Science Lab??

You Call this a Woodshop?

     This is the second blog for the reeded frame.  Now that the kitchen remodel and the complicated Acanthus leaf carve is complete it's time to work on this frame again.  Since deciding that this will be done with what little 23kt. gold leaf I have left I realize how much more there is to this process than the Dutch gold method of gilding frames.  It really does seem like a science lab experiment more than anything else.  I've taken notes from demonstrations, read books and tons of internet materials, gotten advice on picture framing websites and still; it's baffling!
     I'm using pre-mixed French red clay and gelatin for the glue.  The basic process is to make your glue mixture and then, using a ratio of 1 part clay to 3 parts glue, brush multiple coats onto the frame.  You need to keep this mixture at what is often referred to as "blood warm" or around 100-110 degrees.  That's the purpose of the hot plate, double boiler, and Diane's (shh!) kitchen thermometer in the background.  Other things you see are the measuring cups, cone strainers, scale, etc. needed to complete the lab.  I can't help but think that the frame makers of old weren't this persnickety.  You know, more a pinch of that, a handful of that, and so on.  What ever the case, the frame now has 8 coats of clay on it.  Since this frame leans more towards the modern style I'm not going to put any yellow clay in the grooves and other areas the leaf may crack (fault) when I lay it on.  Just need to see how I can lay and improve my skill with the leaf.
     The purpose of the gesso is to seal the wood and provide as smooth a surface as possible for the clay and the eventual gold leaf.  A technique I've learned and use is to dilute some of the clay in distilled water and paint it onto the frame:

Disclosure Coat

     This is referred to as the disclosure coat and the purpose is to let you know when the surface is smooth.  Very similar to what is done when finish planing a board using hand planes.  In that case you strike a series of light pencil lines all across the surface of the board.  Now when you are doing your final smoothing work it's safe to assume that when the lines are completely gone the plane has gone over the entire board.  That's a simplistic explanation but pretty much what happens.  Same thing with sanding the frame.  I started out with a 240 grit, then when the red was gone went to a 400 grit to polish the surface.

Sanding Process

     This picture gives you an idea of the sequence.  The lower and right leg of the frame have been completely sanded.  On the left leg the process has just begun, notice the hit and miss effect of the red disclosure coat compared to the untouched surface of the top leg?
   

Close up of Sanding Process

     Here is a close up view of the lower, left corner.  The brushed on gesso has some irregularities and when you first begin sanding the peaks of them will be sanded away and appear white.  The lower areas remain red until the entire surface is leveled.  Once the entire leg is white it's time to use the finer, 400 grit paper.  I didn't bother doing the disclosure coat on the reeded section.  Since these were all carved by my hand I'm aware that there are some irregularities in them.  I saw a quote somewhere that went something like "the beauty of a handmade object is it's irregularities or uniqueness", or words to that effect -- I like it!

     I'm anxious to gild this frame even though I know there will be lots of frustration during this phase.  At the last West Coast Show here at the Mirage, Diane had enrolled me in a day long lecture/demo by Marty Horowitz and Bill Adair.  Want to put some of the things I learned about there into practice.  Practice, practice, and then just a bit more for good measure.  I know that's what it'll take just hope my patience and wallet hold up!

     Ended the day resting on the couch with Ali eye-balling me as if to say "why so stressed man?"

What, me Worry?

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!

Don't Usually Multi-task but .......

     Currently I'm in the middle of two very time intensive projects.  One of them is the Acanthus Leaf carved panel for the newly remodeled kitchen and this is the other.  You may recall the workshop I took earlier this year from Ian Agrell, that was the inspiration for the carved panel.  I also started carving a reeded frame that I finally finished.  Here's how it looks:

Reeded Frame with Leaf

     The site size is 9" x 12" and the molding is 4" wide.  Like most picture frames the material is Basswood and it's some of the custom profile we had milled by Foster's Planning Mill.  I think I have enough 22 kt. leaf left to gild this frame.
     Why am I always attracted to labor intensive, technical things?  Doesn't matter if it's carving, gilding, building furniture, running 100 mile ultra's I rarely chose the easier things in life to challenge myself with.  There are so many steps to creating and gilding a frame and an error in any one of them can ruin the entire project.
    The step after the carving process is to gesso the frame.  Basically gesso is a a chalk and rabbit skin glue mixture that is painted on to the wood to completely seal it.  The glue  will be reactivated when the gold is applied by water which allows the gold to adhere to the frame.  Simple when you put it that way, however; it's never been simple for me.  Maybe if I did this on a regular basis rather than a couple of times a year I wouldn't  have to re-train myself each time.

     Here's the frame after about 7 coats of gesso ready for sanding.  One of the problems I'd had in the past is that the first coat of gesso would bead and seem to resist being applied to the wood.  I've had correspondence with a gilder in Seattle, Charles Douglas, and he suggested rubbing the first coat in with my fingers and it worked -- thanks!  Now if I can just figure out why the gesso wants to skin over between coats even though it's covered and the heat is a constant 100 degrees another dilemma will be solved.  In any case, I'll work on this while taking breaks from carving the panel.

Pfeil 28/6 Backbent Gouge

     The reeding on this frame was completely carved by hand so has some slight inconsistencies which I think adds to the charm and appeal.  I had purchased what is referred to as a back bent gouge and taken it to the class to learn how to use it.  After Ian showed me how and a bunch of trial and error to get an acceptable carve this frame is the result of that.
      Really beneficial to take that class, I would have fiddled around with it for a long time before getting these results.  Here's what that tool looks like, it's made by Pheil and the size is 28 mm with a #6 sweep.


   

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!