The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-02-08

1t is usual in an article OF the present
kind to commence by tracing the history OF
the art or craft in question. Fortunately
the reader will in this instance be spared
| this very tedious business. Because no one
knows, or is ever likely 10 know, who IN
| vented wood carving. As the small boy
said. probably lit invented itself That Is
to say, cutting and carving and shaping OF
wood, stone, clay. etc.. are among the
many things which from the earliest ages
| are invented by man over and over again
Give any twentieth century English boy
| pocket knife and a piece of wood. In lew
moments the two make acquaintance and
| he is either cutting his name or whiting
a stick" He only differs from his ances-
tors of few thousand years back in one
| trifing respect, viz, that his ancestors
probably used flint flake in place of the
sheffield steel" Wood carving in some
| form is found wherever man and wood are
found. And a cursory glance through any
| chronological museum will show that. while
styles of characterization vary. and are In
part nationally characteristic, yet they
have more features in common than they
have strongly marked differences.
THE TWO CLASSES OF CARVING.
Laying aside all technical terms and re-
finements. We may roughly classify wood
carving into two great divisions. viz, carv-
ing from the fat and carving ''in relief"
or sin the round" II we commence with
| a fiat bit OF wood, such as the lid of cigar
box, and with an ordinary penknife cut
away few triangular chips more or less
close together, yet not quite running into
each other, we get the simple form of
'chip carving from the fiat. The pattern
is produced partly by the triangular de-
pressions that we have cut or carved and
partly by the narrow strips of fiat (originaD
surface that We have retained. 1t is an
easy step TO pass from triangular chip
to one of four or five or more sides. We
may easily make it with straight or curved
sides. From a few very simple elementary
shapes very beautiful and sometimes highly
complex patterns and designs may be made.
Nor need we limit ourselves to geometric
designs-leaves. flowers, fruits, shells, in
sects. birds and other members of the ami
NAL kingdom. not forgetting man, may
serve as models.
Again we may treat our subject In two
somewhat different ways. The most SIM
pie method is to outline the figure-be it
nick or groove. Such as the primitive saw
age would most readily make by scratching
a bit of sharp flint on piece of horn, bone
or wood.
There is in existence some such drawing
or outline carving of a prehistoric and long
| extinct animal, viz, a mammoth. 1t is
striking thought to pause moment and
try to realize the mind of this human an
cestor of ours-thousands of years ago
who must have seen a living mammoth!
Having sketched or scratched the outline
of an object. two courses are open to US
we may cut away the part inside the out
line. and so get an ''intaglio' design such
as we have in ordinary seal for use
with sealing wax. Or we may cut away
the part outside our outline, and yet our
design is fat relief. The ordinary type
or wood block of the printer is familiar
instance of the kind of arrangement.
We have at this point reached the con-
Meeting stage between carving from the
fiat and carving in relief. So far our de-
sign l, in fiat relief-that is. has a fiat top,
the background being cut away. But sup
pose now we go stage further and round
off the edges--or other parts with view
to more closely following the roundness of
the natural object; then we get an example
of the early stage of carving as fine art.
Again we may cut away more and more of
our background and so increase the dis
tance between the most projecting part of
the object and the background. We may
in a word get a high a low degree of re-
lief. The relief on an ordinary coin is
case of low relief-or "basso relievo" as il
is often called. The carving of ordinary
furniture, or the gilt frame of mirror are
familiar examples of a relatively greater
degree of relief. Oak carving in many an
English parish church is in high relief, or
"alto relievo" But We may go on cutting
away the background more and more until
it only here and there touches and holds
| up the figures.and finally we may dispense
with the background altogether and arrive
at carving Sin the round" The poppy
head or bench end of the village church
will serve as familiar instance.
STRETCHING THE DESIGN
We may now add to our outline knowl-
edge of brief visit to the studio or work.
room of the wood carver and watch his
procedure. Let lis suppose the work is a
panel of door in moderate relief. Having
selected with due care a piece of wood as
free possible from knots and other
strong irregularities of grain IL is cut to
proper shape and size. He then fixes it
to the bench by means either Of clamps
holding it down from above or bench screws
which come up through the bench and
screw into the back of the panel. 1t is of
first Importance that the work be held
firmly. A slip may ruin a piece of fine
work. If the worker is also a draughts-
man, as he should be and generally is, he
then sketches with pencil his design on the
| wood. To make the pencil marks
show he may have to rub the
wood lightly with white chalk. II he
cannot draw or it is needful to very close
ly and accurately repeat certain design it
is transferred to the wood. First on trac-
ing paper is made pencil copy. CTransfer
paper is made by rubbing one side OF ordi-
nary thin, tough drawing paper with lamp
black and castor oil vaseline, made up