Thread: relief carving

well...count your fingers before you start..and if they're all there when you finish..
...that'll be a relief..
I've got no idea Iggy, I've attempted a couple of times with no success,
so I'll be looking forward to some more useful responses

Counting fingers hey dammit I never was that good at counting

Sorry Iggy. Relief carvng is one of my 'gunna' projects. Some day I'm gunna have to try that! Being a whittler for the most part, I'm not really set up for it. Some day when I get caught up on the commissions....

I'll look forward to seeing what someone who knows what he's talking about, comes up with.

A simple hint on how to start is to draw the outline and remove the background to the desired depth. If you are not a purist you can use a router, otherwise a depth gauge (just a strip of wood with a couple of nails sticking out) will help. After that is more or less the same as any other sculpture, but you have to be particularly aware of the rules of perspective: you can not just stick half a sculpture in the round on a flat surface, that is. A plasticine model is always the best bet, as Underfoot said many times before.

Good luck!

Hi Iggy, I have just been having a go at this. Slow and steady is the approach I have taken and be prepared to remove a lot of wood. I wanted to get the arbortech to take out some meat quickly but just opted to go by chisel and mallet.

Slow I can do, not so sure about the steady though

Your work always looks beautiful Iggy, shouldn't be a problem for someone of your caliber.
Go forth and chisel

Maybe I could help here - could you post a picture of the end result you are looking for? In general terms , Frank's advise is good , I would strongly suggest the use of routers if the project is big , and especially if you plan to make a multiple-layer relief carving (you carve several depths in a thick blanc , and get amazing perspective)

You can look at these , carved by some Russisn friends:

http://rezbaderevo.ru/gallery.php?la...current_page=0

I guess Im trying to be a bit too purist with the tool use with this one, I've got a pile of good carving tools but most of my work os done with files and Dremel and want to familiarise myself with them while working on the piece.

Originally Posted by Iggy

I guess Im trying to be a bit too purist with the tool use with this one, I've got a pile of good carving tools but most of my work os done with files and Dremel and want to familiarise myself with them while working on the piece.

OK - doing it by hand is a great exercise, and if time is not something to consider , actualy a lot of fun. You generaly outline the drawing with a V-tool or a deep U-gouge-say , nº 10 or 11 , and then clean the space between with that gouge.Each time you repeat this , you go closer to the drawing lines , and a bit deeper.At the end , you hopefully have a flat ground with no tool marks on it , and the elements you will carve stand bold over the ground , cut very close to the pencil marks - here the actual carving beggins.The depth is a matter of choice-I' ve seen carving with incredible look of 3-D , being just 5 or 6 mm. deep ; the best book you can get(IMO) is the "Manual of the traditional woodcarving"-P. Hasluk , first edition 1911-not sure about the spelling , but the books has all the answers , you'll not be dissapointed.
Waiting to see some pics

Originally Posted by Artesano

OK - doing it by hand is a great exercise, and if time is not something to consider , actualy a lot of fun. You generaly outline the drawing with a V-tool or a deep U-gouge-say , nº 10 or 11 , and then clean the space between with that gouge....

... if the background is really small and the picture busy, that is (which would greatly reduce the usefulness of a router); otherwise the standard recommendation for flattening the background would be a wide shallow gouge like a 1" no 3, wouldn't it Ivan?

Here are some pics of where I,m up to so far, I've learned one important lesson, don't draw in the entire image before you cut, so far I've lost nearly a 1/4 of what I did, background mainly

Good start... what wood is that?

Looks like fun