Part 2
WOOD. All wood for carving should be of the best quality, well seasoned, and free as possible from cracks, knots, or other irregularities. Fine white pine or deal, being very easy to cut, is suitable for a beginner. Lime and pear-tree wood, like pine, are even in the grain. American walnut is also easy to cut. It is of a beautiful dark colour, which is much improved by oiling and age. With this, but tougher than the preceding, are beech, elm, and oak. Poplar, yellow deal, and the so-called American wood (known as poplar in America, Middle States) are useful for many kinds of work. The carver should accustom himself, as soon as possible, to oak, as a hard wood is by no means hard to carve as soon as a little skill is acquired. Bone, ivory, and pearl-shell, which at the first effort seems to be almost impenetrable, after a few days are "worked" with great ease.
FIRST LESSON.
INDENTING AND STAMPING.
The first stage in wood-carving is to decorate a flat surface in very low relief by a process which, strictly speaking, is not carving at all. Let the beginner take a panel or thin flat board, let us say one of six inches in breadth, twelve in length, and half an inch or less in thickness. For this kind of work a finely grained, even, and light-coloured wood, such as holly or beech, is preferable. Draw the pattern on paper, of the size intended with a very black and soft lead or crayon pencil, place it with the face to the wood, and turning the edges over, gum them down to the edge of the panel. Then with some very smooth hard object, such as an agate or steel burnisher, an ivory paper-knife, or the end of a rounded and glossy penknife handle, carefully rub the back of the pattern. When this is done remove the paper, and the pattern will be found transferred to the wood. If imperfect, touch it up.
The pupil may now, with a pattern-wheel or tracer, indent or mark a line or narrow groove in the outline of the pattern. The tracer is the same implement of the same name which is used in _repoussé_ or brass-sheet or metal-work. Its end is exactly like that of a screw-driver. To manage it properly hold it upright, and run it along, tapping it as it goes with a hammer of iron or wood, Fig. 20. In some countries a stick of wood about six inches in length, and an inch broad at the butt, is used. Where the wheel cannot be employed, as in small corners, use the tracer. The pointed tracer, Fig. 21, used in leather-work, and in carpentry, is often indispensable for the smaller pattern-work.
When the outline is all marked out in a groove, take one of the _stamps_, or grounding punches, shown on Fig. 23, and with the hammer indent the whole background, Fig. 24. If there be corners too small to admit the stamp or stamps for the same pattern, then finish them up with a pointed nail or any point, such as a bodkin. The result will be like the simple design in Fig. 23. When this is done, coat the whole with oil, rub it in, and wipe it off with care. Then with a piece of very soft wood polish only the pattern, and finally rub it off by hand or with a stiff brush. This kind of ornamentation is adapted to the covers of books or albums, as it can be applied to the thinnest sheets of wood.
Another way to improve this work is to take the tracer, and smooth down and depress the ground, especially near the pattern edge. This gives an improved relief. Then the ground may be stamped or "matted," Fig. 24. It may be borne in mind that the pupil who masters this process of indenting with wheel, tracers, and stamps, will be quite able to work patterns in damp sheet-leather, since the latter is effected in the same way with the same tools. Nor does the first step in _repoussé_ or sheet-brass work differ greatly from it. All the minor arts have a great deal in common; many of the tools used in one being applicable to others. The pupil who begins with some knowledge of drawing will soon find it easy to work in any material.
The pupil having done this, has an idea of how a pattern is _placed_ or _spaced_ and contrasted with the ground. He may now take another panel, and having drawn the pattern, cut out the outline in a light groove with a very small gouge or a V tool, or a _firmer_. Let him be very careful to hold the handle in his right hand, and guide the blade with the fingers of the left, _and never to let the latter get before the point_. Do not cut deeply or too rapidly. Before beginning on the pattern, practise cutting grooves on waste wood. Unless this is done the panel will almost certainly be spoiled. It is usual among carvers to begin with cutting the groove with a V tool, but it is well to prepare for this by using the tracer or wheel.
Fig. 27 represents the effect of a ground which is indented, and to a degree ornamented, by using round stamps of different patterns and sizes. Very good effects may be produced in this way, which resembles diaper-work.
To clearly recapitulate the process, let me observe: That to begin, the pupil must have a smooth panel without knots or imperfections. The pattern is drawn on this or transferred to it. This pattern should be entirely in outline, without any inside lines or drawing between the outside edges, Fig. 24. Take a wheel or tracer and indent the whole pattern very carefully and rather deeply, not all at one pressure, but by going twice or thrice over the line. Then with a stamp and hammer indent all the background and the spaces between the edges of the pattern. Having done this once, take another panel and pattern, and instead of _pressing in_ the outline with a wheel or tracer, cut it with a parting tool or gouge--not too deeply. Then indent as before, Fig. 25.
This stamping the grounds is often miscalled _diaper_ carving, but the diaper is, correctly speaking, a small pattern multiplied to make a ground, and not roughly corrugating or dotting with a bodkin, or pricking. This latter is, of course, indenting. Diapers may be either stamped or carved like any other patterns.
This process of flattening, wheeling, tracing, and stamping wood, though little practised now, was so common in the Middle Ages, that there are very few galleries containing pictures with gold backgrounds in which there are not specimens of it. Very great masters in painting frequently practised it. After gilding the ground, they outlined the pattern with a prick-wheel, which is quite like the rowel of a spur, and often traced dotted patterns with the wheel itself on the flat gold. Black or dark brown paint was then rubbed into the dots. Sometimes the stamp was also used, and its marks or holes filled in the same manner. It is not necessary to gild the background to produce a fine effect. First apply a coat of varnish, polish it when dry with finest glass-paper, then apply a coat or two of white oil paint, toned with Naples yellow, and when it is dry work it with wheel-tracers and stamps. When dry polish it again, and rub dark brown paint into all the lines and dots. Cover it with two coats of fine retouching varnish, and the effect will be that of old stamped ivory.
This first lesson may be omitted by those who wish to proceed at once to carving. It is given here because it sets forth the easiest and least expensive manner of ornamenting wood, and one which forms a curious and beautiful art by itself. With it one can acquire a familiarity with the method of transferring patterns to wood, and with the management of the tracer and stamp. The pattern-wheel should be held in the right hand, and guided by the forefinger of the left, which is a good preparatory practice for the chisel and gouge.
While the tools requisite for this work are few and inexpensive, it may be observed that tolerable substitutes may be obtained for them anywhere. Almost any knife-blade, eraser, or screw-driver can be ground into a dull edge which may serve to trace and press the wood, while a spike or very large nail can, with a file, be so crossed at the end as to make a stamp.
SECOND LESSON.
CUTTING GROOVES WITH A GOUGE.
We will now suppose that the pupil has a piece of smooth pine wood, at least six inches by six in size, and half an inch in thickness, fastened to the table before him. Let him draw on it two lines with a lead pencil, across the grain, one-fourth of an inch distant from each other. Then taking a _fluter_ or gouge of semi-circular curve, also one-fourth of an inch in diameter, let him carefully cut away the wood between the lines so as to form a semi-circular groove, Fig. 28 _a_. This is not to be effected by cutting all the wood away at once. A very little should be removed at first, so as to make a shallow groove, then this may be cut over again till the incision is perfect. Hold the handle of the tool firmly in the right hand, with the wrist and part of the forearm resting on the bench; place the two first fingers of the left hand on the face of the blade about an inch from the cutting edge, to direct and act as a stop to prevent the tool advancing too fast. Some place the thumb below the blade, so that it is held between the thumb and the two first fingers.
"Keep your mind on your work--a careless movement may cause a slip of the tool and ruin it." Let every stroke of chisel or gouge be made and regulated by purpose and design, not haphazard, or at random. Think _exactly_ what you wish to cut or mean to do, and leave nothing to involuntary action. The habit of doing this may be acquired in the first few lessons, if you try, and when it is acquired all the real difficulty of carving is mastered.
_Never attempt to carve anything unless it is fastened to the table._ Pupils who do this fall into the habit of holding the panel down with the left hand, and the result is that the tool slips sooner or later, and inflicts a wound which may be serious. Always keep both hands on the tool.
When the pupil shall have cut perhaps twenty straight grooves with great care with the gouge, he may then cut cross-barred grooves, Fig. 28 _b_, and then curved ones as in Fig. 29 _a_, _b_, _c_.
Two sections of a circle thus intersecting form, as may be seen, a leaf. One, two, or even three lessons may be devoted to this, _but let the pupil go no further until he can cut these grooves perfectly_. He will then find it excellent practice at odd intervals to carve grooves in circles, spirals, or other forms. Groove-carving may be regarded as line-drawing, for any pattern which can be drawn in simple lines can be of course imitated with a gouge.
Very pretty decorative work may be effected by this gouge-grooving alone, and in fact it was very common in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, as is shown by specimens in the museums of South Kensington, Munich, Vienna, and Salzburg. The wood chosen was generally a highly-grained or strongly-marked pine, the natural yellow colour of which was somewhat heightened by staining, oiling, or age. The pattern, generally a leafy one, was then outlined with a narrow, say one-third inch gouge, and the grooves painted in with black or brown. This was applied in many ways, but especially to large cabinets or wardrobes. It is a very rapid and effective kind of work.
Celtic or Irish (or Runic) patterns, which resemble ropes or ribbons crossing one another, can be very well imitated by running these lines with a gouge, Fig. 30. No writer on wood-carving ever seems to have noticed what beautiful, complicated, and valuable work can be executed in this manner alone. These lines can be painted in black, dark colours, or red, so as to make fine effects in decorative furniture or friezes. It may also be observed, that when cut they may be used for moulds for plaster of Paris, papier-maché, and leather. The pupil would do well to pass a few days in developing simple groove-work, which is worth perfectly understanding. There are few who cannot with care learn to cut grooves very well with a gouge after a few days' practice. I urge that the pupil shall do this with ease before going further. _Secondly_, that he shall actually realize what a great amount of beautiful work can be made with one gouge of from one-fourth to one-third of an inch diameter; as, for instance, in inscriptions, interlacing bands or any kind of design formed of _lines_ or cords, Celtic decoration, interlacing ropes or ribbons, etc. The artist who proposes to master carving for general decoration should pay particular attention to this simple work.
Beginners in carving are, without exception, so anxious to get ornaments or leaves in relief, and to produce some kind of high-class art work, that they pass over grooving and curve-carving or flat-cutting as of very little consequence, when in fact it would be in every way much more to their advantage to develop it to the utmost. The great reason why there is at present so little decoration of broad spaces in panels, scrolls, or furniture, by means of carving, is because all carvers are devoted almost exclusively to more ambitious work, and ignore what may be done with a few tools by the simplest methods.
THIRD LESSON.
FLAT PATTERNS MADE WITH CUTS AND LINES--CAVO RELIEVO OR INTAGLIO RILEVATO (CAVO-CUTTING).
There is an easy kind of flat or hollow carving, if it can be so called, which is executed with a gouge or V tool, or a firmer alone, but which produces flat patterns. Make the design, and as it is to be executed almost entirely with lines or grooves, or small hollows, it must be so designed that the patterns are close fitting, or separated only by lines. Now and then, or here and there, a small corner or larger space or cavity may be removed by a touch of the tool, but as a rule there is little work in it beyond mere lines. However, as in the gouge-work of the previous lesson, although anybody can learn in a day or two to "run" the lines, yet if good patterns be available, remarkably beautiful and valuable work may be produced by it. It is as applicable to cabinets, chests, panels for chairs, or other kinds of decoration. Of course the lines, or hollows, or excavations may, as in all cases, be filled in with colour, Fig. 31.
This work can often be very well executed with the firmer (or flat carver's chisel) alone, and it will afford good practice to acquire familiarity with that greatly neglected tool.
Flat or cavo-cutting of this kind _as work_ is only a little advance on grooving with a gouge, but its results may be very much more artistic. It occupies a position between gouge grooving and cutting out the ground. Each of these are as separated as so many distinct arts, but they lead one to the other, Figs. 31-35.
The easiest way to prepare this work is to execute the pattern on the wood in Indian ink, and then simply cut away all the black. The lines in leaves, etc., must be very carefully run with the V tool; all the larger hollows should be cut with a gouge. If very large hollows, or spaces, or grounds are left, they must be executed as described in the next lesson.
FLAT PATTERNS.
FLAT PATTERNS.
Observe in Figs. 31 to 35 that all the carving is confined to simply cutting away the parts indicated by the black ground. The fine lines can be best executed with a parting or V tool, and in many instances with the smallest gouge or veiner. Though not usual, it is excellent practice, when possible, to learn to do this with a small _firmer_, or carver's chisel.
These cavo relievo or _cut-out flat patterns_ are as easy of execution as gouge-work to any one who has learned the latter. They are not now much studied, but they are capable of a wide application in large decorative art. The lines and cavities look best when painted or dyed. It is the next step beyond gouge-work, which represents simple drawing of lines in design, and corresponds to _sketching_.
Contour or rounding and modelling of course correspond to light and shade, but plain gouge and cavo-cutting is simple _sketching_. Any animal, or a human figure, a vase, flowers, or vines may be thus carved, the only further condition being that the outlines shall always be broad and bold. Great care should be exercised not to make too many lines, especially fine ones, and in all cases to avoid detail, and make the design as simple as you can. When in thus outlining an animal you have clearly indicated, with as few lines as possible, what it is meant to be, you have done enough, as in all sketching the golden rule is to give as much representation with as little work as possible, Fig. 36.
It may be observed that familiar and extensive practice of the very easy gouge-groove work, and of simple flat or cavo-cutting in hollows, if carried out on a _large_ scale, as for instance in wall and door patterns, gives the pupil far more energy and confidence, and is more conducive to free-hand carving and the sweep-cut, than the usual method of devoting much time in the beginning to chipping elaborate leaves and other small work. Therefore it will be well for the pupil to perfect himself in such simple groove and hollow work. This was the first step in mediæval carving, and it was the proper one for general decoration. It was in this manner that the old carvers of England and their masters, the Flemings, taught their pupils.
FOURTH LESSON.
CUTTING OUT A FLAT PANEL WITH A GROUND.
Let the pupil take a panel and draw on it a pattern, Fig. 37 _a_. He is to cut this out in what is called flat carving, and sometimes "ribbon work." He begins by _outlining_, which may be effected in different ways. I. By taking a small _fluter_ or veiner, or a tooling-gouge one-tenth of an inch in diameter, and cutting a groove all around the pattern just outside of it, but accurately close to it. If perfect in Lesson II. this will be very easy for him. II. He may do this also with a V or parting tool, but the gouge is better for a _first_ attempt. III. The outline cutting may be effected by taking a _firmer_ or carver's chisel, one-third of an inch broad, and placing it "up and down" close to the pattern, but sloping outwardly, give it a tap with the mallet so as to sink it a very little way into the wood. Do not cut "straight up and down," but so as to make a sloping bank. IV. There is yet another way, which is more difficult and seldom practised, yet which if mastered gives great skill in carving. Take the firmer or flat chisel, and holding it with great care run it along the edge, sloping outwards, so as to cut the line accurately. By means of this method the whole work may be very well outlined. It is not urged as absolutely necessary at a first lesson, but it is advisable to practise it sooner or later.
When the outlining is done, let the pupil take a flat gouge (if he has cut the line with a small gouge), and very carefully shave away the wood from the ground. Let him cut at first very little at a time, for his object is now not to make something to show, _but to learn how to manage his tools_. Do not finish all the cutting in one part at once, leaving the rest untouched, but go all over it gradually several times, until it is nearly perfect. Let every touch tell. Remove the wood at every cut, and leave no edges or splinters. To do this well you must also always watch and consider the grain of the wood at the particular spot you are operating upon; it is easy enough to see whether you are cutting with, that is in the same direction, as the grain, or across the grain; but it is something beyond this that has to be looked to. It is invariable that all wood, whether cut with the grain or partly across the grain, will be found to work better, smoother, and with less tendency to splinter either in the one or the other direction, that is to say, when cut from right to left, or the reverse, from left to right. The required direction in which it will cut the smoothest is at once shown by the behaviour of the wood itself and the quality of the results; hence, should the work or surface show a tendency to splinter, if possible cut it from the opposite direction, and turn the work round on the bench should that be necessary to enable you to do it, that is, if you cannot use the tool in either hand. Beware above all things of letting the hands work mechanically. _Think_ of what you are about. By learning to cut clean and flat you are taking the first step towards the "_sweep-cut_," which will come afterwards, and which requires both deliberation and dexterity.
When all is cut out nicely and carefully, take an extra flat gouge and clean "the floor," removing every trace of unevenness. Then take a French round nail or bodkin, and with the mallet fill the ground with little holes so as to make a rough surface; or you may use one of the _stamps_ for this. This requires care, so that the shape of the stamp may not be apparent. It is advisable to trim with a very sharp small chisel, and with great care, the edge of the pattern. For this lesson it will be best not to cut away more than one-fourth of an inch to form the ground.
If the outlining is done with a chisel and mallet, before cutting away the ground, go over the outline and cut at a little distance from the line already cut towards it, so as to remove the wood and form a V-shaped groove, as one digs with a spade.
Teachers or pupils are begged to remember that the sole object of this lesson is to learn how to handle and manage the tools; that is, to become familiar with them, and how to learn to _cut_ a ground with skill and confidence. To do this _there should be much occasional practice on bits of waste wood_. Therefore it is earnestly urged that no beginner shall go further than the work described in this lesson until he or she can execute it with accuracy and ease. When this is gained all that remains to be done is easy.
The reason why the "parting" or V tool is not specially recommended to _beginners_ for outlining is, that it is the most difficult of all tools in ordinary use to sharpen. The small gouge answers every purpose for the work in hand.
To recapitulate, first, we have the cutting away from between the outlines of the pattern: If the panel be half an inch in thickness, it should not be more than a quarter of an inch in depth. Cut over the whole very lightly at first, and then go over it again and again. Do not dig or cut out the whole quarter of an inch in one place at once, leaving the rest as yet untouched. Should you do this you will be led to cutting too deeply in some places. When the hard work is effectively executed, and nearly all the wood is roughly cut away, the work is said to be _bosted_ or sketched, a word supposed to be derived from the French _ébauché_ or the Italian _abozzo_, meaning the same thing.
After cutting Fig. 37 _a_, the pupil may proceed to 37 _b_, which is simply an amplification of the same.
FIFTH LESSON.
CUTTING SIMPLE LEAVES--CARVING WITH THE LEFT HAND--MODELLING OR ROUNDING--SHADED PATTERNS AND MODELLING--PROGRESS TOWARDS RELIEF.