Acanthus leaves..... the old stand by.

[Mark Yundt]

Once everything is in place, carved etc. start with the sanding. As you work your way around the piece and sanding reveals some glitch,just break out the chisels, address the area and continue. You'll end up with a decent looking piece.

[Derek Cox]

Hey Mark,
Let me echo the sentiment of others here. I find your instruction very easy to understand and I have gained many insights by reading your posts. Thanks for the time you take to share your knowledge.

Warm regards

Derek

[Ryan Mooney]

I'm thinking this should be a sticky, this is one of the better tutorials on acanthus carving I've seen.

I found it curious that you pretty much finished the first piece before starting the second. Perhaps it says a fair bit about your skill level but I'd be tempted to do both in parallel or I'm sure they'd end up pretty far off from being similar.

[Mark Yundt]

I'm thinking this should be a sticky, this is one of the better tutorials on acanthus carving I've seen.

I found it curious that you pretty much finished the first piece before starting the second. Perhaps it says a fair bit about your skill level but I'd be tempted to do both in parallel or I'm sure they'd end up pretty far off from being similar.

thanks Ryan,
i will always finish one before starting the second. Doing this allows me to work out all the details and what I want the piece to look like and solve any issues along the way.
This gives me a completed piece to follow. If you were to try and carve both at the same time you'd start carving one and make some cuts. Then go to the other and reverse the image and make those cuts . Then continue this process. Now what would you have to do if something isn't looking quite right? Go back and recarve two of them to correct the mistake.
I'd rather complete one, have it resolved and looking good then just copy it as I have a complete example.
Besides with reversed pieces you aren't making the same cuts are you?
I've done this long enough that I have little problem reversing images in my head.But a handy trick if it gives you difficulty is to simply place the completed carving in front of a mirror and looking at the reflection will show you the exact form you are now trying to carve. It's so much easier to just copy something that is already done. Hence, finish one first and make your life much easier.
The mirror trick came in handy when I carve statues. Especially the ears. I'll carve for example the left ear. Now I want to carve the right. I can keep going back and forth and reverse the
image and try to carve it. But this is tedious and time consuming. So I just prop up a mirror and the left ear image turns into the exact picture of the right ear I'm carving. Easy. It's done . Just carve what you see.
not that anyone sees both left and right at the same time. But it's worth it just to make life easier. Why keep reinventing the wheel when it's already done. Same reason for not trying to carve two at the same
time.
As well as eliminating the need to either have both carvings set up at the same time or having to swap carvings repeatedly in the vise .

[Ryan Mooney]

Besides with reversed pieces you aren't making the same cuts are you?

Hadn't really thought about it in that context; makes a lot of sense.

But a handy trick if it gives you difficulty is to simply place the completed carving in front of a mirror and looking at the reflection will show you the exact form you are now trying to carve.

The mirror trick came in handy when I carve statues. Especially the ears. I'll carve for example the left ear. Now I want to carve the right. I can keep going back and forth and reverse the image and try to carve it. But this is tedious and time consuming. So I just prop up a mirror and the left ear image turns into the exact picture of the right ear I'm carving. Easy. It's done . Just carve what you see.

That's a really great idea! Especially with something like facial details where some small variation makes it more "real" this would be great. I'm still working on that "what you see" part.. we'll see how far that goes

Thanks again for taking the time for the detailed explanations.

[Mark Yundt]

No problem. Now that they are both done I'll post some shots . You'll see the mirror trick and a simple way to transfer some measurements.
Always have reference material at hand of something specific you want to carve. Even though you have seen faces your entire life doesn't mean you can sit down and carve one. That's a mistake for sure. Even a painter has a model or sets up a still life to do a painting yet at many sites guys wonder why they are having difficulty carving, and they aren't using any reference material. A mirror can be helpful when carving a face but does it give you a side view to see just how far out the nose is compared to the cheeks? The mouth to the chin? A top view to see just how round the forehead is to the cheeks or how quickly the cheeks sweep back to the jaw and ears? Knowing that ahead of time lets you not try to think your way through a carving. It removes your need to think and just carve relationships between things.

That makes you have to think instead of just "see" what you are about to carve. Thinking gets in the way and just confuses things instead of just carving. When carving it's a matter of putting things in relation to each other. " I see this area is lower than that "
so grab a chisel and make it lower.
If you stop thinking " I'm carving a nose" and just see it as essentially a triangular tapering ramp with two ball looking shapes on each side , well you carve that basic shape and when you do that have the bulk of the work done and you just put in the details. Carve the form first.
Bernini's assistants would be upset when he'd rough in a carving and then leave it to them to put in the details. He did the most important part.

Realize this, a copy machine doesn't need to think. It merely copies what it sees. And does it perfectly. I know this kills any perceived notion of the romance of carving but that's how it happens. But most people because of how we need to use our thinking powers for most of what we do on a daily basis to solve our problems turn to this faculty to think their way through carving.
Carving(art) is a right brained activity and trying to use the generally more dominant left brain ( hey, it can think of a solution) but not where spacial references are needed. It's ill equipped to do the job but it still tries to dominate because it seems to solve other problems daily. And gets stumped when it fails in a job it can't do. And was never intended to do.
You know, artists don't think , or see things the way everyone else does. They think out of the box because they never saw one in the first place and what it represents to everyone else.

Carving is a mindless activity.
The less I think the better I carve and see the difference.

[Mark Yundt]

Here in this pic which I staged just for this shot you can see the mirror. If you look at just the image in the mirror it perfectly reflects the carving in the foreground that I'm about to carve. This makes it so easy rather than looking at the first carving and try to reverse it in your head.
All you have to do it look at it and see just where the new carving needs to go. It's a matter of Monkey see,, Monkey do. Ah,, that leaf needs to be curved and it nearly touches the background. That leaf tip curves over a bit. The center vein,,,etc.etc.etc.

[Mark Yundt]

Now to aid in transferring some dimensions I use the depth rod that extends out the bottom of my caliper. You can also use a tire tread depth gauge.Photo #1

You don't need an actual measurement such as "this leaf tip is 1/4 " off the background.
All you need to do is set the depth against the carving you're copying, move the gauge to the section in question and make a pencil mark on the side of the carving, grab a chisel and remove to the line. Photos # 2,3,4.
Simple ,,, eh? Now all the tips of the leaves can be registered to the same height and since the center is the highest point just carve the leaf down until you reach the pencil line. Easy duplication.

The last two pics are the partially sanded ( not completely done as I may make adjustments to sync them.) on the right and the roughed in one on the left.
Look pretty close at this point. And really , when they're mounted nobody is going to look at one, go examine the other line by line with a depth gauge in their hand so be sure they are perfect duplicates of each other.

[Mark Yundt]

Finished shots. I elegantly taped them to a scrap piece of cardboard just to shoot side by side photos.
I see some areas that will be addressed but these are close enough that you can see they look pretty much alike and should work well in this job.

[Mark Yundt]

Speaking of using Acanthus leaves in different situations here are some I did for myself. The Shell sits on the moulding I have surrounding an archway between my LR and DR. It's the original mld. that I added corner blocks to and then wrapped it with some trim I made. I decided to leave this one natural. The deep moulding next to the ceiling isn't all moulding. There is a Crown mldg. ,then paint and a single strip attached about 8" down creating the look of a larger moulding. My ceilings are over 9 ft. so this works well.

On the other side I used the same basic design but instead of the Shell I used my family Crest. Since I wanted the Crest to be painted in the original colors ( and I "antiqued" it a bit) I painted the rest of the piece as well. I also threw little leaves in the corner returns on the moulding as well. Fills up the space a bit and adds a nice detail.

[Mark Yundt]

Lest you think you need a rack full of chisels to do carvings here is an example that dispels that notion.
I did this as a rather lengthy tutorial showing how with a beginners set of 6 chisels you can do quite a bit of carving. Provided they aren't the ones typically suggested as a "starter" set.
Seeing the Greenman hopefully you see that you can carve faces, leaves etc. with just a few chisels. And considering the range shown on this piece any number of things are possible with a limited collection of tools.
This was done in Spanish Cedar. The piece was just over 1" thick. So depth can be achieved as well in a fairly shallow piece of wood.
Those who are familiar with my posts on other sites will recognize this as my usual Avatar.

[Mark Yundt]

And larger Acanthus leaves I had posted at one time. 4 ft. long and they incorporate Roses.
Again the basic "S" shape.
Learn to carve just one leaf. Then put a bunch of them together and voila'. This is the same basic shape that I used for the onlays in this thread. I just expanded the design and put in more leaves. Like I said,, they fill any space.

[Roger Strautman]

Mark, when you sand your carvings do you go beyond 220 grit? Do you worry about sanding across the grain? I assume to keep the crisp leaf edges you are just careful when sanding.

As far as breaking any leaves goes this chip carver finds that funny!! But a slip of the knife Is Not Good! No fixing that one without a major overhaul.

Thanks!

[Mark Yundt]

Hi Roger,
you being a chip carver would find that funny about breaking a carving. That as well as a slip of your knife.
With this type of carving it isn't an issue as it's easily disguised. Every cut is a slip of the chisel.

As to sanding 220 is about it. If I'm finishing a piece I may go further but in the vast majority of the time I'm not doing the finishing. But after stains, sealers, sanding between coats they come out just fine from the pieces I have seen. As I said that tree I did is back in the shop and has been finished. I took that to 220 and it looks just fine now .

Trying to sand just with the grain is impossible on most any carving . Especially a piece like this one. Here the priority is to get the leaves smooth along their length and have them blend smoothly.
I also never sand using just my fingers backing up the paper. That can kill crisp edges real quick. Also prior to sanding pull the strip of paper over a square edge ( sanding side up) to get it to curl so when you do use it it folds better and doesn't have flat, sharp corners to it when you wrap it around your backer. But if you do fold it you can have a better fold line to reach the depths of a crease such as the center vein here.
The little things add up to a nicely finished carving .