from a flat panel, leaving the pattern in relief. Very beautiful
patterns may be executed with very little finish; and a vast proportion
of beautiful old Gothic wood-carving depended far more on outline than
on modelling for its effect. Modelling is the rounding or shaping a
pattern to give it form. Now _leaves_, in one shape or another, more or
less natural, form a great proportion of all decorative design. When
they are simplified from the original type, and made merely ornamental,
yet still preserving so much of the original shape that we can plainly
see what that type was, they are said to be "conventionalized." It is,
therefore, very important that the wood-carver should know how to carve
leaves well. He has already learned how to make the simple outline
or groove of one or many with a gouge, and how to remove the wood
surrounding them. He may now go a step further and cut with great care
the elementary pattern, Fig. 38. Use a flat gouge for gradually rounding
and carving the surface, beginning with the outer or lower edge, and
working up to the stem. The pupil will do this as well again, and with
far greater confidence and ease, should he begin firstly by making a
shaded copy of a leaf in pencil, then modelling it in clay, and then
copying this in wood. The time thus spent will be gained in the end
many times over by the skill and dexterity and eye-training acquired.
[Illustration: Panel in Low-relief]
[Illustration: Fig. 39.]
The first step in rounding a leaf is effected simply by "wasting" or
chipping away little by little by straightforward cutting. This is
the same for convexities and hollows. Such rounding and undulation is
performed by skilled artists with very few tools, including gouges,
skew-chisels, rasps, files, and the double-bent gouge.
The student may, in the beginning, round and scoop his leaves with any
tools which seem fit, if he will only cut with the utmost caution,
and keep the implements well sharpened. A very important and rather
difficult part of this work is the cutting the ribs or stems which
run through the leaf. One implement for this purpose is the so-called
"macaroni tool," but at present it is really very little used, owing to
the great difficulty of keeping it sharp, and its liability to break.
Nearly all veining can be executed with the fluter or large veiner, the
hollow gouge, the V tool, or the flat gouge, according to circumstances.
"The wood," as Eleanor Rowe remarks, "should be taken off in short,
sharp touches, and not by deep and long cuts, and no attempt should be
made to obtain a smooth surface until the form and general modelling of
the leaf is done." The edge of the leaf may be a little under-cut to
give relief; this effect should be given by a V tool or small veiner.
When the leaf is correct in form, proceed with flat gouges to remove the
tool marks, holding the tool very firmly, and inclining it to an angle
of about 45°.
It is advisable for the beginner to cut several simple leaves with great
care, Fig. 39, and, if possible, let him draw, shade carefully, and
model them all in clay before carving them. He will be astonished to
find how much easier the latter process is, and with what confidence it
can be carried out, after the two former have been executed. Having for
several years had under my supervision large classes in wood-carving,
both with and without modelling in clay, I speak from experience on this
subject.
It is to be observed that, as leaves and sprays involve every possible
curve, he who can design, model, and carve them well, will find no
difficulty in executing birds, animals, or the human face or figure. In
their simplest forms, or in flat work, these are all extremely easy.
Then they may be a little rounded, or modelled, and so going on, step by
step, the carver may come to full relief. Oak leaves are, perhaps, the
most graceful of all objects, and lend themselves to as many forms as
the acanthus, but they are also very difficult in their more advanced
developments. Therefore they form an admirable subject for study.
[Illustration]
SIXTH LESSON.
CUTTING WITH THE GRAIN--TURNING THE TOOL--THE DRILL--BOLD CARVING--AND
LARGE WORK.
In both large and small carving there is one common difficulty, the
frequent resistance of the grain of the wood and defects incidental to
it. This question has already been touched upon in the Fourth Lesson,
where the pupil has been told that he will usually find the wood cut
more readily from the one side towards the other. To this may be added,
that as he progresses and carves in higher relief he will not only
find the same thing in working leaves and other ornament, but he will
also find that some portions about these will always cut better, more
smoothly, and without splintering, when the tool cuts downwards, that
is, from the surface towards the background, but with other and quite
adjacent portions when the tool is made to cut the reverse way or
upwards. As a first rule, therefore, so soon as there is the smallest
sign of splintering, try the cut from an opposite direction to remove
it, and it should cease.
[Illustration: Fig. 40.]
Further, if the edge of the gouge or firmer cut in certain directions
_against_ the grain of the wood, it will "catch," or tear, or splinter.
As another precaution against this, the carver may shift the position of
the wood by unscrewing it, if it is held by a clamp or holdfast. This
is more easily effected if he have, in the French fashion, only three
or four nails driven into the table, in which case he has only to pick
his work up and put it into a different position; or he may shift his
own position. But it is best of all to be able to carve with both hands,
a feat which, after all, is not difficult to acquire, and which comes
very soon with a little practice; and to master the art of _turning the
tool about and cutting in any position_, which also comes with practice
to an incredible extent. He who can do this, can manage to cut with the
grain in most cases without shifting the block.
[Illustration: Fig. 41.]
Wood should _never_ be torn or ripped; everything should be done by
clean, smooth cutting. To make sure of this you must first of all keep
every tool as sharp as a razor all the time, and always cut with the
grain. Cutting diagonally, or partly across, is still cutting with the
grain, and is easier and surer than going parallel with it.
Mark out the pattern, Figs. 40 or 41, and outline it. The Greek and
Roman workmen, and very often those of later but early times, with a
gimlet, or drill, or centre-bit, bored out holes here and there, both
in wood-carving and in stone, and worked up to, or around these. They
formed beginnings, as it were, to guide the gouge or chisel. These
were often of great practical utility wherever a small round cavity
occurred, but their chief use in wood was to aid and direct the tool in
certain places where there were difficulties of grain to contend with,
or sharp points or corners of ornaments likely to be broken off. I was
once puzzled to know why the drill was so much more used in ancient than
in modern carving, but reflection convinced me that where decorative
work must be done expeditiously or cheaply, and a little coarseness of
execution did not signify, it was a very great aid.
In the pattern, Fig. 38, the leaf is easy to cut; that is to say, one
single leaf. Cutting it once more, or repeating it, is only doing the
same work over again; yet if this same leaf, or another not a bit more
difficult, be repeated twenty-five or thirty times in a wreath, it
will seem to be a very difficult piece of work. Now, it is a matter
of importance to understand that if you can do a very small, simple
piece of wood-carving really well, you can also by mere patience
and repetition execute a piece of work which would seem to be very
remarkable, or quite beyond your power. The illustration to this
lesson, Fig. 40, shows what I mean. Almost any one with care could
cut out a leaf, and he who has done one can _repeat_ it in any other
arrangement. Now a vast proportion of all decorative patterns in flat
or ribbon-work, and even in higher relief, are formed on this principle
of repetition, or of so-called "lobes," so that he who can carve even a
little neatly may be confident almost from the beginning of being able
to execute even valuable work.
Such a panel as Fig. 41, when once carved, may serve for the lid or
sides of a box, the cover of an album, or any object with a smooth,
flat surface. But I cannot repeat too often this injunction, to
constantly practise cutting on waste wood, so as to acquire facility
of hand, before attempting anything which is to be shown or sold. It
is unfortunately true that, left to himself or herself, there is not
a pupil in a thousand who would not devote all the time or work to
producing show-pieces, even at the first cutting, instead of practising
so as to learn how to produce them.
When pupils have teachers who are practical and workmanlike, it is
probable that as soon as they can handle the tools they will be set at
_bold, large work_. This is fortunate for them, since it is the greatest
advantage one can have, be it in Design, Modelling, Wood-carving, or any
other art of the kind, to be made familiar with free-hand, large, and
vigorous execution.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: HIGHLY FINISHED STUDIES OF FOLIAGE. _P. 48._]
[Illustration]
SEVENTH LESSON.
THE SWEEP-CUT OR FREE-HAND CARVING--CUTTING NOTCHES IN LEAVES--THE
ROUND-CUT.
Boldness in cutting is a matter of very great importance, since no
one can carve really well till he gets beyond chipping or "wasting."
To carve boldly we must use the sweep-cut. It may be observed that in
modelling in clay there are certain methods of shaping the material,
which are quite peculiar; as, for instance, when we press the modelling
tool down or up, and at the same time turn it to the left or right. This
makes an inclination upwards or a depression downwards, yet sloping to
one side or the other. It is made by two movements in one; so in cutting
with a sword or long knife, if we chop, yet at the same instant _draw_
the blade, the result is a much deeper incision. This is called the
draw-cut, and by means of it a man may cut a sheep in two, or sever a
handkerchief or lace veil thrown into the air.
[Illustration: Fig. 42.]
Very much like this is the double motion of the hand in the _sweep-cut_,
which must be acquired by all who would learn to carve leaves well. It
is not quite true that all work must go through the three stages of
blocking out, bosting, and finishing; for when leaves are carved with
the sweep-cut they are generally finished at one operation. With this
cut, which is usually performed with a flat gouge, the wood is removed
so as to give a peculiar form or curve--as when a leaf slopes down and
sideways--by a single but compound movement; that is, we must, while
pressing the edge, also move it or give it a slight lateral motion.
This sweep or side-cut is developed more fully in sloping larger and
especially rounded surfaces, like whole leaves, which rise and fall,
or undulate, Figs. 41, 42. This cut, by means of which one can carve
with confidence the most brittle and difficult wood, requires a tool
of very good quality, which must be kept scrupulously sharp. It must
be practised on waste wood till the pupil is a master of it, but when
it is once acquired, wood-carving, as regards all large and effective
work, may be said to really have no further difficulties. With some it
seems to come all at once, by inspiration.
The simplest or first form of the sweep-cut occurs in making leaves.
Every one who has tried this knows that the cutting the notches or
making lobes in the wood, but especially the shaping the points, is
a difficult matter, for if we simply shove or press the edge of the
cutter, as in ordinary or _plane_ work, the leaf will probably break,
especially if the wood be "splitty," uneven, or brittle. Having marked
out a circle to include the lobes of the leaf, we cut a notch half way
between the proposed points, and by shaving first from one side and then
the other, bring the leaf or its lobes into shape, Fig. 43. Of course,
in doing this we cut _from_ the point to the corners.
For the present it will suffice to apply it in its simplest and easiest
form to cutting groups of leaves. In the previous lesson the pupil
has been told how to cut out a single plain leaf in relief by simply
"wasting" or chipping away the wood little by little with a flat gouge.
In like manner it might be filed, or rasped, or scraped like metal,
into shape. Let the pupil now sketch Fig. 43, and then bost it out, by
cutting round and clearing away as already described.
[Illustration: Fig. 43.]
The dotted lines indicate the original shape or circles in which the
leaves are cut. When it is "all done but the finishing," or bosted, then
cut the notches backwards in the manner already described. And, as I
have said, if the pupil has practised the sweep-cut, and keeps his flat
gouge perfectly sharp, he may cut the finest notches in the smallest
leaves in the splittiest wood without once breaking away a piece.
The sweep-cut gives perfect confidence, and he who has acquired it, and
knows how to apply it so as to make any curve or boss or involution
which he pleases, may be said to have passed from the amateur stage to
that of the artist, or at least of the clever workman. By means of it
one can model the most refractory wood into any shape, and to any one
who is expert at it oak is as easy to carve as pine. Therefore the pupil
should spare no pains to acquire it; and it will come sooner perhaps
than he expects if he first of all takes all pains to understand what it
really is, and secondly to practise it for a few hours on waste wood.
There are, however, many carvers who pass months or years in "wasting"
away wood by simple straight cutting or chipping before they get any
idea of what a sweep-cut is--if indeed they ever learn it. But if the
pupil has previously acquired skill, that is to say, ease and confidence
in running gouge lines and hollow cutting and shaping simple leaves
by straight cutting, he will without doubt find that the free-hand
sweep-cut comes as by inspiration.
[Illustration]
EIGHTH LESSON.
FURTHER APPLICATION OF THE SWEEP-CUT TO HIGHER RELIEF.
When a leaf is in its ordinary natural condition it is generally flat,
but while growing or fading it often curls and twists into remarkable
and graceful shapes, which are extensively employed in decoration.
Before going further I would impress it on the intelligent student that
the mere literal imitation of any kind of leaf, so that it would look
exactly like a _real_ leaf if it were only coloured, should seldom or
never enter within the province of wood-carving as a general decorative
art.
What the pupil should do in copying leaves and flowers, etc., or in
modelling them for carving, is to observe their characteristic shape and
contour, to follow all their graceful lines and bends, depressions and
swellings, and give the general expression and spirit of these without
striving _too_ accurately to make a mere leaf. He should not make it so
thin that it would break with a slight blow. A great deal of the most
admired work of the present day is of this kind, which will hardly bear
dusting. A leaf may always be cut, as we see it done in classical and
in ancient work, so solidly and firmly as to resist the wear and tear of
centuries. As nobody is expected to believe that it is a real leaf when
it is palpably cut out of wood or stone, we may as well conventionalize
it (that is, keep only a general likeness to a leaf), and make it
attractive by grace and skilful combination. And this can be done if we
only cut out the leaf in its _general_ form and leave a strong base for
it to rest on, so that it may be safely dusted or rubbed against. The
student should try to understand this, for it will enable him to make
all effects necessary in decorative work, and save him much needless
petty labour.
[Illustration: Fig. 44.]
If the pupil has practised the sweep-cut, and can with confidence work
in any direction, with both hands, he may now attempt oak-leaves in
which there are varied slopes, cavities, and swellings, Figs. 44 and 45.
These seem to have been the favourite subjects of the old modellers and
carvers. Perhaps the best designing of the kind in existence is that
by Adam Kraft, in Nuremberg. I repeat here, that the more difficult and
varied a leaf is the more necessity is there for the pupil to model it
in clay, or at least to draw and shade it carefully, before beginning.
The reason is this, that, having its principal points in the memory,
it is much easier to reproduce them when cutting in wood; we know then
when and where to turn the hand or the tool. And it is well to bear in
mind that this practical and necessarily accurate, though often hasty,
sketching and shading of the workshop grows very rapidly on the pupil,
so that, being driven to it, he learns to do such drawing more promptly
and vigorously than he would in a school or class.
In making the sweep-cut it is necessary _to get the bend_ or movement,
which is directing the gouge in the proper route. In ordinary cutting we
only push the blade forward; in the sweep-cut there is a "draw" or side
movement as well as a push. But the _bend_ or direction constitutes, so
to speak, a third movement, and this is the most difficult to determine.
To get a certain symmetrical turn or curve we cut _without seeing_,
whereas in ordinary cutting or "wasting" we see clearly just what we are
going to slice off, and take it away with confidence. But with a little
practice on waste wood, the sweep or draw-cut will become so familiar
that one can execute the most difficult curves, not by chipping away,
but by a bold sweep. Amateurs who have taught themselves can generally
cut or chip only straightforwards; they cannot turn or curve a leaf with
a sweep. The combined movement given to the tool in making the sweep-cut
may be thus analyzed, and if the three distinct forces applied to the
tool be first understood and then kept in mind in making such cuts,
success will soon and easily result. Suppose we are engaged upon the
surface of a leaf which slopes generally downwards and off to one side,
but also has a rise or mound somewhere in the course of the slope, and
most leaves have one or more such undulations. With the gouge, straight
or bent, grasped firmly in the right hand, and the two fingers of the
left hand pressed on the surface _and side_ of the blade about an inch
from the cutting edge--the position already described: the tool is
pushed straight forward for the entire length of the cut by the right
hand; at the same time the blade is pushed to the right or pulled to the
left by the two fingers of the left hand to the extent, and as the slope
may travel to the right or the left; and thirdly, the right wrist is
raised or lowered to cause the tool to travel over the intended mounds
or undulations on the leaf. Now these three distinct movements or forces
exerted on the tool merge into one another, and may be said to be used
simultaneously, and are really one continuous movement, which gives
the sweep-cut; but the extent to which any one preponderates of course
depends upon the particular shape of the leaf or scroll being carved,
and is soon found out by but little practice upon different forms.
In commencing or bosting out this pattern, Fig. 44, and all others in
high relief, the pupil will do well to observe that he should select
a gouge whose sweep will fit the curve of the leaf in the part it is
intended to begin upon, and placing the edge of the gouge outside, but
quite close to the line, and holding the tool at a slope so as to cut
away from it outwards, give it a moderate blow with the mallet. Take
care not to drive the gouge in too deeply. This is the _blocking out_ of
the leaf, or outlining in the solid. And in doing this, begin by making
or cutting the general outline only. Leave the second-sized interstices
or hollows for a second cutting, and the smaller notches of the leaves
and fine corners for a final finishing. In this pattern, Fig. 44, also
Figs. 42 and 45, the leaves should be of the natural size, or from three
to five inches in length.
[Illustration: Fig. 45.
CIRCULAR PANEL IN HIGHER RELIEF.]
Most beginners cut too closely under the leaf, so as to get at once to
relief, which looks like finish. As a rule it is better, whatever the
pattern be, in flat ribbon-work or high relief, to always rather slant
outwards. For in the first place, when we come to finish in ribbon-work,
the pupil may find it necessary to cut so much away to bevel or round
or undercut the pattern, that (especially when it is in narrow lines)
the _thinning_ away will quite destroy their proportions. But it is
well on yet another account to be very sparing of this paring away and
undercutting. There are far too many wood-carvers who cut away under in
order to make leaves thin and natural, till they are like paper, and
much more fragile. This is greatly admired as indicating "skill," and it
certainly demands skill of a common order to effect. But it requires a
much higher and nobler kind of _art_ and will to make the leaves strong
and firm, even if we conventionalize them--so that their curves are
really beautiful. And this may be done, and at the same time all the
most beautiful and characteristic features of leaves be preserved.
In ribbon or flat carving, a strong shadow or relief may be got as
follows. In cutting, slant the chisel or gouge outwards at an angle of
45°, thus ⁄. When the grounding is finished, cut under the slope, half
way up. The outline will then be like a ❮. This sharp edge may
be cut away a very little, such as ⦗, or even into a rounded （,
in which case there will be a marked line of shadow all round
the edge.
Having blocked out the whole quasi-perpendicularly, that is, in one
direction or on one side, proceed to cut away the most apparent hollows
or depressions. With care and measurement even the beginner will soon
find his leaves beginning to assume shape. If he has not learned as yet
to cut and sweep boldly, he may finish the whole by simply wasting the
wood away with straight cutting, aided by the file, riffler, or rasp.
In fact, for many beginners, and especially for those who are slow to
learn, this straight cutting and rasping is really advisable, because
it at least makes them familiar with handling tools, and teaches them
how to model and hollow out. Beginners always experience great dread or
hesitation as regards hollowing and curving "in the round," but when
they perceive that an object is beginning to assume shape they take
heart, and when they have succeeded with one or two by easy, certain
work, even with the help of rasps, they will carve with more confidence.
[Illustration: ORNAMENT FROM THE DUOMO, FLORENCE.]
[Illustration]
NINTH LESSON.
CARVING SIMPLE FIGURES OR ANIMAL FORMS--FIGURINI FOR CABINETS--SIMPLE
ROUNDED EDGES AND APPROACH TO MODELLING.
When the pupil has had some practice in carving leaves and similar
ornaments in relief, he soon learns to deepen or to cut them higher and
higher, and then to model them into form. He may now, if he chooses,
attempt some simple animal forms. A bird, a duck, or a hare hanging up,
will present no special difficulty to him, firstly, if he will obtain
one of Swiss work, already carved in wood, and imitate it. There are few
towns where he cannot obtain something of the kind. It is true that
much Swiss wood-carving is not at all to be recommended as regards style
or finish, but it will do very well for a beginning. The best method
would of course be to model a hare in clay after a dead one. In any case
he can make a beginning by buying some toy animals, carved in wood and
not painted. These are made by being sawn or turned out of wood into
the profile section. This is then sliced into many pieces and each of
these carved, sometimes fairly well, into an animal. The wool or hair is
imitated in the very small gouges or V tools, and sometimes scraped with
a rasp, comb, or other tool. After the blocking out such work presents
no peculiar difficulty.
[Illustration: Fig. 46.]
The process is quite as easy as regards the ordinary or grotesque
animals in Gothic carving. Draw such an animal, Fig. 46 or 48 _a_ or
_b_, and having fairly bosted it out, proceed to very gradually round
away the edges. If it be, for instance, a serpent, which is everywhere
round, this process is very simple, especially if after the cutting we
smooth it with files and glass-paper. It will shape itself. Now the
limbs of animals, and even of human beings in low relief, may be rounded
in this manner to approximate correctness; or to correctness enough
for initial ornamental processes. As the pupil proceeds, and improves
in modelling and advances to copying--let us say excellent patterns of
Renaissance and classic work--he will go far beyond such beginning.
But there is in itself absolutely no reason why, if he only draws his
outlines correctly, he should not begin by this simple Gothic work.
[Illustration: Fig. 47.]