Relief Wood Carving

Five Styles of Relief Wood Carving

Leave a Comment / General Crafts, Relief Wood Carving, Woodcarving / By

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 carving – incising, 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 »

Free Beginning Wood Carving Project

Leave a Comment / Relief Wood Carving, Wood Carving Projects, Woodcarving / By

Beginner Wood Carving Project – ‘No Vacancy’ Birdhouse

Let’s have a little fun!!!!  I am starting a new, free wood carving and pyrography project and will be adding to the instructions over the next few days.

The first post features the supply list, wood preparation instructions, and in-depth instructions on how to center and trace a wood carving pattern to a round-top basswood board.

The free pattern is also posted today, June 5th, 2024.  So please stop by the project page, and please share on your favorite social media outlet.

Free Beginning Wood Carving Project Read More »

How deep do I carve a relief wood carving?

Leave a Comment / Relief Wood Carving / By

Good morning Scot and Marsha!  Thanks for the great conversation yesterday.  Here are the PDFs that will help you learn how to determine how deep each level or layer is in your relief wood carving.

While today’s blog topic is about levels and layers in relief carving, the same information can help you as a pyrographer determine the shading levels and layers in your wood burning.  So, please snatch a copy of the these free PDF files and take time to read through the linked projects here of LSIrish.com.

Free Doodle Patterns, Extra 001

How deep do I cut each level or layer in my pattern in a relief wood carving?

The depth measurement you need for each level or layer in your relief carving depends on several factors.

1. What species of wood are you carving.  Hardwoods as black walnut or maple can stand deeper carved levels than soft woods as poplar and basswood.  The hardness of the wood – how tightly packed the wood grain rings are – helps to avoid excessive cupping and warping.

2. How thick is your wood blank.  You can, of course, carve deeper into a 2″ thick wood blank than you can into a 3/4″ board.

3. How large is your carving blank.  A small blank, 8″ x 12″, is less likely to develop excessive warping than a large blank, 20″ x 32″.  The longer the grain lines in your blank the more likely they are to cup over time.

Free Doodle Patterns, Extra 004

4. What style of carving will you be doing. A simple round-over edge relief carving can be worked fairly deep into the wood, past the one-half thickness rule of thumb.  Since all of the wood grain in a round-over carving is adhered to the wood below it the chances of cupping is reduced.  If you are working an intense under-cut relief carving, you will want to stay above the one-half thickness rule of thumb.  Undercuts create free hanging shelves of wood that are easily effected by the changes in the wood grain of the entire blank.

General Layer Measurements Rule of Thumb!

In general you want to use the top one-half of the thickness of your wood for your carving area.  This leaves one-half of the thickness below the carving to stabilize the board from excessive warping and cupping.  So a board that measures a true 1″ thick can be carved to a 1/2″ depth.

In general your pattern will have three distinct layers – foreground, mid-ground, and background.  Plus it will have one main focal point – a barn, a duck, a dragon.

Free Doodle Patterns, Extra 005

1. Determine in which layer the main focal points falls as this will become your thickest layer.

2. Divide the carving thickness of the wood blank by 4.  This equates to two thickness for the layer that holds your focal point, and one each thickness for the other two layers.

3. So on a 1″ thick board, you will be carving 1/2″ deep.  Divide the 1/2″ by 4 equals 1/8″ per layer.  That’s 1/8″ for the foreground, mid-ground, and background.  Now add the extra 1/8″ to the level or layer that holds the focal point, making it a 1/4″ thick layer.

4.  An example is a barn scene where there is a fence line and mail box in t he foreground, a bank barn with silos in the mid-ground, and a tree line and second fence in the background, worked on a 1″ thick board.  The focal point of the pattern is the bank barn in the mid-ground level.  This equals 1/8″ for the foreground mail box layer, 1/4″ for the bank barn mid-layer, and 1/8″ for the background tree line.

5.  The fourth layer or level is called the sky area or sky line.  This area of carving is usually extremely shallow, a simple 1/16″ rolled-over edge for mountains and trees, and can be carved on the top surface of the remaining 1/2″ thickness of the wood.

Please learn more with these links!

Working with Levels – Simplifying a Pattern into Basic Areas

Simplifying a Pattern into Basic Areas in Relief Wood Carving

Determining The Depth Of The Levels

Levels in Relief Wood Carving

These links will add four more free Lora S Irish patterns to your Artist’s Morgue File!

 

 

 

 

 

How deep do I carve a relief wood carving? Read More »

ArtDesignsStudio.com

Free Relief Carving Tutorial

Leave a Comment / Relief Wood Carving, Wood Spirit / By

free wood carving wood spirit project

I want to take a moment and thank Fox Chapel Publishing, and the Wood Carving Illustrated Magazine forum’s moderator BobD for helping me get the Relief Carving Wood Spirit Grape Man WIP tutorial re-posted with all of the original images, photos, patterns, and guides.

I am grateful for the privileged that BobD has granted me, that of “super moderator” status, which allowed me to go over the normal posting levels so that you could have the entire thread back together at one time, ready for you to begin carving.

It was originally posted in 2006 and during the forum crash lost the photo content of the project.

On 12/26/2017 I was able to re-upload the project in its entirety – 262 steps, 351 photos, and lots of great ideas and comments from the forum members that worked along with me.

If you have any questions, please post them to this thread. Please include the number of the post, which is in the upper right hand corner of each post, and if appropriate the photo number so that I can know exactly where you are in the project.

Over the next few weeks I will be working on re-posting the photos to some of the other in-depth projects that Fox has allowed me to share here with you.

Please be patient as I think there are more than a dozen large tutorials and quite a few small step-by-step to redo.

Go to: https://forum.woodcarvingillustrated.com/
Log In: Create an account so that you can view the images and post comments.
Scroll down to: Wood Carving tutorials
Click on: Relief Carving Wood Spirit Grape Man WIP

See ya there!  Lora Irish

Free Relief Carving Tutorial Read More »

Wood Carving Celtic Dragon 3

2 Comments / Relief Wood Carving, Woodcarving / By

Over the last two days we have worked on a relief wood carving project featuring a Celtic knot dragon pattern.  Today we will walk through the simple and easy painting steps to give this basswood carving the look of stone.

Wood Carving Celtic Dragon 1
Wood Carving Celtic Dragon 2
Wood Carving Celtic Dragon 3

Celtic Dragon Wood Carving by Lora IrishPreparing the carving for painting

14.  Basswood is an easy to carve wood that has a very clear, white coloring.  Because basswood is very porous it is does not take oil based stains well without the use of a pretreatment sealer as polyurethane or spray sealer.  For our project I used acrylic craft paints to create the stone effect.

Supplies:

Acrylic craft paints in:
Titanium White
Carbon Black
Payne’s Gray
Burnt Umber
Burnt Sienna
Driftwood oil stain
Water bowl
Glass tile, palette paper, or tin foil
Paper towels
Clean, soft cloth
Assorted soft-bristle paintbrushes
Splatter brush or old toothbrush
Masking tape or painter’s tape
220-grit sandpaper
Polyurethane spray sealer

More information on painting your wood carvings.

using a primer coat when painting a wood carvingPrimer coat for relief wood carving

15.  Begin by using painter’s tape along the uncut 1/4″ margin surrounding the carving.  Cut long pieces, place into position, and press firmly.  The painter’s tape will protect these areas from coloring.

Place a small amount of titanium white, Payne’s gray, and burnt umber on a glass tile. Thin each color with an equal amount of clean water.

Brush two wash coats of titanium white on the carved area of the plaque. Because you mixed equal parts paint and water, this coat will not give full, solid coverage.

While the titanium white coats are still damp, pick up a small amount of Payne’s gray and mix it with the titanium white on your tile. Working along the diagonal of the plaque,  brush a few random strokes of the gray/white mix over the white background. Pick up a little more Payne’s gray, mix it with the titanium white on your tile, and apply it to the carving.

Next, add a small touch of burnt umber to the gray/white mix and repeat. Add a small amount of burnt sienna to the mix and repeat. Your background should now contain many  shades of white, gray, and brown. Allow these coatings to dry for about half an hour .

splatter painting a relief wood carvingSplatter the carving with fine paint dots

16.  Clean your glass tile, and then place a small amount of each paint color on the tile. Do not thin these colors with water. Working one color at a time, use an old stiff toothbrush or splatter brush to splatter a coat of each color on the carving.  Do this by picking up a small amount of color on the end of the splatter brush. Hold the brush a few inches from the surface of the carving, and pull your thumb across the top of the brush. This action will spray a fine mist of paint drops over the carving. Thin the paint with a few drops of water if you wish to create a fine spray with small droplets.

Painting the routed border

17.  Remove the tape from the edges of the carving. Brush two thinned wash coats of titanium white on the routed border edges of the plaque. Streak this area with a mix of titanium white and Payne’s gray, just as you did with the center of the carving. Allow the carving to dry overnight.

Creating a vintage look to your painted carving

18.  After you have completed the painting steps and allowed the paint to dry , sand the carved areas, background, and routed edges of the plaque using 220-grit sandpaper to remove some paint from the high areas of the carving. Sand lightly in some areas to remove one or two layers of color; in other areas, sand the carving back to the raw wood. Clean the dust from the board using a soft, dry cloth.

Seal the work with two coats of polyurethane spray sealer. Allow the sealer to dry thoroughly. Following the manufacturer’s instructions to apply an oil-based stain to the carving . Wipe away the excess oil stain with a soft, clean cloth. Allow the stain to dry overnight. Seal the work with one to two light coats of polyurethane spray sealer. Remember to sign and date the back of the plaque when finished.

I hope you have enjoyed this in-depth step-by-step free relief wood carving project and will take the time to browse through the other free online relief carving projects by Lora Irish that we have posted on our blog.

Thank you for visiting – Lora Irish!

Lora Irish celtic knot pattern129_150x150Celtic knot patterns by Lora S Irish
Celtic CrossesCeltic Dragon KnotCeltic Knots 2

Celtic Knot Carving Patterns by Lora S Irish, ArtDesignsStudio.com

Wood Carving Celtic Dragon 3 Read More »

Scroll to Top