CUTTING SIMPLE LEAVES—CARVING WITH THE LEFT HAND—MODELLING OR ROUNDING—SHADED PATTERNS AND MODELLING—PROGRESS TOWARDS RELIEF.

It will be very much to the advantage of the pupil, so soon as he can cut confidently and correctly with the gouge or chisel, to practise with the left hand as well as the right. The younger he is the easier will it be to form this habit. A carving tool is sharpened from both sides because the edge, so made, enables the artist to cut from many positions without turning the wood, and when he can use both hands he has the same advantage to a greater degree. Try, therefore, to acquire a perfect command of the tools, so as to cut with both hands, and in many directions and ways, the greatest care being always taken, however, that you do not turn the point towards yourself, lest an unwary slip should produce a wound. When you can cut with confidence, and do not rely under any circumstance on splitting, digging, prizing up, “wriggling,” or rocking with the gouge to remove wood, then you can tell beforehand what you are about to do. To attain this skill you must frequently practise cutting on waste wood, and not spend all your time on perfectly finished work.

The pupil has been instructed in Lesson IV. how to cut out the ground from a flat panel, leaving the pattern in relief. Very beautiful patterns may be executed with very little finish; and a vast proportion of beautiful old Gothic wood-carving depended far more on outline than on modelling for its effect. Modelling is the rounding or shaping a pattern to give it form. Now leaves, in one shape or another, more or less natural, form a great proportion of all decorative design. When they are simplified from the original type, and made merely ornamental, yet still preserving so much of the original shape that we can plainly see what that type was, they are said to be “conventionalized.” It is, therefore, very important that the wood-carver should know how to carve leaves well. He has already learned how to make the simple outline or groove of one or many with a gouge, and how to remove the wood surrounding them. He may now go a step further and cut with great care the elementary pattern, Fig. 38. Use a flat gouge for gradually rounding and carving the surface, beginning with the outer or lower edge, and working up to the stem. The pupil will do this as well again, and with far greater confidence and ease, should he begin firstly by making a shaded copy of a leaf in pencil, then modelling it in clay, and then copying this in wood. The time thus spent will be gained in the end many times over by the skill and dexterity and eye-training acquired.

The first step in rounding a leaf is effected simply by “wasting” or chipping away little by little by straightforward cutting. This is the same for convexities and hollows. Such rounding and undulation is performed by skilled artists with very few tools, including gouges, skew-chisels, rasps, files, and the double-bent gouge.

The student may, in the beginning, round and scoop his leaves with any tools which seem fit, if he will only cut with the utmost caution, and keep the implements well sharpened. A very important and rather difficult part of this work is the cutting the ribs or stems which run through the leaf. One implement for this purpose is the so-called “macaroni tool,” but at present it is really very little used, owing to the great difficulty of keeping it sharp, and its liability to break. Nearly all veining can be executed with the fluter or large veiner, the hollow gouge, the V tool, or the flat gouge, according to circumstances.

“The wood,” as Eleanor Rowe remarks, “should be taken off in short, sharp touches, and not by deep and long cuts, and no attempt should be made to obtain a smooth surface until the form and general modelling of the leaf is done.” The edge of the leaf may be a little under-cut to give relief; this effect should be given by a V tool or small veiner. When the leaf is correct in form, proceed with flat gouges to remove the tool marks, holding the tool very firmly, and inclining it to an angle of about 45°.

It is advisable for the beginner to cut several simple leaves with great care, Fig. 39, and, if possible, let him draw, shade carefully, and model them all in clay before carving them. He will be astonished to find how much easier the latter process is, and with what confidence it can be carried out, after the two former have been executed. Having for several years had under my supervision large classes in wood-carving, both with and without modelling in clay, I speak from experience on this subject.

It is to be observed that, as leaves and sprays involve every possible curve, he who can design, model, and carve them well, will find no difficulty in executing birds, animals, or the human face or figure. In their simplest forms, or in flat work, these are all extremely easy. Then they may be a little rounded, or modelled, and so going on, step by step, the carver may come to full relief. Oak leaves are, perhaps, the most graceful of all objects, and lend themselves to as many forms as the acanthus, but they are also very difficult in their more advanced developments. Therefore they form an admirable subject for study.