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Just a Quickie !

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  • Just a Quickie !

    Met the clients over the weekend. While I was with them I put a piece of paper on the section where this will go and did a quick sketch, they liked it. Brought my "pattern" home,layed it on some 3/4 inch Spanish Cedar ,traced it and cut it out and roughed in one of the roses last night. Today I cut out the long sprays,,and carved the rest of the roses,leaves and the long sprays.A bit of touch up and it's done.

    After spending a couple of months on the trees,,this one evening and a day job,start to finish was a welcome relief.

    As I said the piece is in Spanish Cedar,,3/4 inch thick,,and the sprays are only 1/4 inch thick. It's in 3 pieces,42 inches wide. I had to keep it so thin because where this is going I was lucky to have this much wood to work in. Sure,,I would have loved to carve a bunch of roses like the bar panel,,but here it's just a very shallow relief. Still ,,I think it reads O.K. from the front,,the side kills it,,but it'll work fine where it's going.There's only so much you can do with so little wood especially if you need to show something that is more spherical in nature like a rose blossom.

    Now I'll just have to keep it around a few days till I call them to let them know it's done.They might just think I had one of these sitting on my shelf at the shop that matched the sketch I did.

    P.S..We've talked about composition before,,and when I came back to look at the post I noticed two triangles appearing. One occurs if you connect the centers of the Roses,,the second is the basic shape of the underlying leaves with the point at the top. So its really two overlapping triangle used in the way you would make a 6 pointed star,( that's a Jewish symbol,,and this is going in a Catholic Church ,,Hah!) anyway,,,I also included my beloved "S" lines in the long sprays. I think they're sorta' graceful looking. As long as they liked it I'm happy.But I thought it might be interesting to take notice .

  • #2
    Re: Just a Quickie !

    Nice work there, How do you carve the vines of the roses without breaking them to pieces? I also liked how you photographed the work.Thumbs Up

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    • #3
      Re: Just a Quickie !

      just a quickie ! well that title made me curious !! and wow, roses on so a flat board, and they look so very believable ! the last foto is very instructive, to see how you made the layeirng to give the effect. no undercutting really, you only slanted the sides of the petals sligthly inwards, if i see right. made wonderful depth. made amazing depth... yes, i so can imagine you glad to make for a change such a quick work after all those leave, i was missing your posts a litle, thought you take a break or so.glad to see you back sharing work.... thanks for sharing. i like a lot

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      • #4
        Re: Just a Quickie !

        Beautiful. Are the 3 pieces joined at the center rose section?

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        • #5
          Re: Just a Quickie !

          Another absolutely beautiful piece! I love seeing your work.

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          • #6
            Re: Just a Quickie !

            That's perty Mark! It looks much deeper than 3/4". Just curious..does that kind of cedar take details. I've been trying to detail red cedar with only marginal success

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            • #7
              Re: Just a Quickie !

              Mark .. Maybe a quickie for you .. but for me ! .. That would be a long one .. especially the years it would take me just to learn how to do it ..

              Beautiful Mark .. just beautiful ...

              You have got those leaves , roses , and vines down beautifully ..

              Gene

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              • #8
                Re: Just a Quickie !

                Wow. I wish I could do that at all, to say nothing of quickly. Oh well, maybe one day!

                mikeg
                Mike B

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                • #9
                  Re: Just a Quickie !

                  Mark, what a beautiful piece of carving! I love the simple design and yet so flowing and elegant. Well done.

                  Bob
                  Before they slip me over the standing part of the fore sheet, let them pipe: "Up Spirits" one more time.

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                  • #10
                    Re: Just a Quickie !

                    You did that in one day? That gorgeous piece???? I'm going home and eat some worms....Bonnie:

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                    • #11
                      Re: Just a Quickie !

                      Mark , that is a great job. don't know how you do it . thanks for sharing . Jim

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                      • #12
                        Re: Just a Quickie !

                        Excellent carving!! I would need a whole army of trained carpenter ants doing it for me, and still wouldn't do it in a day. Real nice. Skip

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                        • #13
                          Re: Just a Quickie !

                          Hello and thank you everyone! I'm sorry I couldn't reply sooner,,I was away all day till 11:00 P.M. So,,lets see if I can answer the questions. My brain is a bit foggy right now.

                          As far as speed goes,,I did cheat a bit,,I used a router to establish all the levels of the petals then carved them to completion,,,that saves time.

                          Elwood,,the Spanish Cedar isn't anything like conventional cedars. This stuff is soft,,yet holds great details,,carves much easier than Basswood. It acts almost like it's some kind of foam or something,,it's sort of strange,,but I love to carve it. That too is partly why the carving went so fast. Also ,,I think the reason it appears deeper is playing with how the petals and background interact,letting the piece go right to the base,,tilting the roses a bit to add depth,and using the full depth of the 3/4 inch board. Same for the 1/4 inch sprays off each side,,they go from paper thin,,to full thickness. Also I believe that using all the wood and making them move in such a way to take advantage of whatever depth you have and play off the shadows helps create the illusion of depth.

                          Joy,,yes,,the pieces are joined at the center cluster. What I did was make two slots or grooves under the leaves to accept the stems. The very end of the stems are just half round and they tuck under the leaves and appear as though the leaves are laying over them.Since I'm not installing them,,it makes for a good index for the guy who is,,and I don't have to worry about simple butt joints to hide the seam and leaving gaps. It basically interlocks.

                          And Doris,,you are absolutely correct. Very little ,if any undercutting was done on these,and they seem to read well from the comments. As I have said before undercuts do nothing to add to the illusion of depth. And where these will be,,undercuts would only compromise the integrity of the piece. I could have undercut the whole leaf or petal and that in itself would accomplish nothing,,it would add nothing to the appearance of depth. That's not where or how it's done.The illusion of depth is only dependent on utilizing layers and the full depth of the piece of wood,,not undercuts.Think about it,,if you view a piece from the front,you can't tell if a piece has straight sides,,slightly undercut or severe undercuts,,simply because you can't see them,,you only see layers and that alone gives the perception of depth. Again with my coin example,,there aren't any undercuts at all,,yet look at the depth that appears in only fractions of an inch! the levels,,and layers were handled well. A thick board isn't necessary for reliefs,you can do them in fairly thin pieces of wood. Remember,,the stems,leaves and buds are in 1/4 inch or less of wood.Then too,,a drawing is only in 2 dimensions,,yet in using shadows and perspective you can give the impression of 3 dimensions.In many cases severe undercuts are a waste of time and accomplish very little of what they were intended to do.

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                          • #14
                            Re: Just a Quickie !

                            The client came last night around 8:00 stayed till after midnight,,after much Espresso,Limoncello and wine on the deck! He was thrilled with them,,,now he thinks he wants me to paint them as well using a wash so the grain shows through.He also brought me a personalized and autographed copy of Lidia Bastianich's latest cook book,( she's on Foodnetwork and HGTV with a cooking show and 4 restaurants in N.Y.) as I had done some repairs on a small frame for her through him. Any more nights like that and the only thing I'll be painting is the town,,and it'll be RED.And I call this a job,,,,Ha,LOL..LOL This is too much fun to call it work.

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                            • #15
                              Re: Just a Quickie !

                              lol :-) ...ah thats why your head was so foggy...;-) ...lol :-)

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