Cabinets Crowning Glory

Well, here it is!

     Hopefully I haven't bored too many of you with the agonizingly slow progress and the numerous posts about this carving.  It's been quite an undertaking but, just like when I first started running those 50 mile mountain races, now that it's done I'm ready for the next one!  Just the challenge of attempting something that has the likelihood of giving you some problems; that's the appeal.  Of course I could pick this apart but I'll keep that to myself.  The top of the cabinet is about 7' from the ground so when you view the panel from "ground level" you don't see the shims and top piece.  It appears to just float in the opening.  Painting it to match the cabinets was a good call on Diane's part.  She mentioned that it has the appearance of a marble fresco you might find in an older place.

Finished with a Smooth Plane

   

 The last bit of traditional woodwork was to plane the back.  Yes, if any of my former students are reading this I do finish the backs of projects.  That used to be a lively topic in my teaching days, why sand the back -- nobodies going to see it?
     My standard reply was that you'd always know!

Time to Say When

     The hardest thing, well maybe not the hardest but certainly a challenge, is when to know it's time to stop.  Many times on this project I find myself agonizing over a little detail but then step away from it a few paces and the detail isn't even noticeable!  Maybe a tad more refinement of the background but we want texture to show through.
     In this picture the natural differences in the color of the wood are too obvious.  This makes the decision to paint this piece the same color as the cabinets even better.  There are some "whiskers" that need to be taken care of with a small scraper I've yet to make but other than that I better leave it be.  I'm finding that carving can be similar to finishing cement.  As you work your chisel (trowel) over the surface and want to get that last little divot out of there when; all of a sudden, splat! the trowel or chisel digs in and messes it up big time.  Unlike cement though, you can't toss a handful of wood into the divot and trowel it smooth again.
     I went on a hike this morning and really tried to visualize the movement I wanted to portray in the upper curls of the leaf.  There are several levels there and I hope they are apparent to you, the viewer.  Deja vu on painting, just like when I did the kitchen cabinets wind is now in the forecast along with a possibility of some rain!

Carving Progress -- Slow

Center Motif

     Well, I'm thinking the center motif is done and I really need to step away from it and let it alone.  The part that appeals to me the most is the curl at the top which actually seems to be the leaf just growing and curling towards the front of the plant.  When I look at good carvings the strokes are made with one or two, continuous and confident pass.  Oh boy is that ever a challenge!
     Unlike clay, which you can smash up and re-form, wood doesn't give you that pleasure.  Once it's cut you either have it or you don't.  I'm learning that the more you mess with it it generally goes from bad to worse.  Need to bear in mind that this will be at the top of the cabinets so not open for close-up scrutiny.  We've put it up in it's eventual home and Diane has planted the seed to paint it the same white color as the cabinets.  At first I was appalled -- what, paint wood but the more we talked about it the more it seems like a good option. First off, the wood is nothing spectacular (Basswood) by painting it the light should play off of the carving more.  That's her expertise, the visual aspect of what happens to things.  Another plus is then I could apply a little bit of filler to those areas I gouged too deeply.  An example of that is at the upper left of this carve.
     Have I mentioned things are going slowly --- perseverance, Rome wasn't built in a day, if it was easy everyone would do it, etc.  All of the things I used to tell my students when they were struggling with their work I'm now telling myself!

Modeling the Leaf

Ready to Tackle the Bottom Leaf

     After quite a bit of careful work I'm ready to tackle the next phase of the carve which is referred to as modeling.  Now's the time to make this flat piece of wood look as if it's actually alive and dimensional.  No easy task to say the least.  Diane has been giving me the drawing lessons and I find that sometimes what I visualize in my head gets lost on it's way to my hands!  My carving buddy told me that he would spend time studying how leaves, twigs, berries, whatever look in nature.  Also spent time studying other carvings.  The trick for me is to have my hands guide the chisel to do what I think it should.  Just like an artist that paints, the brush stroke looks best when it's one continuous and confident path from start to finish.  Same thing applies to carving.  Another thing to consider is knowing when to stop and taking the time to step away from the work and observe it from a distance to get the over-all look -- time to do it!
   

Progress Report

At The End of the Day

    Like the caption says, this is what is done at the end of the day on the carved panel.  Measurements are about 23" wide by 16" high or there about.  The wood is Basswood and the design is the very classical Aganthus Leaf.  Besides sharing the progress of my work, I enjoy writing my blogs to solidify the decisions I made during the day in the shop.  Woodworking is pretty much a solitary endeavor which is one of the reasons it's so appealing to me.  However; sometimes you work through problems and may or may not hit the right solutions.  Luckily, a friend of mine is a fantastic carver so I can see him for help.  I showed this to Dennis today and he told me that it looks as if I'm on the right track.  Of course I knew that I could have used a router to remove the bulk of the waste but the quietness of carving and not having any type of deadline trumped that.  Besides, Basswood carves pretty easily so the hands on exercise will increase my skill level.
     The panel is about 3/4" thick and I've set the background a quarter of an inch deep.  This will give me (hopefully) enough thickness to model the wood and make it all look believable.  The eventual, over-all texture I'd like to achieve is on the section to the right of the leaf to be.  Here's the basic process required to get to this point.
     First, the pattern was drawn onto the board with graphite paper.

Various Gouges and Sweeps

     Now comes the step referred to as "grounding in" which is where the outline of the design is chiseled and the background is eventually removed.  Here's when you understand why carvers can have hundreds of chisels.  They are categorized by what's called Sweep.  A flat chisel  would be a #1 sweep while one that is almost U-shaped would be a #11.  To that you add the width in millimeters so the combinations become staggering!  Needless to say, I fall far short of the hundreds of chisel owner so have to make do with what I currently have.  Eventually I'll learn how to design my work around the chisels I own.
     Once the basic design is "ground in" the background needs to be removed.

#3 Sweep vs. #11 Sweep

     I took this photograph to illustrate the sweep differences.  Removing the background can be done in stages.  After going around the design I first used the #11 (right in picture) to waste away the wood.  You can see that it makes furrows because of it's shape but these are easier to cut or gouge out.  After that, the #3 (left in picture) is used to level out the furrows and achieve the texture I'd like to have.
     The outside of the panel presented a problem.  First off, even if I had a chisel of the proper sweep to match the curvature, beating on it with a mallet that close to the edge would more than likely break the edge off.  That didn't seem like a wise thing to do!  Another option would be to use a V-tool but that can be difficult to control and I wanted a 90 degree cut at that point.
     After experimenting with a couple of ways I thought may work this is what actually worked for this area.

Skew to Ground In the Border

     By holding a skew upright and very carefully controlling it with both hands I was able to follow the lay out line pretty closely.  This was also used on the long curve of the Acanthus.  This was followed with the #2 chisel you see laying on the leaf.

Close up of #2 at Work

     After using the skew, the #2 is used to lift out a small chip.  The skew may have gone in 1/32" or so, especially on the first pass.  Taking out the chip gives a shoulder to guide the skew against so subsequent cuts can be made deeper.  Trying to achieve a uniform depth of 1/4" all the way around.
     I'm almost to that point so the first thing tomorrow will be to work the background to how I'd like it to be and then begin the actual carving of the leaf.  Probably be dreaming on how to do that tonight!

Ready for Carving

     You know how it goes, once you tell someone of your plans you are then held accountable.  In years past I would contemplate taking on the challenge of a certain ultra mountain race and those plans were safe until I shared them with others, now I became accountable!  Well, guess it's time to go public with these:

Acanthus Leaf Panel

     You may recall the posts I made during the week long workshop with Ian Agrell earlier this year.  I learned so much about traditional carving from his talks, demonstration, and one on one instruction.  Of course, learning and putting it into practice are two, very far apart, activities.  This panel will eventually be placed in the cut out above the stove and microwave in our newly remodeled kitchen.  I have a couple of things going for me, first it's about 7' up on the wall so won't be under super close scrutiny and secondly, I'm using Basswood which will be considerably easier to carve than the African Mahogany given in class.
     The Acanthus leaf is probably the most carved feature you'll come across.  Honest, do a Google or any other internet search on it and you'll come up with tons of examples.  I've also been looking into classical carving books and virtually every one of them have a section on how to carve this leaf.  Once I decided on the leaf pattern it was copied onto tracing paper.  To orient them and make the design symmetrical a base line was drawn from the center point at 40 degrees to lay the pattern on.  The center carving is actually a scan from a catalog.  There will be lots of learning from this panel -- no doubt!
     For carving, my workbench set up changes somewhat:

Carving Set-Up

     To start, the bench on bench is clamped to the right side of the main bench.  Just an FYI, this bench has proven real popular with the Sin City Woodworkers group and Jamie and I are planning to offer a class on building one in the near future at her school.  Years ago I purchased an LED light that is to the right of the bench.  I was trying my hand at the small scale carvings for Diane's picture frame and these old eyes needed all the help they could get.  Regular, incandescent task lighting worked except when the shop temperature is pushing 100+ degrees and you add a light bulb close to you and the work my sweat started to rust the tools!, not a good thing.  At the far left is a Koch system for honing the tools.  One of the things I struggle with is that as a shop teacher I always emphasized to the students to place their tools with the sharp, dangerous end facing inboard.  For carving it's recommended that you have them facing you so you can see the edge and choose the proper tool.  I guess it's a new trick for an old dog!
     Here's a closer look:

Time to Start

     I felt it wise to do a little practicing before jumping into the actual panel.  Leaning against the wall is the cut off from the panel with my practice work.  One of the things I learned in the class is that for a design to really be symmetrical the curves should be made with gouges that have a specific size (sweep).  For a more free form of carving you can outline the shape with a V-chisel because slight variations won't really matter.  The goal of this panel is to present an appealing shape, carved fairly deep into the panel, that will create an interesting texture as the light bounces off of it.  The background will be left with visible gouge marks to confirm that it's hand made rather than created by a machine.  In talking with other carvers there's a balance with the background.  You want to leave enough gouge marks and texture to confirm that it's a hand made piece but not so much that it comes across as crudely done carving -- ah yes, the challenges continue but what would life be without them?