Carving Grape Onlay 6

Pierced work carved out of one board, as on this grape panel, is a thin vine freed from the same wood as the leaf under it, so it stays connected to that leaf in more than one spot. That is how I carve it. In lesson 6, while I was undercutting, I said some of the spots connect to the leaf, multiple spots actually, and otherwise it would be easier just to carve that separately and glue it on.

I'm going to be honest with you. Mine stays joined on purpose. And there is a second reason, a simpler one. I wanted to push myself, to see if I could pull a carving that thin out of a solid piece, up in the really high areas, which is not that easy to do.

You will see where I stopped roughing, how the plug cuts went in, and how thin the vine got. And you'll hear where I do carve parts separately. I have. They look beautiful.

Six things I did to carve pierced work on this panel

• I kept several spots of the vine connected to the leaf, on purpose.
• Roughing stopped 3 mm (1/8 in) from my outline, with a 10 mm (3/8 inch) number 11.
• A wall of about 3/8 in (10 mm) stayed, so a finger fits underneath.
• When grapes blocked one side, I went in a little, cleaned back, opened it wider and kept drilling.
• I don't lever on the carving or press hard, and the tools stay super sharp so they do the work.
• Its final width is near 1/16 in (1.5 mm).

Why keep the vine joined to the leaf?

It does not have to float completely, even on this piece. Several spots connect to the leaf itself, multiple spots, and I keep them while I undercut everything around them.

When the lesson started I showed the part I worked on last time. It's kind of complex, I know. I took my phone and flew around it so you could see it closer. It is not a hundred percent done, and I still want it a little thinner, but you can say it's full 3D.

One rule from before still holds. Whenever you see an eye, you have to have a raised part. Even in areas like that one, I still have that convex. Look at how it twists.

When does gluing a carved piece on make sense?

I've done it, and it can. In the Hashemi Flowers course I named three ways to make the second layer of flowers. One is to carve it all from a single block. The second is to carve all the leafage and all the flowers separately and then apply them.

It actually looks beautiful when you take one flower, carve it, and then apply it. I said that was done in the 18th and 19th century too, on carvings you can find in some really beautiful palaces.

In the first Hashemi lesson I gave the other side. You could take a solid piece and dig everything out of it, but there's going to be a lot of waste, and some areas you're not able to even get to. That's impossible.

On the furniture panel I said they've done it other ways also. They would take a flat panel, glue on layers, and work on whatever they glued. But we want to make sure we carve it.

In lesson 8 I said I can excavate an undercut to the extreme, until it looks like it's glued together, when it's a solid piece.

A glued repair is another story. By the start of lesson 7, a section of this panel had broken and I lost it. I glued in a new piece with hide glue and carved it again. It matches really well. But you can probably still find a couple of spots. Lesson 3 asks why a part breaks when you carve the second side.

Where do you stop roughing out?

About an eighth of an inch from my outline, which is 3 mm. I chopped with the 10 mm number 11, and I came from outside inward, because of the way the grain runs there.

First I reached for a 6 mm number 11, or I thought I did. Wrong tool. I'm sorry, I said, and went for the right one.

The plan for this area had three leaves. There is this leaf, then part of another one sticking out, and a third on a lower level that lays on top of a leaf. I had plenty of material here, about seven eighths of an inch (22 mm) from the background. One leaf stays somewhat low because I really want this bunch of grapes more 3D.

Depth had a goal too. I left about three eighths of an inch of wall, and I went pretty deep, so you can stick a finger underneath. That's the goal. Be careful, though, because those parts are really fragile.

On the left I did not touch the leaf yet, because I don't know what shape it gets, so for now I leave a wall. I also left about 10 mm of material for a future leaf, so it can still get some curvature.

What is a plug cut, and why use one here?

A plug cut is your tool placed really straight down, about 90 degrees to the surface, and then you start drilling inside. I call that a plug cut.

On this vine I started around it with the number 11 and then said, I probably should use number nine. So I took a 10 mm number 9 gouge, did a plug cut on this side, and went about the same depth on the other.

In part two I almost skipped one. I could probably do a small plug cut, but I was kind of afraid it would be fragile on the sides. A moment later it seemed okay to get the plug cut first and go straight down to it. You're pretty much drilling, and you're removing the plugs.

After the plug cuts on this vine came a smaller number 11, 4 mm (about 5/32 in). Those tools are just my favorite tools. I went around on both sides, across the grain, down to the same level as the part beside it.

Should you draw the vine before you carve it?

I did. The movements were drawn when the lesson started, and I took a marker so you could see them better. My starting point is somewhere high, from underneath the main movement. And I said, I have no idea what it's going to do, but I have to draw it just to get some logic of it.

So it goes down, underneath this line, continues on the other side, and goes underneath the same movement again. Right there it goes up, up, up, and ends down somehow.

Why all that movement? I would like to make this one close to life, because in real life you do see those movements on a grapevine, maybe a little different. In my honest opinion it does not overwhelm. You still see the leaf, and you still see all those grapes.

With the drawing done I took a number 11 of 2 mm. It's antique, and I really love that one. It got me much closer to the outline, but I did not want to go the whole way yet.

There I could switch between 2, 2.5 and 4 mm. Or I could take a number 7 of about 3 mm, a little bigger than 1/8 inch. Mine is antique too, and I chopped straight down to the outline with it.

How wide should the vine stay while you work?

Wider than it ends. I drew the vine about 1/8 inch wide, and it ends near a sixteenth, a millimeter and a half. For now I left it near 3 mm, because I don't want it too fragile at the beginning.

For the edge I took a number 4 gouge, an Ashley Iles, one of my favorite brands, and went straight down pretty much close to the line.

Then the vine has to drop. I dropped about a quarter of an inch, about 6 mm, between one point and the next, so the wood beside it has to go about the same depth. I want a gradual motion, though, downhill. The movement goes right on top, then flips on its own and goes right underneath.

The spot where the vine lays right on top of the leaf is my connection point, and that gives me the true 3D motion.

Early in part two I cleaned up using my number 7. Oh, I've got so much junk. The refinements began with a number 1 double-sided chisel, a Peter Benson tool from the Ashley Iles line. It's supposed to be 6 mm, but it's slightly less, about 5 mm, close to a quarter of an inch.

I also don't want to see any straight lines. To get a curve I took a 14 mm number 7, a little bigger than half an inch, and went straight down. That gives a really good curl. Then my big number 1 skew chisel blended it in 3D.

Can a small gouge drill through the wood?

It can, and that was my second approach. The first is cutting away from two sides, which is one of the best approaches. But don't push it. Do not push it.

The second approach is a small tool that you pretty much drill with, all the way. It's kind of dangerous. I switched to a smaller one, a number 9 that is supposed to be 1 mm but looks a little bigger, and I got through.

Before I drilled through, I had to decide how much of this vine goes airborne, scrolled like the part I did before. That one is airborne almost everywhere, even in the small spots.

That was a Dockyard. Dockyard is just a brand, by the way, and I've said that so many times.

Then came the blending underneath, first this side, then the other. I used a number 3 spoon gouge, 3 mm (1/8 in), a really beautiful tool, a really small, tiny spoon.

What if you can only reach from one side?

Then you drill in stages. Behind the grapes, this area is more challenging than the last one, because there's the bunch on this side and a really high leaf. It's challenging to get to, but it's not impossible.

I was wiggling there because I couldn't push, and there's just no way to make a normal pass. A little later I was through, and you could see that.

Right then I didn't see enough light and shadow under it, so I continued my undercut using a number 11 of 2 mm, the flute at about two thirty. Dropping one side a little lower would give a better shadow, I said.

Once I could see some light in it, I grabbed a smaller one, a number 9 of 1.2 mm (about 3/64 in). Later in part three I used it on a spot I could not attack from two sides. It had to be from one side, and it's not that easy.

I went in a little, cleaned slightly back to my last pass, made the space a little wider, and continued drilling.

Logically I should attack from the opposite side, but the grapes are in my way. I took a 3 mm number 9 or 8 instead for a few stabs straight down, went back to the small tool, and did a little more drilling.

How do you keep a thin vine from breaking?

Three things, all said in part three. Try not to use the carving as a leverage point. Don't create a lot of pressure. And make sure your tools are super sharp, so you let the tool do the work. That's what the sharpening course is for.

I know the weak spots on this vine. In one place I could see a part was kind of weak. I said it's absolutely okay. I can blend it and make it look really nice.

If the gouge numbers here are new to you, start with the tools course.

When is the vine thin enough?

When it's near a sixteenth of an inch and I'm happy with it. I'd probably finish the last of it off camera, I said, because I needed to get closer. I showed how, though. With the side of my number 11 veiner, I go closer and closer and closer until I'm happy.

Next I have to check from all of the sides how it really flows together. I could see one place where maybe I should drop a side slightly, so it really ties together.

Is pierced work for beginners?

No, and I said so in part two, plain: this is not the beginner stuff, and you don't have to do it if you don't feel comfortable. But I think it gives you an extra level, if you wish to call it that way. So challenge yourself.

At the end of the lesson I said it again. It is more advanced, I know. I kind of love that, because it's not the basic stuff. Take a look. It's not overwhelming. But that is just my opinion.

The whole panel is basswood, as always, which is lime wood in Europe, as I said in lesson 1. The grapes are pretty much just a shape right now, and later in the grape onlay course we still work on them.

Wikipedia's page on relief says the carved pieces stay attached to a solid background of the same material. Its page on openwork describes holes and gaps made through a solid material. This panel has both, in one board. If you'd rather start with flat work first, there is the beginner course.

All three videos of this lesson are inside the school.

Shall we carve?