Woodcarving – weekend workshop

About this course

A simple introduction to carving wood using hand tools to create a leaf from native Lime wood.

The course runs over 2 weekends 22nd & 23rd March, 29th , 30th March

Saturday 10.30 - 1.30pm

Sunday 10.30 - 1.30pm

Full course length 12hrs

Wood is a wonderful natural material which rewards us in so many ways as we learn how to work with it. This course will introduce you to the tools and techniques that will enable you to carve wood and develop your skills as an artist.

Choosing a subject
The choice of a leaf as a subject is incidental, but it’s simplicity means that we are focused on the things which are important. That is, how we work with the wood and not against it, understanding shapes in three dimensions and how tools which have evolved over centuries can help us.

What you will learn

Day 1

Finding out about wood. Characteristics of different species, why Lime wood is particularly well suited to carving and where we can get it from.
Learning about tools. Carving tools are made in an extraordinary variety of shapes and sizes, we will experiment to find out which will help us most to make our leaf. It is boring but true that a blunt carving tool is useless and dangerous. We will find out how to sharpen gouges and chisels and keep them razor sharp and you will experiemnt with using the tools.

Day 2
Drawing the design. Working from a selection of pre prepepared templates and ref supplied , the leaf outline is transferred to the wood block.

Begin carving by establishing an ouline use a small straight chisel and a carving mallet.

Next step is to start taking out the background, cutting back horizontally to your outline with a shallow gouge.
At this stage you will be starting to understand the importance of holding your carving really firmly with a clamp or in a vice while you work.

Day 3

Carving the leaf. Identify the biggest shapes that describe the contours of the leaf . As you start to cut into the surface of the leaf you will begin to lose the lines which you drew as a guide. Check your original reference now and then to keep your eye refreshed
Keep your tools well honed, if it feels like hard work as you carve it means that they are getting dull.
Start to experiment with undercutting. Keeping an eye on your original outline cut back a little to begin to show the underneath of the leaf.

Day 4
You have described the outline of the leaf and the shapes which define it in three dimensions. You have used undercutting to suggest its’ delicacy. Now it is time to refine your hard work. Make sure your tools are really sharp and begin to carve the details. For example, how do the tiny contours made by the leaf veins contribute to and help to define the big shapes.

Conclusion.

I hope you will see this introduction to carving wood as the start of something much bigger. There are so many ways that you might build on the experience you have gained.You might want to emulate the sophistication of the great carvers of the Baroque, or head off into the woods with a carving axe and a knife. Perhaps your ambition is to be a studio based sculptor. The basic skills you have learned will be a great foundation.

What do I need to bring?

All materials and tools to compleate the workshop will be supplied .