General Crafts

Five Styles of Relief Wood Carving

Since I was rambling on yesterday about tonal values / shadows and light, I thought I would show you how those tonal values are captured in our wood carving.

There are five main styles of relief carvingincising, sunken, low, middle, and high.

This is a continuation of yesterday’s posting, Tonal Values Add Depth to Your Wood Carving, Pyrography, and Colored Pencil Projects.

 

Click on the image below for the full-sized jpg.  Keep a copy on your computer for reference when working your next wood carving project.

Incised carvings, also called intaglio, are extremely flat and have little or not actual shadows on the main elements as those elements are not carved. Instead the background areas are carved to a very shallow depth and then cut with fine, sharp lines. This is the common techniques used for engraving.

Sunken relief is where the main elements are carved down into the wood and the background is left at its original depth. This is most often found in Egyptian stone carving.

Low or bas relief, also called basso-relieva, is a shallow carving technique where the joint lines between the main elements and the background are straight cut and visible. Few shadows are created in the work so this may also be called silhouette carving.

Middle relief, Canada Goose Relief Wood Carving Project, is the first carving technique that uses some undercuts to create darker shadows along the edges of some elements. Usually less that one-half of the element edges will be undercut with the remain edges or joint lines worked as bas or low relief.

High Relief, sometimes called alto-relieva or deep relief, heavily uses the technique of undercutting to make the main elements of the design appear to be free floating above the background. The shadow created by high relief range from extremely black to soft tones.

Cheryl Coupland is showing a fantastic example of high relief in her carved and painted floral bouquets.
https://www.facebook.com/cheryl.coupland…

Please keep a copy of my Quick Guide on your computer for reference and for ideas on how to approach your next project.

 

Practice these styles of wood carving with our free, online projects.

Mule Deer Relief Wood Carving

Relief Carving the Canada Goose

Wood Carving Celtic Dragon

 

Thanks for reading. ~Lora

Five Styles of Relief Wood Carving Read More »

Coloring Your Carvings and Wood Burnings

Painting Wood, Water Colors, Colored Pencils, Marking Pens

 

Coloring Your Project

Painting with Eye Shadow for Wood Carving and Pyrographyfree pyrography clock pattern
Coloring Your Project
Color Chart for LSIrish.com
Basics to Painting
Adding Skin Colors with Watercolors
Basics to Painting
Acrylics over a Primer for Wood Carving
China Painting with Acrylics for Wood Carving
Dry Brushed Acrylics over Oil Stain for Wood Carvings
Marbling and Splatter Painting
Simple Dry Brushing for Wood Carving and Pyrography
Vintage Painting
Wood Carving and Burning Painting Supplies
Paint Kit Supplies for Painting Your Wood Carving
Steps to Success, Painting Your Wood Carving
Burnishing Your Wood Carving
Simple Blending with Acrylic Craft Paints
General Techniques Used in Wood Carving Paintingfinishing and paintinf techniques for wood
Basics to Painting for Pyrography and Wood Carving
Painting Eyes
Watercolors and Wood Burning
The Color Wheel, Who Is R. G. Biv?
Dry Brushing, Wood Painting Techniques by Lora Irish
Colored Pencil Let’s Talk Color
Marking Pen Quilts
Adult Coloring – Colored Pencil Application
Adult Coloring – Working with Colored Pencils
Adult Coloring Portraits
Colored Pencil Let’s Talk Color
Colored Pencil Pyrography
Color, Shadow, and Light in Pyrography
Coloring your Pyrography using Colored Pencils
Painting a Color Wheel for Pyrography, Gourd Art, Wood Carving
Working in Layers, Colored Pencils
Color Chart for LSIrish.com
Painted Blue Jeans 2, Free Craft Patterns
Painted Blue Jeans, Free Patterns
Sepia Toned Crayons

Coloring Your Carvings and Wood Burnings Read More »

New E-Project, Basic Berry Basket Weaving

Basic Berry Basket Weaving E-Project

$4.95

Basket weaving is one of mankind’s earliest crafts and one that continue into today to provide a rewarding, fun, and useful item.  Learn the basic steps to woven basketry with this 40 page pdf file by Lora S. Irish.  All steps are included with detailed photos.  Try this one project to open a whole new hobby!

Basket weaving is one of mankind’s earliest crafts and one that continue into today to provide a rewarding, fun, and useful item.  Learn the basic steps to woven basketry with this 40 page pdf file by Lora S. Irish.  All steps are included with detailed photos.  Try this one project to open a whole new hobby!

New E-Project, Basic Berry Basket Weaving Read More »

Fish Decoy Carving

 

Posts:

Burning and Carving Fish – Free pattern included
Wood Carved Ice Fishing Decoys

Pages: Learn how to wood carve your own Ice Fishing Decoy, a free wood carving project by Lora S Irish. Folk art fish decoys can become much more than realistic wood carvings of minnows and fishing bait.  This gallery of wood carvings by Lora Irish offers more samples of what you could do with your own whittled fish decoy.

Ice Fishing Decoy Carving – Four page free tutorial
Ice Fishing Decoy Gallery One
Ice Fishing Decoy Gallery Two
Sun Fish Carving – Includes free pattern

E-Project: Learn folk art ice fishing decoy carving with this in-depth step-by-step project taught by Lora S. Irish. This sixty page e-book includes an introduction to the history of ice fishing decoys, the six basic carving cuts needed to create these fun fish, and two complete projects. Complete your decoy with the painting steps and by creating a simple wire hanger. 60 pages of instructions, patterns, and ideas included are 20 small decoys patterns with fin variations, 4 long minnow decoy patterns, and 21 large full-sized decoy patterns accompanied by full-colored photos of the carved samples. Comes in Adobe Reader .pdf format!

Whittle Fish E-Project by Lora S Irish

Fish Related Digital Patterns: ArtDesignsStudio patterns by L S Irish

Fishing Lures

Fresh Water Fishing Patterns

Hook, Line, and Sinker

Just Goldfish

 

 

Fish Decoy Carving Read More »

GatorWorld Carving Foam

Ya’ kno’ how sometimes you can feel in total control of your project and direction in which that project is headed.  Then sometimes it feels like the project is totally in control and you are only along for the ride.

The carving foam shanty house was meant to be rustic, dark, and part of a gaming terrain design.  But somehow … I don’t know when or where … it suddenly took a left hand turn to end up as GatorWorld.

The shanty is constructed with 3/8″ foam board, 1″ thick cuts from insulation carving foam, and cereal box cardboard for the windows and doors.  Carving foam balloons are suspended on 18-gauge copper wire.  The palm tree with paper leaves is also carving foam; wood beads become coconuts, and a string of fairy lights is wrapped around the trunk.

GatorWorld Carving Foam Read More »

Scroll to Top