surfaces to some approach to its ultimate form with thick pencil or
crayon lines, may be held on the work-bench by the carver's screw (Fig.
10), or if that be not convenient, or if it be flat work, it can be
held in the vice. A coarse strong buhl saw-blade is employed; this is
first fixed in the screw jaw at the further side of the saw-frame; the
handle of the latter is then unscrewed until it projects its jaw about
half-an-inch, and at the moment the other end of the blade is fixed
therein, the two jaws are also made to approach one another by pressing
the further side of the saw-frame against the work-bench, with the
handle against the workman's chest; after this, the handle is screwed
back again until its jaw returns home to its former position. The back
of the saw-blade is towards the back of the saw-frame, and the teeth
of the blade should point away from the handle, easily discovered by
passing the finger along them, and when the saw is properly strained for
use it should ring like a harp string.
In use, the handle of the frame is grasped by all the fingers of the
hand, except the forefinger, which is stretched straight out along it
in the direction of the saw; the latter is pushed straight forward and
withdrawn with moderate pressure, just sufficient to cause it to cut,
and is twisted about to follow the directions of the lines or curves of
the piece to be removed. During the sawing the outstretched forefinger
is an unerring guide for the direction of the cut.
When a piece has to be removed from between others which have to be
left, as between the body and the bend of the arm, or between the legs
of a figure, a small hole is first drilled through the block and the
saw threaded through it before it is strained; and the only necessary
precaution throughout in using the saw, is to leave sufficient material
everywhere for perfect freedom in the subsequent carving by not cutting
anywhere too close.
An entirely different method is followed in cutting out moulds, the
pieces to be used for _appliqué_ carving, and for the outlines of
fretwork or panels pierced with many interstices of which the surface is
afterwards to be carved. These works cannot be held fast in the vice or
otherwise, not only because they are often thin and liable to fracture,
but because, if so held, it is impossible to attain the desired true,
easy-flowing outlines required at once without subsequent correction,
which can be produced without difficulty when the work is perfectly
free.
The professional hand fret-cutter, who produces the best and most
elaborate work, such objects as the long, thin, pierced panels to be
backed with silk for the fronts of pianofortes, uses a similar, but
much deeper, yet light saw-frame made of wood, with the same steel
screw-jaws, hung to the ceiling by a cord. He sits astride a bench
called "a horse," which has two tall vertical jaws in front of him,
their upper edges lined with brass, or sometimes with cork. The further
jaw is fixed to withstand the thrust of the saw, the other is notched
below and springs open when left to itself, but is closed by a diagonal
strut resting loosely in mortises made in the face of the bench and in
that of the movable jaw; the strut is pulled downwards to close the jaw
on the work by means of a cord passing from it through a hole in the
bench to a treadle beneath the workman's foot. The surfaces of his work
are, therefore, vertical, and the work itself is very lightly held, so
that he can twist it about in all directions with the left hand, while
he keeps the saw steadily traversing backwards and forwards in the same
plane horizontally, with the right.
A simpler support, called a "saw table," Fig. 7 _b_, is used, and
thoroughly answers every purpose for the smaller class of works which
we are considering. This tool consists of an oblong piece of wood,
perfectly flat, smooth and polished on its upper surface, at the one end
of which there is a slot of about an inch wide; beneath, it has a cross
piece of wood to keep the implement steady on the bench or table on
which it is placed, and a clamp and screw to fix it there.
The work, first pierced with the holes for threading the saw through
all its intended interstices, has the saw placed through one of them,
strained as before, and is then laid down, pattern uppermost, on the saw
table, upon which it is lightly held and twisted about by the points of
all five fingers of the left hand planted vertically upon it; the saw is
worked up and down vertically in the slot by the right hand, the handle
below the saw table. The aim here is to keep the saw working always in
the same place, and to let the curve or line result from the perfectly
free movement of the work alone. The saw-blades employed are much finer
than those previously referred to; they are tightly strained in the same
way as before, but they are placed in the frame so that the teeth now
point the reverse way, towards the handle, and the cut, therefore, takes
place at the downward stroke.
The saws in ordinary use, such as the brass-backed tenon and dove-tail
saws and the key-hole saws of the carpenter, also find constant
employment in first roughly shaping and preparing the blocks and panels
to be subsequently carved; in their use it is only necessary, as in all
sawing upon carved works, to cut just sufficiently wide of the lines
marked to ensure that all saw-marks will be removed by the carving tool.
[Illustration]
FOURTEENTH LESSON.
INCISED, INTAGLIO, OR SUNK CARVING.
Deep carving, as it is termed by certain writers, is now known among
artists as incised, sunk, or intaglio. It is an advanced form of
gouge-cutting.
It is a very beautiful yet easy kind of work, which was extensively
practised in Italy in early times, and which is deserving special
attention because of its applicability not only to bold, large, and
even coarse decoration--which was, however, very effective--but to the
most delicate and minute objects. "It may," says General Seaton, who
was the first to describe it, which he does with much enthusiasm, "be
called sunk carving, for, contrary to the usual method, the carving is
sunk, while the ground is left at its original level." Like engraving
on metal, it cuts into the ground, and depends entirely on outline, or
drawing, and shadow for its effects. It is suitable for book-covers, or
to be employed wherever the carving is liable to be handled or rubbed,
because, being sunk beneath the ground, it cannot be rubbed or injured
till the ground itself is worn down.
Take any wood except a coarse one,--holly, beech, oak, poplar, pear, or
walnut,--and let the surface be well planed, or perhaps polished. If it
be a wood of light colour, draw your pattern with a very soft pencil,
say _B B B_, on paper, lay it face down on the wood, and rub the back
carefully with an ivory or other polisher. The work is chiefly executed
with bent gouges and grainers, flat and hollow, with two or three bent
chisels and stamps, and it often happens that a good piece of incised
carving can be executed with very few tools. It is executed almost
entirely by hand, or without hammering.
[Illustration: Fig. 54. INCISED CARVING.]
Choose some simple pattern, your object being to learn how to cut and
not to produce something startling at a first effort. If the wood
be dark, such as American walnut, mark the pattern through with the
prick-wheel or dot, Fig. 54. If the pupil has not perfect eyesight, or
expects to carve at night, it is advisable to outline this dot line with
a very fine camel's hair brush and Chinese white. This prevents many
mistakes. Take, to begin, a small gouge, a little less than the stem to
be cut in diameter, and run it along the line. When you cut leaves, get
gradually towards the centre. Then take a larger gouge and finish the
stems.
Keep by you a piece of clay or putty, or moist kneaded bread, and from
time to time take an impression of your work. This is important, for the
real excellence of intaglio carving consists in its being exactly like
relief carving reversed. In this way you will at once perceive, without
any special directions, what tools to use in your work.
[Illustration: Fig. 55. INCISED BORDER: CENTRE IN LOW RELIEF.]
Fig. 55 is a rather advanced example of this class of carving. The whole
of the foliage is cut in cavo relievo, or cavities, with gouges and
chisels, both straight and bent, and the lines upon them with bent V
tools. The duck in the centre may be in ordinary low relief, to give an
effective contrast.
There is another reason for thus learning to make your work perfect. If
you carve in hard wood, you can always use a piece of sunk or intaglio
carving for a mould. When it is finished take a piece of russet leather,
soak it in water till it is quite soft, press it with your fingers and
a sponge for some time with great care into the mould, and then take it
off. If your wood be well cut, the leather when dry will be quite as
attractive as the carving itself, and may be used in many ways. The wood
will not be injured in the least if you wipe it dry after taking the
impression. With such moulds _papier-maché_ casts can also be taken. I
have now before me a beautiful specimen of old Byzantine work made in
this manner.
[Illustration: Egyptian Cutting.]
There is a peculiar kind of intaglio carving which may be called
Egyptian, because the ancient Egyptians used it very extensively
on their monuments. It consisted of cutting out the outline of a
figure in the following manner. On the _outside_ the carver cut down
perpendicularly, while the inside pattern was not cut away, but only had
its edges rounded.
The result of this peculiar groove or cut, straight on one side and
rounded or curved on the other, was a very strong relief and shadow. It
was in fact a simple combination of relief and incised or cavo carving,
by means of which a strong relief was attained by little work. The main
object was to make the inscription solid and durable, and at the same
time very legible. The principle, as I have shown, is quite applicable
to ornament, and requires much less labour than even intaglio carving.
It is something more, in fact much more, than mere outlining, and it is
particularly applicable to mural or wall decoration.
Incised carving is often much improved by being painted, and sometimes
varnished. That is to say, the sunken portion is thus coloured. I have
seen white and vermilion used with good effect, but black and dark brown
are generally preferred. Gilding seems peculiarly rich when thus applied
in the hollow, as the shadow gives it a fine tone.
Though the imitation of engravings is not within the range of
wood-carving, there is, however, a very pretty and easy art by which
drawing and painting are very ingeniously combined with a kind of
carving. Take a panel of firm wood of lightish colour, well planed and
polished. Draw on it any pattern, or even an animal, or human figures.
Incise the principal lines with a V tool, or, according to its size,
small gouges may be used. For the fine lines and shading, a tracer, or
any point to indent, not so sharp as to scratch; this is a matter of
great importance; and the wood, which, if possible, should be of box,
sycamore, beech, or holly, must be adapted or prepared to take a mark
without breaking. When all the lines are well in, take a miniature fitch
pencil, and fill in every line with colour, taking care not to let the
paint spread beyond the lines. Different colours may be used. This is
hardly wood-carving at all, but in skilful hands it produces beautiful
and remarkable effects. It is very effective indeed when applied to
leather. As the colour is _sunk_ in the lines, it is well protected;
this kind of ornamentation is therefore well adapted to book-covers. I
have applied it successfully to heavy card-board panels prepared for
artists to paint on in oil.
As I have said, incised cutting will be found useful to workers in
leather, papier-maché, clay, or plaster of Paris, because by means of it
they can make moulds. Another kind of mould is made as follows: Cut out
with a saw the outline of the pattern in a piece of board thick enough
to give the requisite depth. Then glue the perforated board to another
board, the surfaces of both being of course first planed and smoothed.
This gives the mould in the rough. Then fill in the angles of the
hollows with a composition of clay and size, or putty, or rice and lime
with white of egg, or any other suitable cement, and while it is soft
shape it with fingers and tools to the details of the pattern required.
When perfectly dry go over it carefully, taking proofs here and there
with putty, and correct with bent files. Then smooth it where it is at
all rough, oil it all, and make your cast.
[Illustration: BOXWOOD POWDER FLASK. OLD GERMAN.]
[Illustration]
FIFTEENTH LESSON.
CARVING CURVED SURFACES: COCOA-NUTS, BOWLS, HORNS, CASKS, TANKARDS, ETC.
Carving concave or convex surfaces, such as the exterior of a horn or
the interior of a bowl, is often very difficult work, and though an
ingenious artist will readily find out for himself some way to get over
such difficulties, it is well to know at once how the work may be done.
HORNS. The first difficulty is to fix the object so as to cut it.
A beginner who undertakes to carve such a very hard, slippery, and
unmanageable object as a horn, will, if he hold it with one hand while
he carves with the other, inevitably damage his pattern or wound
himself. It is very dangerous to hold the work in one hand or between
the knees. One way to secure such an object is to take a board, nail
cross-pieces on it over the ends of the horn so that a portion may be
exposed on which to work, and in this manner one can cut with safety.
Again, holdfasts and clamps may be employed, but the utmost care should
be taken lest these slip away whenever too great pressure is brought
to bear on them. A very good means to keep the horn firm is to have a
piece of wood fast to the table in which there is a hole, into which
the lesser end of the horn fits, while the butt rests, and is fixed, on
the table. Having secured it, outline the pattern with a V tool or very
small graining-gouge, and then cut away the ground with quarter-flat,
and finally with flat gouges. The bent file may be freely used for a
horn, and it will be necessary in many places. When bosted, finish with
careful touching or fine files and glass-paper.
If you wish to colour the horn, select one which is chiefly white.
Take a solution of nitrate of silver, which any chemist will prepare
for you. Be very careful indeed how you handle it, for it will burn
clothes, carpets, or flesh, and at least stain your fingers for a long
time. With a _glass brush_, if you can get one, if not, with a glass
point, or pen, or agate point, or wax, apply the acid carefully to the
pattern. If you use wood for this purpose it will answer, but it is very
speedily consumed by the acid. This will make a yellow, or brown, or
sometimes a black stain, according to the strength of the solution, the
number of times it is applied, and the hardness of the horn. When the
horn is covered with diaper-work, or a great many small figures, or a
close pattern, then always put the acid into the hollows, and leave the
design in white. A black dye for horn, as well as for metal, is made by
combining ammonia with sulphur. It is very malodorous, but is effective.
Any chemist will make it, and will also prepare for you the dyes used
for ivory and horn. It is better and cheaper for the amateur to buy
these than to attempt to make them for himself. In most cases black and
brown are the best colours to use.
If a horn is boiled in hot water, or steamed, it will become so soft
that it may be flattened. Then it is very easy to carve. The author has
in his possession two very ancient and singularly ornamented Italian
horns which were thus shaped. Horn, when treated with quick-lime and
hot water, can be reduced to a paste which can be made into any shape
like a cement or plaster. It becomes hard again in cold water. All
old horns were not used for gunpowder; many of them were for wine or
other liquors; others were used for blowing; they all make effective
ornaments. Carved horns are handsome ornaments when hung up with cord
and tassels. I have made them very attractive by gilding the raised
patterns on them.
TO CARVE A BOWL. The exterior of a bowl presents no special difficulty,
if it be well clamped down. It may be secured with blocks and nails,
or screws. But the _interior_ is harder to get at and much harder to
cut. This is, of course, chiefly done with bent gouges and chisels. It
requires care and patience in cases of special trouble. I have, however,
easily succeeded in wearing or wasting away the ground by the process
which will be described in carving cocoa-nuts. Wooden bowls, which are
well adapted to carving, may be bought cheaply at household furnishing
shops. They are of the kind used in every kitchen. They may be mounted
on bases, such as any turner can make, to which the bowl should be
fastened with a screw and glue. Bowls may be coloured or gilded like
horns. They are very useful for many purposes, chiefly to contain
visitors' cards or other small objects on the writing, work, or toilet
table.
COCOA-NUTS. If it is to be used as a cup, begin by sawing away the end
on which is the "monkey face," or so much as is desirable. Sometimes
the whole nut is left, to be hung up as an amulet, ornament, or charm,
as ostrich eggs are hung up in the East. Then clean it smooth with a
large rasp till fit to carve. Draw the pattern on this with Chinese
white, that there may be no mistakes. Then fix the nut to the board or
table, as with the bowl (_vide_ p. 100).
The ground may, with patience, be cut away with flat gouges, and, with
practice, this becomes really easy, and more expeditious than one would
at first suppose. Or it may be done chiefly with files. But the most
rapid manner of working is by a "cut" which is described as follows by
Gen. Seaton, who, however, limits it to mere decoration for a ground.
"There is a species of ornament most useful for the bend of branches,
and which is to be seen in Swiss carved brackets. This may be called
the _zigzag_ pattern or ornament. It is intended to represent the
cross-fissures and marks that are seen in the bark of some trees at the
end of the branches. It is done with a flat or quarter-round gouge,
the hand swaying from side to side, and at the same time advancing by
alternate steps each corner of the tool."
[Illustration: Small zigzag]
That is to say, put the tool straight up and down, and _rock_ it from
side to side, and it will require little practice to learn it. But
to use it, not for ornament, but a cut, or rather dig, a _firmer_ or
chisel is better than a gouge; nor need we be very particular as to
the appearance of the marks made, as they are all, in the end, to be
cut or smoothed out. Rock up and down with the firmer, pressing a
little flatter than if the object were to only make lines, or so as to
scrape away some of the ground. Then from another direction go over
this ground, digging and scraping away again. In this manner a shell
may be bosted rapidly, and by it one can work at the bottom of a bowl
when even the bent tools are of little or no use. When the whole ground
is excavated by this process it may be easily smoothed with files or
carving tools. The cuttings from cocoa-nut shell, or waste bits, may be
kept, and when pounded to a fine powder, and mixed with glue, they make
an admirable cement for repairing walnut or other dark wood work.
[Illustration: Fig. 56.]
CASKS. A cask when carved is an admirable object for waste-papers, or
holding canes and umbrellas, Fig. 56. It should be of wood at least one
inch in thickness. If held together by broad brass or copper hoops it
will be much handsomer. A bucket or pail may be carved in like manner;
and when lions' heads or other carved ornaments are _applied_, it will
be found that a very ornamental object may be made with little trouble
or expense. It is easiest to carve casks, kegs, buckets, or firkins, up
and down, or in a perpendicular position, and to stand up while at the
work, as a true carver is sure in the end to do at all his work.
[Illustration: Fig. 57.]
TANKARDS AND WASTE-PAPER BOXES. Tankards, if small, may be turned from
solid wood, but, when large, it is best to have them made by the cooper,
of several pieces, and hooped with metal. To make the design for all
such cylindrical objects, take a piece of paper which will _exactly_ go
round, or correspond to the surface, and be sure to make the pattern
continuous, that is, without breaks, unless it be designed in divisions.
Wooden measures, such as are used by dealers in nuts, fruit, etc., are
well adapted to carving for tankards. They may be bought at general
furnishing shops.
[Illustration: Fig. 58.
OLD IRISH TANKARD.]
The old Irish, and sometimes the Danes, made a rude kind of tankard,
Fig. 58, by fastening together with nails, glue, or screws, four pieces
of oak panel or thin board. It was like drinking from a box. It makes a
useful receptacle for many purposes.
[Illustration: COCOA-NUT GOBLET.]
[Illustration]
SIXTEENTH LESSON.
BOSSES, KNOBS, BARS, AND POLISHED ORNAMENTS.
There are several small effects in ornament which the carver should
study with care; they are generally applicable to most kinds of
decorative art. The first of these is the employment of bosses or knobs,
some left plain, and some carved, hemi-spherical or less. They may be
almost flat, but are always smooth at the edge and polished. They were
very extensively used in early carving and metal-work, and the reader
may see many illustrations of them in the works of Hulme. Sometimes the
knob becomes a small spot or a mere dot, employed to introduce light
into a dark ground. The practical theory is that the knob represents
the plain or ornamental head of a nail used to hold the work to the
wall, or the rivets of armour, which the Goths transferred from coats of
mail to linen and woollen. But the real reason is to introduce points of
light.
[Illustration: Fig. 59.]
[Illustration: Fig. 60.]
Knobs or bosses may be placed wherever there are wide spaces between
patterns. The rule of employing them is either a few large points or
many small ones; they must, however, be used sparingly. The principle of
introducing them is of very wide extension. Thus, in all kinds of work,
especially metal, grapes, melons, and other fruit are introduced solely
that, by their roundness and polish, they may make points of light or
"shiners." Old embossed work in leather and wood-carving often owes its
chief beauty to the polish, which time and use have given to the reliefs
on it. Of course the employment of "shiners" or bosses, and of all
kinds of smooth polished relief, should, as a general rule, be sparing,
subordinate, and judicious.
Nevertheless, in certain kinds of work, especially in much
flat-carving, which is intended to simply ornament a surface, at no
great expenditure of labour, just as tiles or tapestry might do, the
stems and portions of the leaves, or sometimes all the pattern, may be
polished as highly as possible, so as to make a relief against the dark
ground. Grounds are pricked or punched or dotted to make them dark,
and when the oil soaks into the holes they become permanently darker.
Therefore the pattern is to be in contrast; and when the object is no
more than to make a general decorative effect, not perfectly finished,
but like a sketch, it may be polished.
[Illustration: Fig. 61.]
[Illustration: Fig. 62.]
There is another curious effect given by crossing the pattern alone, or
the ground alone, with bars, lines, or stripes. It was very common at
one time. In carving, it may be produced with a small gouge or fluter;
though not natural, except where it is given in long and short lines to
represent the graining of wood, it has a good effect simply because it
distributes shadow evenly. It was probably derived from the effect of
"ribs" in cloths, which were much admired by the Venetian painters.
Door-knobs are effectively bosses, that is to say, the same
ornamentation may be applied to both, as to handles for bureaus,
cabinets, and other furniture. Figs. 59 to 62 will give the pupil some
examples and ideas for carving knobs and bosses.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
SEVENTEENTH LESSON.
TO REPAIR WOOD-CARVING--GLUE--NITRIC ACID GLUE--PREPARING DECAYED
WOOD--ARTIFICIAL WOOD--FILLERS--SPRAYING--TO MAKE GLUE "TAKE."