Hi Folks,
I’ve heard through my travels that learning to carve volutes are a great way to learn how to carve. I am just embarking on my journey into carving and I have run across this suggestion more than once.
Can anyone provide more creedence to this?
My goal is to carve on furniture ala cathansus leaves, fans, shells, etc. I am a noob to this and would appreciate ay insight.
Regards,
Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
Replies
Hi Bob,
Why learn to carve volutes?
I have a great book by Frederick Wilbur, "Carving Architectural Detail in Wood: The Classical Tradition". He gives many good photos of different volutes and then takes you through carving one.
You want to learn to carve acanthus leaves, fans, shells, etc. Go ahead. You can start with them. As they say at Outback Steak House, "No rules. Just right."
Acanthus leaves, shells and fans can be carved simply or in a very complex manner. A volute is just another shape that is widely used in architectural carving. Practicing carving a volute gives you practice in thinking in three dimensions while carving. You are doing a descending spiral (or an ascending spiral). It is like learning to do a descending turn while flying an airplane. Once you "see it", it is trivial.
Doing a few volutes doesn't hurt, but I dont think it is necessary. To me the most important thing in carving is to do a lot of it. So carve the stuff that turns you on.
But doing classical carving and not doing some volutes is a radical idea. Then again, you are one of those real radical thinkers. Do it your way. Frank did.
I called Fred Wilbur one day to ask a question about something in his book. He answered the phone and was very nice and helpful. It is a very good book too.
Have fun.
Mel
Measure your output in smiles per board foot.
Why learn to carve volutes?Well, sort of like looking at a women.. All curves and different styles.. No matter what age or finish they still seem to look good!
There are probably a few good reasons to carve volutes but I believe one of them is that you will learn a great deal about grain direction and the necessity of adjusting your cutting angle to compensate.
Another method is to carve a donut. You make a small circle, 5 inches or so, out of 1 1/2 - 2 inch thick wood and drill out the center. You then proceed to round over the edges both sides inside and out. You will find there are a great many grain direction changes which you have to account for. Once you get the hang of it you will be better able to read grain direction no matter what you carve.
Ron and Mel,
Thanks. That makes a whole bunch of sense.
This is the beginning of a new journey for me - currently still in research mode. Got some books from the library as suggested in another post. I'm about to purchase some chisels and have at it, probably with the next week.
What's nice about it is that the wife wants to give it a go too. That could become interesting but will most likely result in more tools. That's not necessarily a bad thing right?
Regards,Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
Bob,
There once was a New England galoot
Wanted to learn carving, sans volute.
He started with a shell,
But no-one could tell;
For it looked like a horse's patoot.
Chees,
Ray
Raymond,
That was INSANEly FUNNY! Oh, and I'm sending the doctors bill to you for cracking me up, again.
It will be placed on the Wall of Honor in the woodshop, along with several others.
Still laughing,
Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
Bob, What can I say, you're my muse.
Ray
I'm not a great carver so feel free to ignore this:
I think volutes, perhaps more than any other simple form, have a shape that you can identify as right or wrong fairly easily. I think shells are somewhat similar. So there's a level of accountability there.
I think accountability is very important in fine arts. Its why we study anatomy and draw figures. You can say, "oh that flower looked like that" but you can't say, "oh that woman's thighs really were twice as long as her arms". This is the problem I have with Cezanne. I don't think he was capable of executing his intention. So he hid in impressionism. The other impressionists, or Picasso or Van Gogh for example, weren't like that. They were able to make accurate renderings of what they saw. So that leaves me with the impression that their abstractions reflect their intentions, not "happenings".
So in terms of practice, I think its important to practice something with a very clearly defined and easily recognizable goal. The other thing about volutes is the way you go about laying it out, using your gouges to define the different radii. That's a technique I see Mack Headley use over and over again. I think with furniture carvings, or architectural carvings, where you might want similar elements to look similar, this is a helpful technique.
Adam
I've heard through my travels that learning to carve volutes are a great way to learn how to carve. I am just embarking on my journey into carving and I have run across this suggestion more than once.
Can anyone provide more creedence to this?
My goal is to carve on furniture ala cathansus leaves, fans, shells, etc. I am a noob to this and would appreciate ay insight.
Was reading your post on the volute from an earlier time. I hope you have a better sense of the value of the volute after viewing Wallace's carving a kentucky rifle -- APV.
The value of beginning with the volute as opposed to the leaves and other design features is that you can define the variation of your gauges as the arc of the volute flattens out or becomes more of a curve.
Let me know if you have seen his explanation on the blackboard. Its really great.
dan
Hey Bob, I got my first wood-shop job by having some carving skills. I started out carving animals before that. My first object was a pig, or actually a razorback, when I was in high-school. But back to the job carving, I did a lot of acanthus leaves back then. I can't say that I was too good at it back in 1969. I didn't even have a good set of chisels. I made a number of them were made from old files.
One thing that I would suggest is that you choose wood which is easy to carve. If you want to carve acanthus leaves, I would not start with something like yellow pine which has layers of hard / soft rings, nor something like flat sawn oak, which is really hard, with easier pore rings. Get something with smooth even texture, and predictable grain.
Actually after having gotten back to carving on some of my turnings, which I do green, I have come to wonder if some of that fantastic carving on a lot of the best antique furniture, was carved green, then allowed to finish drying. Probably not, because of the shrinkage and joints, but carving green is a breeze.
Keith,
I started with some yellow pine and discovered the traits that you talked about. Actually on some of them the tiny ridges left by the growth rings added a rather interesting effect; but I know what you mean.
Lately I have been practicing on some straight grained white birch that works quite well. It's a lot harder than the pine but the carving is a lot crisper. Got some off cuts of cherry that I want to try too.
Been spending a lot of time trying to improve my left handed carving. We'll talk about that much later!
Not sure if I'll ever be even close to ambidextrous,
Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
Edited 3/9/2008 9:13 pm ET by KiddervilleAcres
Edited 3/9/2008 9:14 pm ET by KiddervilleAcres
If you are wanting something soft and easy, white pine is nice also basswood, water tupelo I hear is nice, especially the swollen butt. Which reminds me, although I have not tried it yet, but if I can find a pretty good size cypress root / butt, I think it may be one of the best things yet. I have broken the roots off of some smaller trees which blew over down at the camp. I think it would be like carving a crispy foam. It is extremely light and crisp when it dries. Cherry and air-dried walnut are really nice, and if you need something which looks a lot like oak, I suggest sassafras. It has a porous ring, and nice beige color like white oak, without the medullar rays, but about half the density. Another wood which I am surprised by which is even good for outdoor work, is catalpa. Of course almost all cedar is nice and soft, even juniper.Of course mahogany can be nice, except it can have a lot of unexpected grain change. OK what is the deal with the left hand remark, have you cut yourself?
have you cut yourself?
Nope, well yes I did but not with carving tools. I was shaping some cabriole legs and had set the drawknife on the bench(new adventure). Without looking (dumb me) I grabbed for it and got a nick on a finger.
I'm trying to use my left hand to carve so I don't have to switch positions as much when carving curved shapes. Also when the left hand is at a better angle. I read in a book that if you can carve with both hands it's sometimes better, Eh? Several times I have wanted to be able to use my laft hand instead of the right.
Regards,Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
Well I guess if you can get comfortable with it, that will help from having to change positions as often. While I feel I have more control with my right, the left is always the hand holding the chisel when I am using a mallet. And when I am using both, the left is usually forward on the shank, providing guidance and steadying while the right provides the power. Since getting the Automach carver, there is no need to add a lot of muscle power, nor there is no need for a mallet, so I use the right mostly, but sometime will use the left. The worse thing about my left hand besides having some arthritis, is that it has a lot of pain from carpal T, and gets a lot of cramps these days especially when trying to hold smaller things.
Keith,
Automach carver
Interesting. Never saw that before. Have you tried either the RG or SK attachments for use manually with the handle(s)?
Regards,Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
I have not looked at these things in a while. What is RG and SK? I don't have the little wood handles for the flex-cut blades, if that is what you are asking. It is quick enough to just change blades on the handset that I don't mind changing them for the ease of carving after the knives are in power head. Do you have any other power carving tools? I only use the above mentioned tools for making the finished cuts which will be seen. For the bulk removal, it is a lot faster and easier to remove a lot of wood with some of the rotary chisels by Creative Technologies in die-grinder.
Keith,
http://www.chippingaway.com/WoodCarving/PowerCarvingTools/AutoMachSystem.htm
Scroll down to the bottom of the page for the RG & SK attachments.
I do not have any power carving tools. Hell, I'm still learning how to use these hand chisels! I do really like to carve though. Kinda brings out thing you dodn't know existed in terms of design.
I'll be so glad when the day arrives that priorities getting the shop working stop interfering with woodworking. But ya gotta have a clean healthy work environment. Separating the handtool area from the machine tools is getting more and more important as I go along.
Still wrestling with that damn CMS. The mounting post for the sawhead is right in front of the sawhead and it's blocking the sawdust from getting into the homemade chute I made. Works really good for the RAS though.
Regards,Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
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