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Thread: Mini Carving

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Nov 2013
    Location
    Sydney
    Posts
    259

    Default Mini Carving

    Hello Carvers !

    I make automata. Some works can be seen on the Automata Forum. All have carved figures which I have refined a bit over the years.
    My question to the forum members,
    Some characters are very small, which can result in a head being not much bigger than 12 mm high. No matter how much I try, using very good tools, multiple magnifying setups, the face details never get right, not even close. The reject bin gets a fair workout. Am I wasting my time trying ? Does anyone have experience with carving very small figures ? Timbers such as Huon and Basswood don't really hold minute detail well.Now thinking that ceramic might be the way to go, using commercial clay/polymer products, learning how to use that medium.
    Here is an example of what I mean.2019-11-08 09.29.10.jpg
    Thoughts please,

    Regards,
    Gus

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  3. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 2015
    Location
    Ponchatoula, LA, USA
    Posts
    342

    Default

    You have quite a bit of detail already in this for 12mm tall head. I agree that basswood is not the best for really small carvings. Other woods that are "white-ish" and hold detail well are alder, birch, tulip poplar. Here's a site that might help you: The Wood Database | The Wood Database If you don't have ready access to these, you could even use a piece of hardwood dowel from the DIY store. This is one I did years ago on a 3/16 inch (4.7mm) dowel.
    Claude
    DSCF1156a.jpg

  4. #3
    Join Date
    Nov 2013
    Location
    Sydney
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    259

    Default

    Thanks Claude,
    The eyes, nose and the head itself is not too problematic, it is the tiny mouth and chin detail which never comes out right. The 1/2mm mouth is hopeless, just below the nose. I see you solved that by the beard, I might have to apply that solution to one of the female characters.....
    I will look at other timbers, thank you for that information !
    Regards,
    Gus

  5. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2014
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    349

    Default

    Hmmm.... really pushing it ay ! No you are not wasting your time, there are many woods that can take extremely fine detail.Many years ago I carved the crew on a ship in a bottle from 1/16" square blanks ! & 1/4" tall !
    Talking from the UK. , so these are the woods to use here at least but similarities exist within the same kind of tree world wide ,be slightly cautious though because there is various differences .
    Pearwood is very nice & totally suitable for this kind of work when going this small but it is not a Basswood type colour, it is hard too.If you get the kiln dried Pear it is a uniform dark pinkish colour if air dried it is lighter coloured & tends to lighten up on exposure to air after a year or so but you still won't mistake it for a Basswood type colour.
    Also still strictly taking British wood & NOT USA Cherry it is very different . UK. cherry can take very fine detail too but again it is not a bland coloured wood & has a lot of figure, which after a few years settles down & recedes into a overall mid brown colour.
    The maple family of woods is light in colour & carves very finely although NOT American hard maple it is too hard to carve sensitively.
    Holly is is another excellent very fine detail wood, which is very white in colour.
    You only want small pieces of wood, if I were you I would cut & dry out any one of many fruitwoods or unknown garden shrubs ! Yes I'm totally serious ,this can be a goldmine of the finest of woods possible for a fellow who just wants smallish pieces.
    If colour is a deal breaker for you on ANY hardwood that you want to use for it's working properties but you don't want the figure to obscure fine detail - use tung oil to finish it .While it does feed & protect the wood & give otherwise bland or boring looking woods a look of depth & quality it does not emphasize any figure at all -quite the reverse ! Sure if finishing a table top you might well want to put a coat of boiled linseed oil underneath any tung oil to really make the figure more of a central focus but when you have finely detailed carving it's a shame to obliterate the hard work.
    By the way Tung oil is the very best finish I know of to use on Lime or Basswood carvings, for years I didn't know about it but sinse discovering it I'll use nothing else on these woods or ANY small carvings with fine detail.
    Mike

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