Grinling Gibbons – Maine class 17

A swirling center is the inner part of a flower carved so it feels like it's rolling, swirling all around. Each petal goes right underneath its neighbor, and all of them run the same way around. Mine went counterclockwise, and early on I got one petal in the wrong position.

Have you ever opened the middle of a carved flower and then stood there, gouge in hand, with no idea what goes in? Did you leave a plain hollow and call it done? There is more than one good answer. In class 17 of the Maine course I picked the one Gibbons used.

This is the last new element I show on this panel, and after it the work is only cleaning up and making everything lighter.

What this class settles inside the flower

• An open center can hold a rose swirl, or baby petals that grow straight up.
• A small skew, number 1 at 6 mm (1/4 in), blends each new petal in under the one beside it.
• The number 16 V tool sets the separations, never in a straight line.
• Pick one direction and keep it.
• Petals get a bulge with a hollow on each side, then a wavy tip.
• A walnut background gives contrast to all of the excavated areas.

What goes in the middle of an open flower?

Either a swirl of layered petals or a cluster of small ones standing up. The first way is like a rose, layers on top of layers, almost like an onion, turning all around the middle. The second is a bunch of smaller central petals. You could call them baby petals. They are not developed yet, they do not swirl, they just grow straight up.

Both work, and it is up to you. I went with the swirl, because that is what Gibbons did on the original, and I put my iPad close by to see exactly how he did it. To be honest, I am not the biggest fan of that kind of swirling. I carved it anyway, to prove the point that there are different variations.

Do you have to draw the swirl first?

I skipped it on this flower. I grabbed a pencil and asked myself, should I do what Gibbons did, or something different? Then I decided I don't even have to draw it. Some separations were already started and had to change anyway, so I just went ahead with the V tool. The final form can wait at that stage, and so can the mess. We clean all of it later.

Which tool opens the separations?

My number 16 V tool, 35 degrees on the European chart. You have probably noticed already that from all my V tools, this is the one I use most. Go by a London chart and it's going to be absolutely different.

With the 16 I establish the separations first. For me it is really important not to carve a straight line, and I want it the same as what I've done everywhere else on this panel.

In my design course I talk about a law we call arabesque. Nothing is straight. There should not be any straight line, and everything is supposed to be connected to everything. Every movement has a swirl. I said there that arabesque is a law of swirls around, if you wish.

The first petal wraps around. I chip a little more off one side to give it mass, so it feels like it just wraps around. The next petal starts right in the middle of that first one, and part of it is going to be hidden behind.

How does one petal slip under the next?

With a skew, in a couple of strokes. Mine is a small one, a number 1 at 6 mm, a quarter inch. I use it to blend the new petal right underneath, right away.

I clean that spot off at once, because I don't want to see it there. It should feel like it just blends right in. And every petal still has to look like a petal, with the right shape of its own.

What does double layering mean on a flower?

A layer that sits below, and an inner layer. I wanted a darker spot on the opposite side, the way Gibbons has it on his original. I ran the number 16 almost all the way around, and then went right underneath the cut, so it becomes two layers.

Picture an onion husk. I am not sure I can explain it more clearly than that. When you see it on the video, you will know what I mean.

Which way should the petals turn?

All of them one way, and in my case the movement goes counterclockwise. Keep the whole movement in your head. As long as you hold the same direction, it is not a problem. On the inner part, I should say, it is so important.

And here is the honest part. One of my petals started out in the wrong position. It was supposed to go right underneath the one next to it, and it didn't. The skew went back in so it would blend right underneath. A few minutes later the direction gave me a problem, so I went in once more and brought the other petal underneath the line. One part I decided to leave alone. I should say I messed up at the beginning. The general rule for which way overlapping petals run is in class 8 of this course.

Does it look like an onion?

More like cabbage, to be honest. Onion is the word I used while I carved. I should say I'm somewhat happy about the overall movement.

Just before that I went to one more area to do the same idea as on those two. I exposed only like three of them there, and carefully, because this area is not that easy. That's okay. I'm going to attack that from the other side.

Should a petal be flat?

Not too flat, especially right in the center. The middle of each petal bulges, with a concave on either side of the bulge, and the whole shape runs toward the center of the flower. For the two concaves I used a number 8, though a number 9 does it too, about 1/8 of an inch (about 3 mm). Mine happens to be a Dockyard.

Those concave cuts do not go straight down. They twist from the middle of the petal toward the center of the flower, following the movement.

Don't spoon out. Start at the edge and spoon out, and you get the spooning effect I'm trying to avoid. So don't be afraid. Just excavate, in and in and in, one side, and then the second side exactly the same way.

I put it this way on the vase with grape leaves. Spooning effect, what I mean by that, some people, when they approach the edge, try to escape upward, which is not going to look good. It won't look natural.

To make the bulge smoother, take a number 5 or a number 4, use it upside down, and blend the bulge in nicer.

Why give the petal a wave?

Without a wave, a petal is boring. After the concaves, this one was a simple arch, and I don't want to see that. I want what I see on the bigger petals, some waviness. The end of the petal bulges out, and wherever I have a concave, I have cuts like that, so it's somewhat wavy. Same number 8 as before, and maybe upside down. It does not have to be Dockyard, and any brand will do.

Which tool does which job in the center?

Job	Tool	What you get
Separations	The 16, a 35 degree V	No straight lines
Tucking a petal under	Skew number 1, 6 mm (1/4 in)	Blends right in underneath
Inner ring	The 16 all around, then underneath the cut	Two layers, like husk
Two concaves	Number 8 or 9, about 3 mm (1/8 in)	A bulge twisting toward the middle
Smoothing	Number 5 or 4, turned upside down	Softer bulge

Does the panel still look like pancakes?

Less and less, the deeper I excavate. A friend of mine, a really good wood carver who carves human faces, was at the school, and he pointed it out. When you work in layers, you can detect the layering, one pancake on top of another. It applies to Gibbons himself. I looked at some of his work from the side, and especially on the earlier work you can see that pancake effect. It came up in class 11 as well.

The more you excavate, the more openings you create, and you almost lose that feel of layers. Between two petals near the center there is a hole all the way through to the first layer, and I have several spots like that on both flowers. Each of those makes a dark spot and a separation, and it gives the whole piece a little lightness. The carving is still solid. It is nowhere near paper thin. It just feels lighter and lighter when you look at it.

Most people are going to look at this piece straight on, and even at a slight angle it still looks good. If it looks a little bit like pancakes from the side, that is not a big deal.

Why is the background walnut?

For contrast. I decided on walnut for the background. Gibbons used English brown oak behind his carvings, and the walnut exaggerates all of those excavated areas. Even before cleaning, I think it looks great. What Gibbons carved on, and why, is its own lesson in class 10.

Why is one flower different from the original?

We chose another form for it during the class in Maine. This flower looks absolutely different on the original, and we made the decision to carve a different form of flower, which I call a Venetian style flower. The same kind turns up in another course of mine, Venetian flowers.

It was really common to the Venetian style of art, in wood carving and also in stone carving and some fine art. It is somewhat simple, but you can play with those flowers and give them a lot of waves and a lot of movement.

Why not carve both flowers the same?

I did not want them exactly the same. A couple of areas were still waiting for me, part of those flowers among them, so I'm going to bring in some variation. One spot near the parsley leaves was underdeveloped too. I had not decided yet what goes there. You can fill a place like that with smaller flowers, the kind I already showed you how to carve. There is plenty of thickness left to work with.

What about the little flowers in between?

Filler flowers, and I took mine one step further than he did. Gibbons made his simply, with a plug cut inside a small flower and five petals, and that was it. I think he was being a businessman there. He wanted to get paid and still fill the space.

I examined multiple pieces done by Gibbons, and you can check that yourself. He used those filler flowers everywhere, especially on the first layer, right under the second. Mine took a little longer to make. How the empty ground gets carried by small flowers is the subject of class 2.

What is left after class 17?

Cleaning, and more excavation. I will finish the piece and show you the final, but there is nothing new to show after this point. From now on it only takes making it lighter, excavating more, and taking everything to the extreme, which I do not want to show on camera.

Is this class too advanced for a beginner?

More advanced, yes, but you are welcome. In this class I am not going to talk to you like a beginner. Some of the people who took this class in person in Maine had pretty much never carved, and they pulled really good results. If that sounds like you, every class is open with tuition.

Where does class 17 sit in the course?

Class 16 comes right before it, with class 15 before that. Next comes class 18, and then the final assessment. The last flower, on the other side, will be more simple, most likely five petals like the Venetian ones or the filler flowers, only on a bigger scale.

For more flowers there is my Hashemi flowers course, and the whole design course is there for the laws behind the lines. For the edges there is sharpening, and the tools course covers the tools themselves.

The whole Grinling Gibbons course is part of that tuition. Did I break some of it? Yeah, I did. I won't show you, but that is why we have glue.

Shall we carve?