217. Other art as ideas for carving. Christmas flowers.
Another post to draw attention to creative inspiration for carving or any other hobby. Here the steps for creating home-made Christmas gifts or greeting cards. Card stock used, along with colored pencils.
Steps: 1. Deciding weight of stock to use, purchase, cut stock. 2. Practice design ideas. 3. Draw initial design on stock in pencil. 4. Go over design in ink, adjusting rather than following pencil lines slavishly. 5. Erase pencil lines. 6. First layer of color is a light one to establish color patterns and placement. 7. Begin darkening all colors, leaving highlights. 8. Final coloring step is difficult to see here, but a dark color such as purple or blue is used to create shadows. 9. Piece is now ready for a note or name. 10. Give as a gift. 😊
Shalom.
“It is to one’s honor to avoid strife, but every fool is quick to quarrel.” Prov 20:3
#43 Wood Carving: This is a test
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL. AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR.
Technical difficulties yesterday. Suddenly my posts stopped showing up on Facebook. I am trying to figure out why this is so. While I am trying to figure that out – this post is really a test to see if I have marked the correct app in FB – enjoy a few more carving pictures.
Fahter Christmas
Father Chrsitmas, side view
Father Christmas, close up
“Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
‘Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.’
When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.'” Luke 2:13-15
#35 Wood Carving: Egg heads – pilots, Santas, penguins, sailors
WWI pilot, 2″ basswood egg
One early carving medium which caught my attention and efforts was the basswood egg. Actually I went to the craft stores and bought a number of eggs which crafters use.
Nor’easter coming
The paint work crafters do on them can be gorgeous, however, I learned quickly that craft store eggs are not ideal for wood carvings. Most of the eggs I found years ago, haven’t looked lately, were, as I discovered through painfully slow experience, turned out of birch or maple. That means they were hard, hard, and hard. I had seen someone carve an egg.
Black Father Christmas, 2″ basswood egg
I had looked through some books on egg carving and thought it would be enjoyable. After the first few eggs and hours and hours into the work, I began to wonder if it was worth it. The time it took to cut the maple or birch eggs was far greater than I had anticipated.
Ye ‘onorable Judge ‘is-self.
Then I found basswood eggs. What a difference. I have gone through an “egg” stage. For a while I was carving 100 to 200 a year.
The eggs shown here are a small sampling of what one can do with basswood eggs. Enjoy.
Penguin elf
WWI pilot, side view
Fireman Fred
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5,6
Black Father Christmas, side view
#29 Woodcarving: Scandinavian flat-plane
Scandinavian flat-plane carving.
“The Scandinavian flat-plane style of woodcarving is a style of figure carving. The figures are carved in large flat planes, created primarily using a carving knife. Tool marks are left in the carving and very little (if any) rounding or sanding is done. Swedish-born American artist, Emil Janel was considered by many to be the one of the best of this genre.” (Wikipedia)
Scandinavian flat-plane ala Harley Refsal
One of my favorite Scandinavian style carvers is Harley Refsal. He has followed well in the tradition of Emil Janel.
Refsal Scandinavian flat-plane: The Farm Wife
Shadows and clean lines make a visually pleasing presentation for a flat-plane piece.
Farmer side view 1
Farm wife side view 2
A minimum of cuts used to create the shadow lines requires long, smooth strokes of a very sharp knife.
Farmer side view 2
Farm wife side view 1
The paint job also adds to the appeal of these flat plain carvings. A light wash of color allows the wood grain to come through as can be seen in the side views above.
Out looking at his crops.
Looking too.
Facial details, “Crops look good, Ollie.”
“The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.” Psalm 19:1
John Klompmaker Carving 