Grinling Gibbons – Maine class 16

Tiny dark spots are what give a carving its complex look. An opening between two shapes, a petal from a hidden flower showing from underneath, a concave that throws its own shadow. When a stem showed up under one flower on this panel, I said people are going to ask, how in the world did you do that?

Have you seen the shadow a leaf throws on a sunny day? Is it darkest right under its edge? So in this class I went after spots like that in the wood, and at the very start I said it plainly, we're going to open up.

Class 16 of the Maine course works on one part of the Gibbons original that I cannot even name. But I like one thing about it very much, and that thing is the opening.

Dark spots, concaves and five tools

• Openings, undercuts and concaves made the shadows on this panel.
• Small openings make the complex look.
• A concave casts a shadow, so add concaves where you want one.
• Part of a hidden petal can peek out from under a leaf, even where the original has none.
• Almost no pressure.
• Five tools on the bench at most, a rule I broke in this very class.

What is that shape in the original?

I have no idea what it even is. What I can see on the original is the opening, and it creates a lot of dark spots. Beautiful, in my opinion.

So we open it up the same way, maybe a slightly better version. I don't know, I said, we'll see. First I drew it, because it has to flow nicely with the overall design. One line had to become more of an arch, and I still needed space between two of the shapes. Before the opening, I wanted to excavate some of the wood on the side that I was also going to open up. Simple, but still kind of tricky, because of how fragile this part is.

Why is wood carving all about shadows?

I said it on camera while digging one of these spots, as you know, wood carving is all about shadows. On this relief panel the dark came from openings taken right through, from undercuts, and from concaves. Later, looking at the whole piece, I said it creates an extra complex look.

Where did the first dark spot come from?

One stroke under a line. I took a number 16, an eighth of an inch (3 mm), and made a preliminary cut right under the line, with the flute almost in an undercutting position, about ten or eleven o'clock, until I reached the first layer.

Then I outlined the flower that will sit there and removed the excess right away. And look, it opens up and makes an extra dark spot. Those openings, those tiny small dark spots, give it the complex look. And obviously I had to undercut right away wherever the flower was going to go.

What is a bite cut?

A name I made up on camera. With the same V tool turned upside down, I took small bites out of the wood, one at a time, like you are biting. I called it a bite cut.

I was pretty much working from the wrong position, and that was okay. The number 11, which I really love, would do it too, but I had this tool in my hand. Don't listen to me about the name. There is no such cut as a bite cut. On the other hand, who is going to stop me from inventing new names?

That opening between the two shapes, I really like it. I wasn't happy with the overall shape yet, but at least it gave me an idea of what I can do with it.

Later, on the hidden petal, I said why I make those bites, and first of all it's really uncomfortable to get my tool in. It's kind of challenging, but we love challenges, well, I should say I love challenges.

How far can an undercut go?

To the extreme, if you are careful. One spot I really wanted to see, a dark spot, a shadow spot. I dug with a one millimeter (about 1/32 in) number 11 until I reached the limit of that tool, and then I tried a number 11 of half a millimeter to keep going.

Then the number 1, a double bevel chisel. Because it's so thin, I said, I could make my cut all the way through, then clean it with the 11. I kept switching between those two tools, the 1 and the 11. That is extreme undercutting. There was no good spot for the camera, and I apologized for covering it. Sometimes I catch it too late.

Positioning the tool, I lean it to the right for one cut and to the left for the next, right, left, right, left. That gets through the fibers with really tiny cuts and leaves a sharp point. After that a number 5, upside down, took out a little more for a deeper shadow, because of the dome. But I don't want to overdo it, I said, which is always a possibility.

What do you leave for later?

Anything that would open up too much from above. There was a bulge there, and I said I don't know what that is, but we have to do something with it. I can't remove it, because that would be too much opening. Something has to happen there. For now, I leave it.

The same with the place where two parts connect. That area needs real care, so I stayed away from it for now.

What do you do with a curl you did not plan?

Keep it and make it better. One part had a small natural curl, just curling up. I do not remember if we did that on purpose in the class in person. I like how it looks, so I brought everything into that point and undercut under it with a chisel, almost paper thin.

When the tool feels a little too big there, grab a smaller one, I said. A smaller number 1 would be really nice, a plain chisel or a scoop chisel. A big chunk I didn't need had to go next, and I started on it really carefully, little by little.

Then a number 9 gouge, first an eighth of an inch and then a quarter (3 mm, then 6 mm), carved the curl nicer. And yes, I was carving uphill, which is not in my favor. But if the tool is sharp, I should be okay. By making that curl, I said, you don't see it now, but it's going to give me extra shadow.

Here is a small tip. Every concave you carve casts a beautiful shadow. If you want shadow somewhere in your design, create a concave there, or some concave texture.

Even then I was not too happy about the overall shape. It did not look bad. It was not perfect either, and it was a little too straight. So I gave it a little more exaggeration, and some movement from one side too, with the same number 9, to get more flow. The only position to attack from there was against the grain and uphill, which you cannot see on the camera. I still had some material, so I dropped that part a little more.

Can you show a flower that is not there?

You can show part of one. One area looked too solid to me. I decided that a petal of the flower on the left goes right underneath the leaf, and I exposed part of that petal from the other side. I drew it a little bigger, so the piece next to it lies right on top of it.

On the original you do not see that. I know. I am just having fun. Why not? If I break it, so what? At least I push it a little more, in my opinion. I still had to be really careful how I came at it.

Little bites again with the 16 upside down, and there it was, the first layer. You probably do not see it on the video, but there is a little thing down there, the same stem that runs from under this flower and comes out on the other side. People are going to say, how in the world did you do that? I didn't want to cut through and lose it, I said.

A straight down cut with the number 1 made that opening much bigger, right through, and an even darker spot. I love how it looks. The inner part you cannot see on camera, so you have to just believe me.

How does the petal grow out from underneath?

Undercut beneath its line. The petal has to stick out from underneath, so I took the number 16 again, first with the flute at about one o'clock, then rotating it to two, and then from the other side at about three.

After that the flat number 1, double sided, took off the extra material, because the idea is that the petal grows down and blends really nicely into the first layer. I do not want it to look like pancaking. Look how this part now casts a shadow on the petal, and overall it looks beautiful, in my opinion of course.

How do you carve that without breaking it?

Without any force. For the petal I worked a small number 9, 3 mm (1/8 in), from different angles, watching the grain direction. Some of you are probably watching and thinking, he is going to break it. Maybe yes, maybe no. I am not creating any force, almost no pressure, and it gets more difficult, that is for sure.

For the next undercut I took a really small back bent, two millimeters (about 5/64 in). I've got multiple back bents, and this one is so tiny I can get right in there and bring everything to the edge. Don't worry that it moves, I said. I'm going to put some kind of glue in it.

With back bents I can take an edge to the extreme from both sides and make it really thin. I can work the edge and do all my undercuts right there. Some of that happens off camera. Back in class 11, I turned a back bent upside down to get inside a flower.

Which move gives which effect?

Move	Tool	Effect
First line	The small 16, flute near ten o'clock	An extra dark spot appears
Bite cuts	The same 16 upside down, in very small bites	The tool gets in where it's uncomfortable
Extreme undercut	A thin number 1 and a one millimeter 11	A sharp point and a dark spot
Carving the curl	Number 9, small and then wider	Extra shadow from the concave
Hidden petal	The 16 again, then the number 1 going straight down	The first layer shows through

How many tools belong on the bench?

Five at most. I have said it many times before. And in this class I could not find my number 16, because it just happened that I did not follow my own rule. Which tools make your five is a bigger question, and we have a whole course all about tools for wood carving.

Does it still look like pancakes?

For now it does. I dropped one petal all the way to the first layer, and that already gives the feel that it is one layer. I know it looks like pancakes, I said on camera, but that's okay. We'll blend it, and it won't look like a pancake.

I'm going to do exactly the same on all the rest of the petals, and undercut there too, more like a shadow casting. Making two glued layers read as one is what class 9 is about.

What about the spot that bugs you?

Make a small flower of it. One area bugged me, and I did not want to remove it, because that would open too much. It's going to be too many dark spots, I said. So I made a small flower, like the one next to it, only smaller.

A one millimeter number 8 made a plug cut. Looks like I don't have too much material, I said, because I could see the darker color, already the other side of it, so I had to move up. The 16 established the separation between the future petals. With the number 1, double sided, I removed the channel on one side little by little until it was separate. You could use a skew to do the same job. I'm okay with it separated completely, I said, and I did not even need to glue it. It's fragile and it moves, but it's all right.

Next I rounded it into a barrel look. I could have left it like that and called it a day. Or take it to the extreme and make it look really nice, which is what I wanted. Blending the right side, I worked against the grain, because there was no other position to attack from. The leaf on the left and the flower on the right are completely separated now, with a dark spot between them.

Then a second separation, so one petal lies on top of the next. I used just the number 1 for that, because it is really thin and I knew I was not going to destroy that piece. Look how nicely it sits on the darker background. Awesome.

Inside, the same small number 8 made a tiny plug cut, uphill and against the fibers, without pressing too much, and then small concave cuts went toward it. I really do not like to wiggle, but sometimes it helps. And on the opposite side I opened one more small hole with a tool of less than one millimeter. It's not really comfortable.

The last touch was a really tiny skew for the part inside. I cannot put the camera underneath that one, so you will see the result later.

Where does this class sit?

Right after class 15, and class 17 comes next. Class 13 is where small detailing tools freed a thin stem and widened a dark spot. When you run out of wood under a flower, the way I did here, look at class 12. And carving techniques have a separate course of their own.

Every class of the Grinling Gibbons course is open with tuition. At the end of this one I flew my phone around the piece so you could see the stem under the flower. Let me know if you like how it is developing. I really appreciate the feedback.

Shall we carve?