the one above that I have marked.

The sceond area has little or no rolling on the back at this point. The shadow you are seing here is mostly from the thickness of the wood. See how small and narrow that shadow is.

The size of the shadow you cast on the wall is directly proportional to the size of the roll over or taper you carve on the back. The work you do now is show later in the shadowing.

I have marked the inner edge of the back roll over so that you can see how deeply
into the back I have worked to create that cast shadow.

Step 219: I am along the back side following my steps ... chip knife, large round gouge, chisel or wipe sweep. (You are starting to sound like a broken record here, Susan )

.

[Irish]

Step 220: As I work along the edge of the back there are some place that I just can not reach with the work in the bracing board. So I have picked up my terry cloth towel. I can slide my right hand under the towel and hold the wood at the angle that I need to reach the edges easily.That towel is folded over into quarters so there are four layers
of towel between my right hand and the knife edge.

Also notice where my left thumb is in this photo ... it's below the knife so I have it
anchored behind one of the leaf tips. If I slip in this pulling stroke there is a leaf
point between my thumb and the knife.

.

[Irish]

MAKING A LEAF CURL ON THE FACE SIDE

Step 221: I have lots of thick wood in this area of the back. There is more than
enough to make a leaf edge curl over onto the front face of the work ... So let's have a little extra fun in this area.

Step 222: I have already smoothed and tapered this leaf band saw curve as we have done all the others. But since I am going to roll the edge over I am taking a moment to sand that curved area. Sanding will let me see exactly where my working edge is.

Step 223: Here's the area of wood that we are working as seen from the side or edge view. The top leaf area I want to roll down towards the back to a very thin edge. This will tuck that top leaf under the bottom leaf section. The bottom leaf I want to roll over on itself on the face side of the carving.

Step 224: Begin working on the bottom leaf edge on the face of the carving. I am using my large round gouge to create the curl. Notice how far from the edge of the wood I am making that curl. Leave yourself working space away from the edge.

Step 225: As I am developing this curl area I want the curl sharp or tight near the leaf edge. So I have gotten out my small round gouge to cut that tight area.

.

[Irish]

Step 226: I am using my bull nose chisel to smooth out the two different gouge cuts, blending this area into one smooth curl. Now, if you don't have a bull nose chisel do this step with your small round gouge! Simply take smaller and smaller shavings with very light pressure until all of the gouge ridges are gone.

Step 227: Because I have added the curl I need to re-cut or taper the rest of the leaf into that new curve area. You can use either the wide sweep or chisel to do this.

Step 228: As we have done before, I have my chisel up right on it's profile and am using it as a scrapper to do a final smoothing in this area.

Step 229: I am smoothing the side walls of this leaf area and doing a little tucking
under as I work. I want the leaf to curl on both the front side and back of the
carving.

OK ... That chip knife just wasn't big enough to do the job I wanted. So I have flipped the project over a gotten out my nice big wide sweep to do the roll over on the back. Bigger tools make bigger cuts ...

.

[Irish]

Opps. lost a photo in that last posting.

.

[Irish]

Step 230: Here's a quick check from the side of the steps we just did.

And here's a little better angle to see the roll over on the back.

Step 231: I have my wide sweep gouge out and have started tapering the upper leaf down to a thin edge.

Now, this photo is much more about carving safety than about carving cuts. The photo shows my right hand, holding hand, below and behind my left cutting hand. I am working in an area where I can't use my bracing board so I need that right hand to hold the piece. My right hand is actually crossed under my left at the wrist.
It's a terribly awkward position. It would be easy and much more comfortable for me to have held the wood below or in front of where I am cutting ... right in front of the edge of that wide sweep.

BUT! It is better to be awkward for a few moments then to spend a few hours in the Emergency Room ....

Step 232: You can see the taper down in the upper leaf from this side view.

Step 233: Just as with the lower leaf, here I need to re-cut the upper leaf section to make a nice smooth transition into that deep leaf edge. I am using my wide sweep for this step.

.

[Irish]

Step 234: As I have been working the edge from both sides of the carving, the face and the back, I have hit a few areas where my band saw cuts were a little deep. I am taking a moment here to chip cut out those deep band saw cuts. It's a two cut step, the first cut is made at an angle into that deep band saw cut.

Step 235: Here's the second cut of the chip. You can re-cut this chip as many times as you need to get below that band saw cut.

Step 236: I am working along all the sides of the project to do a final tapering. I don't want any blunt edges. I want rolled over edges or rounded over edges. This doesn't mean they need to be paper thin, not at all. They just need to look as if they were paper thin when viewed from the front of your work. A simple rounding over will give that effect.

Step 237: This is a quick check photo where you can see both the leaf curl, leaf tuck under and the paper thin look of the rounded over sides.

Step 238: The stem curl is the most fragile area of this carving. Notice where I have marked the direction of the grain, it all runs in a vertical direction. This means that the stem can easily crack during the next few steps. I don't know if you have notice but to this point I have done very little shaving or shaping in this stem area.

My stem is nearly at the original thickness of the wood. That thickness will help to protect the stem during the rounding over steps.

If your stem breaks there are two easy things you can do.

1. Just cut the stem off at the break and keep on working. Your stem will be a little shorter but only you and I will ever know that

2. Glue it back into place using yellow wood glue (yes, I use Elmers). Once the glue is in position, with your project on the bracing board use tape to secure the work to the board. That tape will act as a clamp. Then let the work and glue set over night.

For areas such as this I often will drill a small hole into both sides of the break with my viening tool. Then you can cut a round toothpick to fit into those holes. A little glue on the toothpick makes a great minature dowel rod bracing.

Hopefully, I won't be able to show you either a broken stem, the glueing and taping or the toothpick dowel rod repair

.