A Nice Little Carving Xmas Gift for Friends

[Tim Balda]

Just a nice little gift I think.
Seems to have turned out ok.
Can't go wrong with any variation on the acanthus, really.

Basswood, reverse-stained chip carving.
Original pattern design. Copyright 2013
(please don't outright copy it)


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Hope they like it!

Comments and questions are always appreciated.

Take care of yourselves.

t

[Bruce Page]

Tim, that's very nice. How did you do the contrasting colors?

[Tim Balda]

Thanks.

The reverse staining is quite simple, albeit a bit tedious.

1. Put the pattern on the piece
2. Use a sanding sealer and cover the entire piece, pattern and all
3. Do the carving
4. Stain the carved area with a good quality gel stain so you can control exactly how much stain you use and where it goes.
5. After the stain dries, sand the piece to remove the sanding sealer, or at least smooth it down.
   Excess stain will come off. The foreground will remain unstained as it was protected by the sanding sealer and the carved area will be highlighted.
6. Then proceed with the final finish of your choice.

Staining basswood is no fun and usually produces a bad result even in the best of situations.
By staining only the carved portion, you get a good deal of control and the carving really stands out.

Here is a little study piece of basswood. It's only 6" long and is a little pallet knife.
You can see how staining the background really highlights things.

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Here are two spinning distaffs made from butternut.
Original pattern and design. Copyright 2013
(please don't outright copy them)
They are both about 14" tall and the carving has been reverse stained as well.

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I work mostly in butternut (white walnut.)
The reverse staining is really nice on the butternut.

The only difficulty is that the staining process will bring out any mistakes made in the carving.
It highlights those mistakes. That can be a problem.

But, if you are very careful and make sure the carving work is clean, then the reverse staining really makes it look nice.

Take Care,

t

[Bruce Page]

Thanks for the explanation. I’ve been experimenting with plain old latex wall paint followed with a clear coat. The latex doesn’t seem to penetrate the wood and works well if you are just looking for contrast.

[Tim Balda]

You are welcome.

Yeah, latex paint pretty much serves to gum up the works.
It covers the carving marks and doesn't look natural at all.
A good quality stain gives a much better net result.

Here are a couple of pics.
You can see the center carving is not stained.
The second pic is of the same piece after I stained the carved area.
Much nicer.


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Original designs Copyright 2013

Be good to yourselves.

t