[Woodcarver] Responses to new photos posted

[Alex Bisso]

Thanks to everyone who commented after my recent posting of new photos in my
bark carvings album on Picturetrail.  Feedback from e-lists and directly to
me indicated an interest how some things were done so I will address them
all in this post to the lists.

                One question was, "Did I use power or other tools?"  The
vast majority of the carving, all of the buildings, rocks, stairways,
chimneys, roofs, etc. were done with a carving knife or other hand tools.
The exceptions were that I drilled holes from the front in windows and doors
that were to be opened to the back.  I also used power, after first using
gouges, etc. on the back side of the carving to clean out the cavities
behind the doors and windows.  I also used power on the tree leaves (see
explanation below) and on the to texture the small area on the far left just
above the tree.  The very bottom of each side was also textured with power,
different from the spot above the tree, but it is not visible in any of the
photos.  

                Another question was, "How did I do the tree?"  Perhaps you
may recall that some years ago a carver posted a note about having made a
place where others could look at photos depicting how he made trees in
relief carvings.  At that time, I went to his site and looked at his step by
step photos.  I also sent him an e-mail asking a couple of questions about,
which he answered.  Then what happened was very interesting.  A year or more
after that contact, I started the carving in my photos and I started with
the tree.  After doing the trunk, the tree ball and the windows I hit a dead
end and set the carving aside.  I remembered earlier seeing the procedure he
used for trees in a relief carving but I could not find any link or
reference to it or any photos which I thought I had copied.  Anyway, another
year or so passed and I received an e-mail from the carver's wife.  She said
that he had passed away but she noticed that I had asked in an e-mail about
his photos of the way he did the trees and she asked if I wanted the photos.
I was really touched by how thoughtful she was and she did send me the
photos.  The bad thing is that I do not remember their names and I check and
there are no names in my file with the photos.  Last August I had a computer
problem and lost all of my e-mail files so I have no way if looking back.
If anyone out there knows this carvers name, please let me know.  That being
said, here is the general approach I took to making the tree look "leafy".
After using basic techniques for shaping the tree and associated bulges and
crevices, the appearance of leaves was created by using a 1/8" tapered drill
bit (tapered from the i/8" diameter to a fine point at the tip) and drilling
many holes at varying depth and angles into the tree.  The holes were mostly
drilled at an angle, with the angle being from  the direction the leaves
would be laying.  After the holes were drilled, the same bit was used in a
side to side motion to open up spaces between and to define leaves and leaf
clusters.  I practices on a scrap piece and then did the tree one clump at a
time.  It got easier and looked better as I got more experience with trying
it.  I also used a small ruby flame burr in the same manner and to smooth
everything off a bit.  I used my Dremel with the tapered bit an my high
speed carver with the ruby flame.   I polished it all off with a little
deburring wheel that I made from a piece of fine scotch-brite pad and a 1/8"
rivet.  It took a while and was tedious due to the large number of holes.
Sometimes I think it might look more like a mushroom than a tree but in
either case, the heavy texturing had a nice effect.  This was the very last
thing I did on the carving because it scared me to give it a shot.  

                Another good question was "How did I do the carving in the
middle between the two houses?"

That task did pose problem for me.  Attempts to do it without cutting off
one side quickly showed that that would not be feasible and I knew I would
have to cut one side off - but where?  After considering several
alternatives I decided to cut it off at the bottom edge of the bottom
horizontal board below the house on the right (as you look at it).  Of
course, those boards and the blocks below them were not carved when I cut
it.  Those details were carved in afterwards and are what I came up with to
hide any evidence of the joint where they were glued back together.  Because
it was an end grain glue-up, I also added a couple of dowels, at different,
crossing angles, across the joint from the backside to obtain better
strength in the connection.  I drilled the holes and added these after the
piece was glued back together because I do not think I could have gotten the
pieces to fit back well if I tried to do the dowels initially.  The carving
between the houses, including the windows on the houses and the bricks and
stones below the houses was done with the pieces were separated.

                Wow, that was lengthy - sorry if you got eyestrain from
reading it.

ALEX

 

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