Part 7
Plaster-casts are very easily broken, and are heavy and difficult to transport. Wax is spoiled almost by a touch, and it readily yields to heat. Papier-maché, when properly managed, with a little practice gives a mould which is equal to either for all surfaces except the most minutely delicate. When dry, such casts may be let fall, or really thrown about, without sustaining any injury, and they are very portable. It is very often possible to easily copy an object with paper when plaster or wax cannot be used at all. The reason why it is not more generally used is because few persons have taken the pains to treat it as a plastic material suitable to the arts, or are sufficiently practised in it to know what can really be done with it. The wood-carver should do this, because it is a very important thing for him to keep copies of his works, or to get those of others to use in his designs. With a little practice, and at no expense, he can make such casts in a material which is almost as durable as wood itself.
In large manufactories of papier-maché the pulp of paper is simply mixed with the paste or size, and put into the moulds in large masses, and then subjected to pressure. When a good surface is secured with fine white paper, it is not of much consequence how coarse the paper for the _backing_ may be. For this purpose it may be mixed with tow or fibre of any kind, plaster, or fine sawdust, etc., so long as the _binder_ or size be only strong enough to hold all together. But for all ordinary purposes waste-paper and paste, thickened with common glue, will suffice.
TWENTIETH LESSON.
SPOT CUTTING.
This is a manner of ornamenting which can hardly be called carving, and which would not deserve special mention were it not that it is so extensively used, it being the chief method of decoration in all the islands of the Pacific, and still extensively practised in Sweden and Norway. It consists of small incised triangles, or "diamonds," made with a skew or ordinary chisel, which are arranged in rows or lines. Simple as the work may seem, it is very effective when artistically employed; and it has this peculiarity, that no other kind of cutting is so well adapted, with very little labour, to relieve flat surfaces, such as paddles, tankards, spoons, war clubs, and scoops or dippers.
The triangular incision is made with three cuts; by adding two more from the opposite direction we make a diamond, or the latter may be produced at once with only four cuts, Fig. 63. To these we may add the hemi-spherical or cup hollow, which is made with a gouge, and which, in Scotland at least, seems to have been the earliest pre-historic beginning of ornamentation of flat surfaces.
When these triangles and diamonds are tastefully arranged in lines, and filled in with a composition, or paint, which contrasts in colour with the wood, the effect is often excellent. Ordinary putty, into which a little mastic has been well worked, or plaster of Paris with size and a little flour paste, with one drop of oil to an ounce, makes a good filler for such a purpose. This may be applied to any incised cutting. An ivory-like filling, which may be stained of any colour, and which was once extensively used in Florence, is made with rice, lime, and size.
Any pattern which can be drawn in lines may be executed with good effect in triangular spots, the base of every spot being on the line. They may either join one another or be separated; both methods produce a good effect. The spots may be of all sizes, and are generally not larger than those at the top in the above illustration.
Large triangles may of course be used as well as small ones. Owing to the ease with which these spots are made, and the good effect which they produce when blackened, it is not remarkable that so simple a method of decorating wood is extensively practised.
By placing a gouge vertically and turning it, as already mentioned, a cup-like cavity is easily cut. A row of these is often very effective.
APPENDIX.
OBJECTS FOR WOOD-CARVING.
"The most difficult part of making is to know what to make."
In no circumstances should the wood-carver be at a loss for a subject to work on, yet this is the commonest source of complaint, especially among young artists, that they "do not know what to take up." One result of this is the wearisome production of panels or "fancy pieces" without any definite aim, and a constant imitation of one another's work. Unfortunately there are a great many who cannot understand or form any idea how a pattern would look when executed. They will pass it over in an engraving, but when they see it actually carved and made up they appreciate it. Now the tutor should teach the pupils, and the students teach themselves, to think of subjects, to invent them, to sketch and execute them. I have found that all workers are invariably more defective in this respect than in any other, and that it is one in which the direction of almost every art school in the world is either utterly wanting, or else leaves much to be desired.
Pupils should be encouraged to look at every object with an eye to ornamenting or decorating it, so far as that can be done without detracting from its usefulness. In every school a list of objects for carving should be hung up, and the workers be frequently requested to think of subjects to add to the list; outline sketches of furniture and other objects should be supplied. It is not at all understood that even a very little frequent employment of the mind inventing and planning, no matter at what, stimulates _all_ the mental faculties to an extraordinary degree.
I therefore seriously urge that the wood-carver shall earnestly study the following list of subjects, add to it, and at times take one or the other of them and sketch it with variations. He may remember while doing this, that any of the ornaments given may be varied and applied to different things, as, for instance, the vine on a circular panel may be easily adapted to a square. Full directions for doing this may be found in "The Manual of Design,"[2] price one shilling, which also contains many patterns perfectly adapted to carving.
[2] London: Whittaker and Co. Chicago: Rand, McNally and Co.
The first subject to be considered is: What to design or make; how its surface can be appropriately ornamented; and, how to produce the best effect with the least work. Mere elaboration is admired only by the ignorant, and the less cultivated a pupil is, the more inclined he will be to densely crowded petty patterns.
If the pupil wants a design for any of the objects described in this chapter, and if he can draw at all, and has any skill in adapting or changing a pattern, as, for instance, to make one which fills a triangle or a square "set" into a circle, or extend to a long panel or a border, he will find something for any of them, either in this book, or in the "Manual of Design" already referred to. Let him also take pains to collect as many patterns as he can of all kinds, and keep them in a portfolio for reference.
Every student of wood-carving should remember that if he has a folding looking-glass, which he can make for himself by cutting in two a square mirror of, say, six inches by twelve, he can, out of any pattern in this book, or from any simple ornament whatever, make (with the least effort of ingenuity or adaptiveness) a border by repeating it in succession, or a centre ornament which may be multiplied in whole or in part _ad infinitum_. That is to say, he can fill any given space, be it a panel, ceiling, circle, triangle, or hexagon. Or he can fill such spaces by simply cutting out ornaments from card-board, and placing them together to form vines or outgrowths from one another.
_Panels._ A panel is defined as a board with a surrounding frame. The word is derived from the old English _panel_, a piece of cloth, Latin _pannus_, "a cloth or patch"; from the same word we have _pane_. In wood-carving we practically apply it to small boards intended to be set in furniture, or walls, or ceilings, or made into book-covers or box-lids. The uses of panels are without limit, as they may be introduced into almost every kind of furniture, such as the backs and sides of chairs, chests, bedsteads, caskets, window-garden boxes, doors, or wherever a flat surface can be adorned. When surrounded with a frame or several strips of moulding, any panel becomes improved when the outer frame is not overdone. As a rule the border of a panel should be plain, so as to distinctly define or set forth the pattern. For this reason many very ordinary and even rude subjects "come out" or look well when thus "mounted." A series of carved panels makes a beautiful frieze for any room. A good general size for most work is a panel six inches by twelve, more or less, and half an inch thick. In _spacing_ a panel for ornament the pupil may begin by making one circle in the centre and one in each corner, so that the five may fill up the whole space. Convert these into a vine and apply ornaments. There are of course endless variations of this principle. (Consult the "Manual of Design.")
_Chairs._ Take any chair, copy it, and then fill the spaces with ornaments to be carved. Large, square, high-backed, old-fashioned chairs admit of the most panelling, and can be made up by any cabinet-maker or carpenter, _vide_ Fig. 69. It is a very good plan to always have such objects made up in pieces, carve them separately, and then have them put together. It may be observed for beginners, and those who are not much practised in cabinet-making, that there is a very substantial kind of furniture once made very commonly in Germany, and which has been much revived of late years. It is made entirely without glue, nails, or screws, by simply cutting holes into which tenons or _ends_ project, which ends are fastened on the other side by holes and pins.
On this principle every kind of furniture can be made by any man who is ingenious enough to simply measure boards, cut square holes, and adapt pins to them. Such articles as are made by this process are very much stronger than any others, and they have the great advantage that they can be easily taken apart, packed, or be stored in very small space when not in use; and the style is of course more adapted to carving than ordinary furniture. The writer has in his possession chairs 250 years old made on this principle. The seat is a square nearly two inches thick, in which four holes are bored, into which the legs are simply set, as in a milking-stool. Between the hind legs two square holes are cut, into which similar tenons made in the lower end of the back are fitted. In these tenons two square holes are cut, just exactly on the other side of the seat, into which square pins are driven, Fig. 65. With a very little ingenuity or will, anybody can contrive to make any piece of furniture on the same principle. The seats of chairs and stools, or the faces of tables, should never be carved, for very apparent reasons. There is plenty of space for the carver to work at on the edges and legs, and this may be made striking enough by means of colouring and gilding, Figs. 64 and 66.
_Boxes._ These have formed in all ages favourite subjects for decoration. They vary from the smallest casket to the chest. A box with the lid forms five panels, or, seen from any point, three. In Italy, of old, they were often carved without and within. Boxes may be made by simply gluing, nailing, or screwing together, but they may be so dovetailed by an expert workman that the juncture is quite imperceptible. _Vide_ "Forty Lessons in Carpentry Practice," by C. F. Mitchell. Cassell and Co. It is a feat in cabinet-making to do this _perfectly_, and boxes thus joined are very expensive. The appearance of boxes is much improved by the addition of moulding-strips, bases, and projecting ornaments. The student is advised to carve or buy a few bosses, such as heads of animals or faces, and rosettes, and try the experiment of fitting them to a box or carving them on one, Fig. 67.
_Caskets for Cigars._ This applies also to receptacles into which glasses for flowers may be put. Take a cylinder of wood, turned, or made up like a barrel, and fit a base to it, and a lid. They may be made of very large joints of bamboo, which may also be beautifully carved, and partly coloured in the lines, as is common in China. It is best for turned cylinders and bamboo to have them surrounded with metal rings to prevent their splitting. They may also be made square, that is, as boxes.
_Trays for Cigar Ashes._ These are best when carved from hard wood, such as box, though any other may be used. It is much better that they be made rather larger and deeper than many in use, as ashes are continually being knocked out of small and shallow ones. They may be round or square, like a fish or a small book (with a lid), a shell, a tortoise, or a scooped hand, a face, or a figure of any animal or human being, Fig. 68.
_Basket-work._ This is very easily imitated in wood, and it forms a very pretty and fanciful style for many kinds of objects. Take any kind of basket-work, either that of split osiers, which are half-round, or Italian rush-work, or American Indian, which is made of flat strips of ash or pine-bark interwoven, or Indian rattan, and imitate it with flat gouges or firmers. It is very easy work, and beginners soon become expert in it. It improves the effect, when the work is finished, if dark colour be painted into the depressions. Basket-work may be used for diaper ground. The American Indian basket-work, in flat strips from one-third of an inch to an inch in breadth, is easiest to imitate, and may be executed with a single V tool or firmer.
_Casks, Small Barrels, Kegs._ These are useful for waste-paper boxes, or to contain canes and umbrellas. When carved and coloured they form very attractive articles of furniture. They may be used for garden seats. Heads of animals _appliqué_ to these, some for handles to lift them, or else holes must be cut in them for this purpose, _vide_ Fig. 56.
_Frames for Pictures or Looking-glasses._ These give a wide range to the wood-carver, for all borders are suitable to frames. Heads may be _appliqué_ to corners and centres of frames. It is very much to be desired that designers and carvers would exert their inventiveness and endeavour to break up the monotony and feebleness which characterize most frames, _vide_ borders and photograph frames.
_Horns._ Horns may be carved, as previously described, and imitations of them in wood are easily made. They are ornamental objects, and useful when hung up to contain small objects. They can, by steeping in hot water, be softened and flattened, _vide_ initial to Fifteenth Lesson.
_Tiles._ These are really panels. They are pieces of wood from half an inch to an inch in thickness, the size of ordinary tiles, carved in bold relief with free hand, coloured or not, and are very useful for house decoration, chimney-piece borders, cornices, and corners. The tile when employed with much repetition becomes the diaper ornament.
_Window Gardens_ to contain flower-pots. These are square chests, as long as the window is wide, and from a foot to eighteen inches in depth. They may be made with two or three panels, or one long panel in front, with one at each end. They form admirable subjects for decoration.
_Albums, Portfolios, Book-covers._ These are panels, and afford an infinite range of design and effects in wood-carving. They may be very beautifully and easily ornamented in mere stamping and outlining (_vide_ Lesson II.), or by putting in diaper grounds, or basket-work, or by very low relief carving, in which case there should be a border in a little higher relief to protect the pattern from being rubbed, Fig. 70.
_Canoes._ In many countries large or real canoes are made from one piece of wood and elaborately carved. Very pretty miniature canoes may be made from one to three feet in length from any kind of wood, and covered with any kind of ornamentation. It is not necessary to excavate them from a single block or log, as they may be made from two or more pieces. They form useful receptacles for many objects.
_Panels of Doors._ These might be generally ornamented. Every kind of wood-carving is applicable to them, but it should be remembered that for all such decoration a large, free, and bold style is absolutely necessary, and that it is unwise to make mural work, which should be visible at great distances, out of pretty flowers or too delicate work. A room with good bold door-panels, wainscot, or dado and a frieze, seems half furnished, while trifling and feeble ornaments detract from such appearance. The great secret of the attractiveness of mediæval and savage decoration is its energy. Even eccentricity and grotesqueness lose all that is repulsive in them when they are simply and vigorously set forth.
Carved patterns in low relief may be applied to door-panels.
_Foot-stools._ These are really small panelled boxes, unless made with supports or legs.
_Benches._ Simple benches are seldom decorated, but they are admirably adapted to it. Never carve the seats, unless they are made to fold up to protect them from the rain, in which case the under ornaments of choir-seats or misereres may be appropriately used. When the bench has a back it becomes a rude sofa or settee or settle (Anglo-Saxon _setl_, a seat). Properly speaking a settle is a _long_ bench with a high back. This may be carved in panels. There was an old Saxon and early English double chair made to seat two, which is like a short settle.
_Hanging Boxes._ These are boxes generally made with a back, which is the longest piece, and which goes above and below the receptacle part. They are useful for newspapers or letters. Every kind of carving is applicable to them, Fig. 71.
_Key Boxes._ These are small hanging cabinets. In every family there are many loose keys of trunks and furniture lying about loose, and hard to find when wanted. If there were a key box they would always be readily found. Make a box or frame, let us say eighteen inches in length by ten inches width, of four strips of deal or any wood. These strips may be half an inch in thickness by an inch in width. Nail or glue them together so as to form the four sides of a box. Then take one or two or three strips of thin planed board, and neatly nail them on to form a back to the shallow box. Now take a panel, which is to form the lid or door of the cabinet. It will be better to make a narrow frame of four strips, and set the panel in this, as a door, with hinges and lock. This is to be hung up on the wall. It will very much improve the whole if the interior and outside of the cabinet, or all the deal, be stained to match the door, which, as it is to be carved, should be of walnut or oak, or some better class of wood. Then get some small silver or plated-headed nails and drive them in rows in the cabinet. The keys are to be hung up on these.
_Cabinets._ These may be in the nature of upright boxes with doors, with three sides ornamented, the fourth being placed against the wall, or three-sided for a corner. The forms of cabinets are extremely varied, and the artist should pass much time in designing them. They are of all sizes, from great _armoires_ for clothing down to caskets. The word cabinet is derived from the French _cabane_, a cabin. The earliest dwellers in Italy made the receptacles for the ashes of the dead exactly like the cabins in which they dwelt.
_Sabots or Wooden Shoes._ These serve admirably to carve, and are very pretty when coloured or ivoried, bronzed in antique style, or otherwise ornamented. Sabots are useful to contain small articles, and may be turned into cigar-ash holders.
_Umbrella Handles._ These offer an inexhaustible field for the designer and carver of small objects.
_Tankards._ These and all kinds of cylindrical objects are the same as regards design as panels, only that the pattern when not in set divisions must be continuous, or going round without a break. They have been already described.
_Pen and Pencil Boxes._ A very convenient form is that of a round-turned wood, plain, upright jar. Small square or round carved boxes for such a purpose are not hard to make. They may be made like towers or castles, the trunks of trees, barrels, or almost any hollow objects.
_Pilgrim Bottles and Powder Flasks._ Take two pieces of board, each one inch thick, plane them smooth, and saw both into ovals exactly matching, of, say, six inches by ten. Cut away the centre from both. Fit them exactly. Then round each half in such a manner that, when brought together, they form a round ring, like a French loaf. Then carefully hollow out the centre of both, including the neck, and glue the halves together. Carve the outside, Figs. 72 and 73. During the Middle Ages such bottles were made of many sizes to contain gunpowder. They were carved from ivory or hard wood, and were covered with a very great variety of subjects, such as deer, dogs, wild boars, birds, cupids, scenes from the heathen mythology and the Bible, as well as ordinary grotesques.
_Shrines or Reliquaries._ This is the conventional name for boxes or caskets made exactly in the form of houses, the lid being one side of the roof. The shape is a convenient one for a box. They were covered with ornaments of the most varied or grotesque kinds.
_Mummies._ The Egyptian mummy or its outward box or sarcophagus forms an excellent subject for a useful box. Take two pieces of wood, adapt them to make a box, like the Egyptian type, that is, the lid being about one-fourth as thick as the box. _Appliqué_ or glue more wood on to the lid, in the centre. The whole may be then smoothed into shape, painted and gilt, or else carved in low relief, or simply stamped. It may also be all gilt, and the dot work and shadows painted in brown or ivoried. Take for model a real sarcophagus. The work is not difficult, and the result will be a very handsome object.
_Roman Sarcophagus._ This is simply a square box carved in very high relief, after the pattern of a Roman tomb. The ornaments may be _appliqué_. These sarcophagi are very beautiful when ivoried.
_Books._ A very pretty pattern for a box is an old book of the twelfth or thirteenth century, with its clasps and other ornaments in high relief. One of the covers is set on hinges, and forms the lid. Care should be taken to polish and ornament the whole so as to look like an original. It was very common to make the sides of old books of wooden panels, which were carved in high relief. Silver and brass or iron clasps and studs taken from such old books may be bought in many bric-à-brac shops.
_Staves or Alpenstocks._ A staff four or five feet in length is more useful for a pedestrian going a great distance than a cane, and it is remarkable that it should have fallen into such disuse. In old times in northern countries they were often made square, the corners being slightly rounded, and were then covered with Runic inscriptions and ornaments. These were very often almanacks, so that a man wishing to know what was the day of the week or month had only to consult his staff, or to "up stick." These were called clogs. They might be acceptable and useful to many tourists. They were commonly carved by the peasants, and a few may possibly still be found in Suffolk.