Relief Wood Carving

steve kelly

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I thought I would try another relief carving....I did one similar to this a while back....I kind of stayed to the same theme. P1120833.jpg
 
Nice work Steve! Glad to see what you've been up to.

I think I'd have lost it doing those raised letters, the risk of breaking one would have made me a nervous wreck :). Looks like they all survived nicely though, you have a world of patience.

Love the figure, the depth is really great. The slightly doubled feet are a really nice touch and give a nice feeling of the back leg without being pushy about it. Overall the layering and definition between parts is really really nice.
 
Hi Ryan...This one was a little easier to carve then the last one I did, instead of hard wood maple I used poplar wood....I still like maple better because when I was carving on this plaque, the board warped a little.....I've never had that trouble with maple...The board was an inch thick and I carved 7/8" into to it...That could have caused it....Or maybe this piece of wood was a little closer to the center of the tree and that caused it?...I really don't know?...I've heard that you could put a moist towel on the wood and iron it out but I not sure which side that would work on [Concave or convex?]. The only side I could do that now on would be the back side of the curve which is a convex curve but I wouldn't want to try it unless I knew....Maybe I could put several coats of polyurethane on the back side....Do you think that-that would work?...I'm not sure but I could try it.....Thanks for the kind words...I appreciate it!!!:thumb:
 
That is great. Not only a fine carving and touching saying but it affected me personally. My daughter is a ballet dancer. You created a family treasure. Actually two. Daughter and the carving. :thumb:
 
Frank, It sounds like this is something that you would love to have so If you can give me your address I'll send the plaque to you...you can have it as a gift.
 
Hi Ryan...This one was a little easier to carve then the last one I did, instead of hard wood maple I used poplar wood....

It looks like it took detail nicely :thumb:

I still like maple better because when I was carving on this plaque, the board warped a little.....I've never had that trouble with maple...The board was an inch thick and I carved 7/8" into to it...That could have caused it....Or maybe this piece of wood was a little closer to the center of the tree and that caused it?...I really don't know?...I've heard that you could put a moist towel on the wood and iron it out but I not sure which side that would work on [Concave or convex?]. The only side I could do that now on would be the back side of the curve which is a convex curve but I wouldn't want to try it unless I knew....Maybe I could put several coats of polyurethane on the back side....Do you think that-that would work?...I'm not sure but I could try it.....Thanks for the kind words...I appreciate it!!!:thumb:

The steam would have to go onto the concave side:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLHlEwC74pM1

Basically the idea is that you're swelling the "shrunken" side and often the wood stays put to some degree once that's happened.

I would be cautious with that approach here though as there is always the possibility of cracking afterwards as the wood re-adjusts because the steaming moves it pretty fast and you'll likely get some fuzzing.

A somewhat more conservative approach would be to try to more gently re-hydrate the front side; lay face down on a very very slightly dampened towel (maybe put another dry towel in the middle to avoid surface moisture) and monitor closely. Once its just past flat then seal it all up and hope for the best :)

Sealing the wood slows moisture movement so you can see the wood shift in either direction depending on the difference in humidity (if its adding moisture the wood will swell on the open side, otherwise it will shrink). Most often wood is still loosing moisture so it will shrink over time on the open side..

I would guess its shrinking on the front more mostly because there is more exposed end grain (which transfers moisture more efficiently) on that side due to the carving opening it up.

I'm not sure how you'd prevent it from doing this while carving in general? Maybe store it with a very slightly damp towel covering the front when not actively working on it? Not sure...
 
Ryan, thanks for the info....It's funny...now that I have finished it and now 2 days later it's not as bad....It's flattened out a little...instead of messing with moisture I think I'll try putting about three or four coats of polyurethane on the back side and see how that works.....I do appreciate your help.
 
Ryan, thanks for the info....It's funny...now that I have finished it and now 2 days later it's not as bad....It's flattened out a little...instead of messing with moisture I think I'll try putting about three or four coats of polyurethane on the back side and see how that works.....I do appreciate your help.

Yeah it might have started to reach equilibrium and is re-flattening itself.

There's some old saying about "when in doubt wait it out" :D
 
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