Monday, 9 August 2021

52 Weeks of Carving - Week 30 - Tudor Rose

 I had an enquiry about a possible commission for a sign for a local historic building that I needed to quote for. The brief was fairly vague, but simple. There was the possibility to make it a little more complicated to add a Tudor Rose to the project to show the age of the building (it was built around 1530).

I thought that before I quote I had better practice carving a few Tudor roses and see how I get on with them. 


My first one (to the right of the above picture) I wasn't happy with. I made too many mistakes and having it quite small might not have been the best way to learn. I decided to try again on the same piece of scrap oak, but a much bigger version. 

I got this picture from the Chris Pye Website but in all honesty it wasn't ideal, I could do with altering it a little bit as his is to go in the middle of another project. It worked well enough for this practice though. 

Much like carving a rosette it is a sequence of repetitive techniques. I did loose a few bits of detail, purely down to my own technique and the fact I need to remind myself to use slicing cuts more rather than mallet taps, especially in oak which is far more likely to flake up. 

So I still wasn't happy with it finished but there is enough going on to draw the eye away from the mistakes and be a passable Tudor Rose. I think I will carve it another time now to help me remember how to do it and practice the techniques needed. 

If I get the commission it should be a fun job and I'd love the fact that it will be a on a historic building a one minute walk away from my house! 

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