I've posted a photo of a cluster of grapes I tried for the first time. It's practice for a worship table we'll be making later on. The front panel will have a relief carving in it. Most of the table will be made from a maple tree that had to be removed to place an addition on the mission where my wife and I work. We wanted to have something from the tree placed in the mission as there is a lot of memories attached to the tree - it had been there for about 125 years - but was dying. The maple has some curl to it, so it won't carve really easily, but I've mess around with some of the smaller chunks and it seems workable. The center panel for the carving will be about 16 inches wide by 22 inches tall - totally flexible at this point (still in the design stage!)
The first scan is a sketch I made and Mark Yundt was kind enough to point out that the triangle shape wasn't going to look right in the taller rectangle of the panel. I took his recommendations to paper and came up with the second scan. Of course, the dove can be positioned higher to give a more filling effect. To make sure I could carve some semblance of a chalice, wheat head and loaf of bread - the grapes worked out ok - I glued together three slabs of basswood and went at it. The third scan is literally a scan of the carving. It's about 6 by 6 inches and the relief is about 1/2 inch total.
My questions are :
How well does the second sketch flow design wise? Does the layout of the elements draw your eye toward the proper elements?
What areas of the sketch do you see causing problems in carving that can be changed to make things simpler without sacrificing the flow of the design?
What form should a loaf of bread have so it is readily apparent that it's a loaf of bread?
Now, as to answers ... I need straight answers and criticism, because this should look as 'alive' as possible. I really don't want to produce a carving that look unnatural and lifeless.
With so many excellent carvers on this forum, you all should be able to set me straight!
Thanks for any and all input.