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E S 5E NTI A L W O O D C A R VIN G TECHNIQLES

Fig 5.6 The gouge can removeplenty of wood in one stroke if the gmin is arranged to cooperate.

upwards (Fig 5.6). The dcep gouge cuts down umil the bottoms of the cuts are rcsting on or just above che ground linÄ™, giving a corrugated effecc. Ncxt a large No. 3 (English) or No. 2 (Swiss) is used to lcvcl rhe ground. You inay nced to use a No. 5 first. You still work across the grain but in the same operation you cut down close to the leaf s outlinc. You may have to make several carvings before learning the knack of inaking the vertical and the sideways cuts mcet withour leaving stab marks in the background. Various chisels will be needed to cut into narrow recesses (Fig 5.7).

Try to fit the gouges to the drawn shapes, but if your tools are a little too big it is sensible to modify your design to fit what your tools will do. The result will look as good and it will be far casier to achieve a cleanly cut carving. In the case of deeply norched leaves it is best to leave clearing out the ground in the recesses until later, unless the edges of the leaf around the notch are going ro remain high. Similarly, a serrated edge is best left umil last. Aim to make the leaf shape appear as if cut out with a fret saw and fixcd down to the background bcforc starting to model the leaf surface.

MODELLING THE LEAF

Unless you are one of the very lucky fcw who can carry a complete three-dimensional picturc in rheir heads, it is safest to reach this stage first and then model the shape. It can take longer, bur ar leasc you know where you are ar all times as the outline holds data abour rhe surface of the leaf. Of course, frequent repetition of a design will develop a complete mental image: carvers in orher parrs of rhe world, for example, can carve, say, an elephant 76mm (3in) long in 25 minutes using hardish timber and rudimentary tools, because they have developcd this visual memory. Possessors of this skill remove rhe ground simply to esrablish the depth to which the form may be modelled. Highs and lows and tilting planes are roughed out before the details of the outline are defined.

In the example illustrated here the oak leaf was ser down in oudinc, except for the tighter indentations. The leaf is scen as twisted, with one side of the leaf lower near the stalk. In naturÄ™ it is highly unlikely that the rim of the leaf would be pa rai lei with the background all around, and unless you are inaking

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