52 Weeks Of Carving - Week 15 - Spatula

This week has been a fun week for some projects getting done. My eldest daughter and I managed to finish our "spoon mule" - a shave horse type device for holding fine things to be worked on - like spoons. I'll do more on that in another post but it turned out to be a great project to do together, using purchased plans which were great to work off. 

I also made a raised cutting block! This simple project is something I've been meaning to make for years. It gives you good control with an axe at a height that is comfortable to work at. After putting it off for ages in the end it took me about 30 minutes to make it! I used some oak from the branch that fell in the drought last summer and for the legs I used some fresh cut hazel. I know the oak might not prove to be ideal as it is prone to splitting but this piece looked knotty and will do for now. The legs will shrink as they dry but I can always wedge them if they get loose or make some new ones.

52 Weeks of Carving - Week 14 - Simple Acanthus leaf

 So for my birthday, a few weeks ago, I got the book "Carving The Acanthus Leaf" by Mary May. I decided that it's silly to read the book and not try to put anything into practice. So for a skill building session this week I decided to tackle the first leaf in the book - the simple acanthus leaf. 

I started by cutting the rough shape out on the bandsaw, then sketched the leaves and shapes onto it. This was possibly the trickiest bit of the carving! Tools ages to get the symmetry needed. 

For work holding I decided to glue the piece to a piece of paper and then mount it to a bit of ply. It's always surprising how well this works! 

The book was good and works through the steps really clearly. I like that within a few steps I can already tell her favourite chisels and the order that she approaches jobs. 

My carving was a bit messy as had quite a few faceted edges, I need to learn to smooth these out as I go. It's a really simple design but a great learning tool.

Not sure what my next project will be. Possibly another task from the book, a leaf with a curl maybe. 

52 Weeks Of Carving - Week 13 - Strapwork Finished

I didn't get chance to start on any oak beams this week but I did finish the strapwork piece, I was worried that I would just shelve it and it would never get done so I'm pleased that I have. The reason for doing this second strapwork piece I'll share with you all in a few weeks time. 

I now need to make a box for it (with dividers) and get it listed and sold overwise it'll hang round the workshop for ages! 

 It was my birthday last week and I got given the book by Mary May about carving the agapanthus leaf - so expect to see me trying this style out fairly soon as well - only flicked through the book so far but I'm impressed - seems very well laid out and interesting with stories in between the how-tos. 

52 Weeks Of Carving - Week 12 - Practice Cuts

So this week I have started to make another strap work piece to drive home the setting out skills. 

The design is the same as the one I did a few weeks ago. So really it's just chisel practice. 

 Once this is finished I might make it into a small box to possibly sell on Etsy. 

I'm thinking for my next project I have a few spare oak beams from a porch I made a couple of years ago that need using up. I might make a simple frame to create a lean-to over our boiler. But on this frame I might carve some patterns and designs. I've seen a few I like the look of but will try to make them my own.

Anyone know of some ornate beams I could get inspiration from? What style would you favour for something like that?

52 Weeks Of Carving - Week 11 - More Strap work & Draw Knife Work With My eldest

 So I've not done huge amounts on the carving front this week, even with full intentions. I just needed to get some other jobs out the way first! 

I have managed to start on another strapwork front for a project I'm working on. I'm quite excited by this and looking forward to seeing where it goes. I've laid out the basic design and started to strike the lines with the chisel. 

The other bit of carving/craft work was today, on the first day of spring, with my daughter on the shave horse after a friend dropped off a few sycamore logs to play with. 

52 Weeks Of Carving - Week 9 - Third Drawer Front

 So this third, narrow, drawer front has taken a bit of messing around to get the proportions right. I ended up carving a number of different sizes and layouts until it looked okay.

I tried to free hand the curves to start with, but my brain can't quite get it (yet) so I laid it out with compasses. 

I drew it out completely before starting to carve, it seemed to look about right. 

Done in much the same way as the strap work with stamping cuts made with the right curved chisel (in this case a carpenters gouge) and a mallet. I go round this and cut out the outline. 

Then the waste is removed before a few deatil cuts are added on the leaves. 

For the whole front I added a centre circle to have the handle and then a half circle to compete the look of the carving either end for symmetry. 

I've oiled this one and made a start marking out the forth drawer - this one will be the same design and pattern. Hopefully the whole thing should be finished next week! 

52 Weeks Of Carving - Week 8 - Second Drawer Front Finished

I've really enjoyed carving this strap work design. Nice and therapeutic to make, audio book on and just plod away making the cuts and removing the waste. 

Setting it out and getting the right proportions is probably the hardest bit. As well as making sure I had the chisels to match the curves. 

 

Removing the background took the most time. I left this as a heavily tooled finish. I would pop in and out the workshop (as I'm looking after the children at the moment full time) to steal 10 minutes with a gouge to try to do another panel. 

Fitted and oiled it certainly has the effect I was going for. 

I then went on to try to set out the two narrow drawers. This time trying S scrolls. I struggled to get the proportions right and I will flip this one and start again as it just doesn't look right. I'll use the rest of the space to try to get the pattern I want right first though.

As it is it needs a lot more detail and I just don't think it's symmetrical enough! But practice is always the answer so I'll be back out there again tonight hopefully! 

Thanks for reading!

52 Weeks Of Carving - Week 7 - Second Drawer Front Started

 So the first drawer front is finished! 

I added a very simple border on the top and bottom just using the V tool and a shaped punch. I think it offsets the main carving quite well. I then gave it a coat of boiled linseed oil for a bit of protection. 

Once I had fitted this I then started machining up the second drawer front from the same slab of lime that the bottom drawer was made from. 

This time I'm going for what is called strap work. With struck lines, not carved with the V tool. The idea being that you use the chisels to dictate what the curves will be. 

Laying it out took a fair bit of time (and head scratching). Everything was divided up evenly to try and make it look right and symmetrical, although it will never truly be as it's carved by hand, but the eye wants it to be!

Once I got it laid out I then started to strike the lines with chisels and mallet blows. I plan to leave the lowered areas with the tooled marks on this one as I think it will be hard to get it to be a clean background. 

Watch this space to see how this one progresses! 

52 Weeks of Carving - Week 6 - 17th Century Style Drawer Front - Part 2

This week I managed to spend a few evenings carving in the workshop. Was nice to lay out all the chisels and chip away, I also had a great audio book I was listening to so the perfect combination!  

I just worked on this one in a systematic way, making the curves fit the tools I have. 

I did make a few things difficult for myself, I shouldn't have left such a tight gap around the leaves - made it very difficult to tidy up. 

I added a bit of shape to the leaves before carving the veins into them. I think more practice with this type of shape and curve would be great. 

I then added detail to the two centre circles, I decided to make them rosettes like I had previously carved for practice - smaller so used a different range of chisels. 

Next I need to carve a decorative band top and bottom to finish this one off, but I have a feeling it will be simple as there is already a lot going on!

Anyone else carving much at the moment?

52 Weeks Of Carving - Week 4 - Muffin Box Lid

It's air to say I'm not 100% happy with this. It looks a bit messy and there is a few things I'd alter about it if/when I do it again. But it works well as a practice piece and it's good to see it through. 

The base of the cake I made a bit of mess by crossing the lines over. I think I hit the mistakes but no that well. The piping on the cake should have curved more as well. 

I decided to texture the background with a stippled punch I have. I might stain this area darker and if I do it should pick up the punch work really well. 

 

So now I'm not sure if I should colour the wood or not to make it brighter. Maybe on a test piece. Of course now I have to build the box for the rest of the game I'm making the or the children - when that will happen is anyone's guess! I might completely remake the piece yet as I'm really not happy with it and know that the little things will bug me if I don't sort them out, if that is the case then I will use this one to experiment with colour - I have a set of bright wood dyes in a tool box that hasn't been used for a long time. 

Not sure what this next weeks carving work should be. Maybe a small sample piece, like Celtic knot work, or maybe to start to lay out the drawer fronts to my sharpening bench, which I plan to do in a 17th century style much in line with what Peter Follensbee does (although not as good obviously)! 

52 Weeks Of Carving - Week 3 - Muffin Much...

An incomplete one this last week, but I made a start on my next carving. 

My children play what they call "playdough bake off" this is like the bake off on the TV but with playdough. I wanted to make them a box with different themes and tasks inside and decided that having a carving on the top of the box might be nice. 

To start with I drew a simple design of a cupcake on a small block of lime. 

As this is to be a light relief carving I gauged the depth round the outside to rough out the work to. My phone ran out of battery at this point but the next task was to roughly line out the outline with the V tool. 

I then took down the background to a rough level - still needs work but I might texture it yet. The next step will be to add detail to the carving and try to make it look a bit more realistic. Time is tight at the moment as I'm home schooling the children during the day but trying to get out into the workshop each evening if I can (also good to put the heating on in the workshop for a few hours full blast!).

52 Weeks Of Carving - Week 2 - Tool Box

It's my eldest daughter's birthday at the end of this week and as she loves helping outside and making things we thought it was about time she got some tools of her own. And then she'll need something to carry them in - time to build a tool box! 

I decided that as my daughter loves my wood carvings (she has to, I'm her dad) that I would carve her a design on the sides of the tool box.