Wood carving is an amazingly beautiful and very popular type of hand-made wood processing these days. The carved interior details captivate with their magnificent appearance and reflect rich national traditions.

Creative people who are simply itching to do something very interesting and useful should pay attention to wood carving. Girls and women may think that this is only a man's activity. And they will be wrong, because there are no fewer women woodcarvers than men.

About wood carving for beginners

To decorate the internal and external space, various types of carvings and techniques for realizing the plan can be used. If you are interested in this type of needlework, then you must understand that you need to master the methods and techniques of wood processing, acquire the necessary tools and improve carving skills.

In the modern world of smartphones and tablets, a wooden stand decorated with wood carvings looks very original.

Skillfully executed carvings in the form of simple and ornate patterns and ornaments seem to enliven the world and endow it with sophistication, charm, emphasizing the taste of the owner of luxury items and the talent of the craftsman.

The works of the best carvers decorate the temples. Pay attention to the photo of the iconostasis of the upper Church of the Holy Image of the Savior, which is located in Moscow, in the Church of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Fili.

Modern masters with delicate taste create real masterpieces.

And thanks to finishing technologies and protection of the finished product from the destructive effects of mold and insects, these wood carvings have served people for hundreds of years.

Pay attention to the magnificent carved pieces of furniture:

Stylish doors:

Delightful handmade figurines:

Very often, connoisseurs collect handmade carved items. Wonderful chess that is worthy of any collection.

Perhaps, over time, your wood carving masterpieces will be carefully preserved by collectors or decorate temples.

Types of wood carving

Of all types of wood carving, it is very interesting openwork or through thread on wood, which is characterized by some transparency, in which only the image remains, without a background. An example is an applied carving - this is an ornament that is attached to a finished background after production by a craftsman.

Geometric carving woodworking – This is a type of carving in which the pattern is formed using many simple geometric shapes (a rhombus is often used).

Oriental carving on wood it is distinguished by its whimsical shapes. Egypt is the cradle of the oriental type of wood carving.

Relief carving on wood. In this technique, the image is located above the background or at the same level with it. These are carved panels of various shapes with three-dimensional images.

- This is a flat-relief carving, but distinguished by an abundance of carved and stucco decorations, various colors, curls, leaves, figures of people in unnatural poses, fabulous fantastic animals.

Originated in the village of Kudrino. Well-known products in this type of carving are boxes, vases, dishes, ladles, and home decor items. The main element is a floral ornament: rosettes, curls and twigs.

Volumetric (sculptural) carving Great for making sculptures, animal and human figures, toys. - a subtype of volumetric thread. This is the main industry of the village of Bogorodskoye in the Moscow region. The famous Bogorodsk toys are figurines of animals and people made of linden and alder.

Most often used to decorate wooden Scandinavian churches. Wood carvers decorated the inside and outside of church buildings with images of Gods and various animals.

- the simplest and most unique type of carving. On a flat background, the master cuts out grooves - grooves, forming a pattern. Carved landscapes - images of landscapes on wood.

All these types of carvings are quite conventional. Each master chooses the most suitable one, taking into account work experience, quality of wood and creative inspiration.

What can be decorated with carvings?

The simplest staircase is transformed, decorated with carved balusters. Balusters- these are figured columns in the form of columns, a stylish and noble decoration of the staircase. Wooden balusters look organically with a spiral wooden staircase.

Bas-relief. Another name is "low relief". This is a sculptural image on a plane. Most often these are figures of people and animals .

Choosing tools for wood carving

As in every business, wood carving has its own secrets and nuances, which allow one to reveal the beauty of wood in a wonderful ornament. It is necessary to select special tools for wood carving and stock up on the necessary blanks and sketches for wood carving, which will be embodied in the form of drawings, borders, lace or genre scenes.

Basic tools

Very high demands are placed on the quality of carving tools. Of course, skill plays an important role, but well-selected and sharpened tools will help bring your idea to life. Experienced carvers will tell about its quality at first glance at a tool, but beginners get lost in the store because of the huge selection.

The basic set for wood carving includes:

• several knives and chisels;
• needle files;
• hacksaws for metal;
• vice;
• sandpaper;
• drill with several types of drills;
• bars.

Knives should be made only from high quality steel. It is better to purchase them in specialized stores for creativity. Although at the initial stage, just sharply sharpened knives will do. An excellent start would be knives from Tatyanka, Narex, Kogatana, etc.

It is not necessary to choose an expensive foreign-made instrument, because domestic instruments can be of the same good quality, but much cheaper

As your skill grows, you may need a set of tools, a milling machine, a drill, etc.

Chisels for carving

Sometimes, instead of a chisel, a sharpened screwdriver or file is used for wood carving.

Flat chisel- This is a long rod, at the end of which there is a flat cutting edge. Very often it is used for primary wood processing.

Semicircular chisel- This is one of the most important tools for work. They differ somewhat in the degree of roundness, that is, they are medium, round and sloping.

It still happens V-shaped version of chisels. It can be useful for geometric wood carving, which we will introduce you to below.

Beginners need only a small wood carving set of good quality to immediately get used to the correct movements and pressure.

In this video there is a wonderful master A. Yuriev shared with us which tools to choose for carving.

How to protect yourself from injury when carving wood

Any tool of a master carver can be compared to a straight razor, therefore, when working with it, you must strictly follow safety precautions. The material must be positioned so that you can work freely with a knife or chisel, eliminating the possibility of the sharp edge hitting your hands.

The work place should be comfortable and clean. All unnecessary tools at the moment should be carefully folded, because they are very sharp and can cause injury.

Materials for work

Each type of wood for carving has its pros and cons. Soft wood is easy to work with, but there can also be a lot of defects. These are aspen, linden, birch. This wood is best for beginners.

Oak, boxwood, mahogany are more expensive and complex wood. It is hard and durable, so it is difficult to carve from such wood. Very often there are troubles when working with such types of wood. Either the instrument or the craftsman may be harmed.

An experienced carver can easily work with a variety of woods, including juniper. Well, for beginners it is better to use inexpensive materials - spruce, pine, pear or birch.

Whatever tools are chosen for wood carving, safety precautions must be strictly observed!

Geometric carving technology

Geometric wood carving is considered the simplest and is perfect for beginners. To create the intended design, you need to have a small set of wood carving tools and clearly follow the design. In geometric wood carving, symmetry and repetition are of utmost importance. This achieves a wonderful play of light and shadow.

Cutting boards using this technique and wooden panels look wonderful in the kitchen.

Geometric carving consists of sequential cutting out of simple geometric shapes: rectangles, triangles, squares, rhombuses. But the result is a wonderful ornament that looks different in different lighting.

Execution Sequence any wood carving is like this:

• First, a wooden blank is made (board, deck, blank).
• Next is rough leveling of the surface of the workpiece, during which all defects and roughness are removed.
• Then a decorative relief is formed using special cutters.
• After the main carving is completed, the finishing process is grinding, impregnation, painting, varnishing.

You cannot work with a workpiece on your knees! The master must have a table to work on.

Master class “Geometric wood carving on a cutting board”

Tools. You will need 2 knives for wood carving: a triangular jamb knife and a feather knife, a ruler, a compass, a pencil.

A triangle jamb knife is necessary for cutting triangular shapes of various configurations, as well as for cutting long straight lines. A pen knife is used to cut long lines such as a petal or groove. Carving knives should be sharp and comfortable.

First stage. We make a sketch of the pattern on the board. It can be applied using a compass and ruler. Or you can print out carving patterns taken from the Internet and use carbon paper to transfer them to a prepared cutting board.

Second phase. Cut out the petals. We use a pen knife.

While working, the thumb is pressed firmly against the board, and the index finger lightly touches the wood. This will help regulate the depth of the knife into the surface and the angle of inclination. And your thumb will help you move the blade smoothly. First, we cut in one direction at an angle, then we turn the board over and cut on the other side.

If the shavings curl like a rope, the knife is good and sharp. It must be periodically sharpened with a piece of leather with GOI paste.

Third stage. We cut out the triangles with a blunt knife. Using the heel, at an angle of 45 degrees, we cut the knife into the wood, not reaching the edges of the pattern on three sides. The slots should meet on all sides in the shape of a pyramid. The sliver falls out and forms a beautiful triangle.

Fourth stage. What we couldn’t cut, carefully clean it so that the edges are frequent and even. Using the same principle, we cut out grooves and triangles around the perimeter of the board.

Fifth stage. We sand everything with sandpaper and treat it with natural impregnation. All! The work is done. We decorate the kitchen with a useful and beautiful cutting board with wood carvings.

Wood carving designs

To perform wood carving, photographs, drawings and sketches are simply necessary. A large pattern for wood carving is used for large-scale products: for the facades of houses, interior decoration with carvings of churches, windows.

For interior items and furniture, carvers use small patterns that are carefully worked out by the craftsman.

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We offer you an archive from . Choose, print, create.

Video master classes on wood carving for beginners

Of course, the wood carving looks especially impressive in the video. Channel "HAND WOOD CARVING" shows the features of geometric carving for beginners.

A woman's view of wood carving. Channel tatianacarving shows us how to make flower petals and leaves.

Konstantin Belyaev on his channel he talks in detail about wood carving cutters.

And in this video Ivan the Builder shows how to make relief-planar carving:

We will be very glad if this article inspired you to take up wood carving!

Artistic wood carving is one of the oldest and most widespread types of artistic woodworking, in which a pattern is applied to a product using an ax, knife, cutters, chisels, chisels and other similar tools. With the improvement of technology, wood turning and milling appeared, which greatly simplified the work of the carver. Carving is used in home decor, for decorating household utensils and furniture, for making small wooden plastics and toys. Carving differs by type - flat-relief carving, openwork carving, volumetric carving and root plastic.

Flat relief wood carving

Flat-relief wood carving is one of the most common types of carving. Relatively shallow relief (5-20 mm) maintains the same height with equal depth of the main background. The main motifs of flat-relief carving are floral ornaments and stylized images of human and animal figures. Her technique is relatively simple. Carved decorations are applied to a previously prepared product. Initially, the outline of the design is drawn with a sharp object, then the master cuts the design along the outline with a chisel and selects the background with chisels. The relief is often processed with additional cuts that simulate the image - leaf veins, horse manes, small details. The set of tools depends on the complexity of the design; in some cases, carvers use up to 60 cutters and chisels of different profiles and sizes.

Flat-relief carving is divided into varieties: carving with an oval contour - the edges of the pattern cut along the contour are slightly rounded, and the background is usually not selected at all; carving with a pillow background - the background is cut very shallow, forming a semicircular bulge reminiscent of a fluffed pillow; carving with a selected background - around the contoured pattern, the background is selected to an equal depth, which makes the image more prominent.

Flat-relief carving was used primarily in home decor and was known in Russia since pre-Petrine times, becoming widespread in the Volga region, the Russian North, and the Urals. “Ship carving” had a great influence on the development of Volga carving, on the basis of which a special baroque type of carving was developed. At the end of the 19th century. In Abramtsevo, near Moscow, through the efforts of artists and collectors, the craft of Abramtsevo-Kudrin carving arose, continuing the ancient Russian traditions of relief carving.

Relief carving

Relief carving has almost no flat surface. The shapes of the ornament are revealed by relief of different heights. There are bas-relief and high-relief carvings. Bas-relief carving - This is a carving whose relief figures protrude above the background plane or adjacent elements of the ornament to half their own volume. High relief carving - This is a carving, the relief figures of which protrude above the background plane or adjacent elements of the ornament by more than half of their own volume.

Relief carving is characterized by a deep selection of the background in comparison with other types of carving and detailed elaboration of elements to sculptural forms. Carving and background sampling can be done using a regular set of tools, which requires additional physical effort.

After selecting the background, you should work out the main plans within the drawing, model and work out the figures of people, birds, animals, the interweaving of plant patterns, the shape of branches and leaves, their height above the background and in relation to each other. All this must be done before final finishing of the surface with strokes, veins, notches, etc.

Relief carving is highly expressive and decorative. In the past, it was widely used to decorate interiors - wall panels, door portals, and also in furniture. Currently, relief carvings are also used to decorate the interiors of public buildings in the form of wall panels.

Of all types of carving, relief technique is one of the most expressive. Realistic wooden bas-reliefs, with neat detailing, spectacular play of shadows and properly constructed composition, can truly bewitch. The relief technique can be considered as a transitional step to sculptural carving, which is rightfully considered the crown of carved art.

In this material we will talk about the basic principles of relief wood carving. Our tips will be useful not only for beginning carvers, but also for craftsmen who have already tried their hand at this technique. Using the example of the proposed project, you will become familiar with the basic principles of clean and accurate cutting, learn how to correctly model volume, and master professional secrets that will help emphasize the three-dimensional qualities of a carved composition.

What is the difference between relief carving and other techniques?

The relief technique is distinguished from flat-relief, contour, geometric and other types of non-volumetric carving, first of all, by its emphasized three-dimensional character. The main composition here comes to the fore due to the cropped background, making the image more expressive, with a characteristic abundance of light and shade.

If the main design of the composition rises only slightly, no more than half the thickness of the entire product, then such carving is called bas-relief (and the product itself is bas-relief). With a higher and more protruding relief, the carving is called high relief.

Newbie Tool Set

To learn wood carving, it is not at all necessary to acquire an arsenal of chisels, knives and other cutters, as many people tend to think. To master the basic skills of relief technique, a few corner chisels (games) will be enough, for example, 10 mm And 6 mm, straight chisel 12 mm, radius (semicircular) 10 mm, scoring knife and small gravel. It is appropriate to purchase other types of chisels for wood carving as your carving skill grows.

Always keep the tool sharp. If the chisel leaves a rough mark and chips the wood in small splinters instead of easily removing neat layers, this is a sure sign that the chisel needs sharpening. A dull tool spoils the quality of work, requires a lot of effort when carving and does not allow a novice carver to “feel” the chisel correctly.

Which wood to choose for relief carving?

The right choice of wood is the key to success for a master mastering the intricacies of this technique. Almost all soft hardwoods are optimally suited for the needs of carvers: aspen, alder, birch, walnut, etc. But the main wood for most craftsmen who engage in not only volumetric, but also flat, flat-notched, geometric and other types of wood carving is linden.

Linden is a soft and light wood with a uniform density, which makes it particularly easy to process: it is easy to cut, sharpen and plan in all directions. Linden almost does not warp or dry out, does not emit tannins, therefore it is considered an ideal raw material, including for the manufacture of tableware. The disadvantage of linden is its poor colorability in other colors.

Practicing relief carving skills using the example of the “Fox” project

We will tell you step by step how to make bas-relief carvings on wood using the simple “Fox” project as an example. As a blank, we recommend using a cut of linden or a regular board made of any other soft hardwood.

To transfer a drawing onto a wooden base, carbon paper is used as the simplest and most effective solution. If necessary, the carbon paper lines can be easily erased by making the necessary changes as you go. To prevent the design from shifting during the transfer process, secure the piece of wood or place a rubber backing underneath it. Think about where best to place the image to make the composition look more lively and interesting. In our case, we will move it from the center to the bottom (photo 1).

Use an angle chisel to cut out the outer contour #12 (blade width 10 mm/corner 60°). It will not only allow you to make a neat outline of the main figure, but will also immediately remove a significant part of the background (photo 2).

Technique for cutting with an angle chisel:

• Fix the instrument tightly with your left hand, and push it forward with your right; The correct grip of the chisel will allow you to accurately guide the cutter, maintain a neat cutting line and prevent the blade from slipping off the contour.
• Mark the main contour of the lines with a cutter, then cut them to the desired depth (in our case 4-5 mm). By cutting the wood a little at a time, you will have more control over the carving process and reduce the risk of chipping.
• Overcoming the resistance of the wood, evenly distribute the pressure on the chisel, achieving a smooth and uniform surface.
• When working with a chisel, take into account the direction of the wood grain, because the cutter always tends to move along the solid annual rings.
• Under no circumstances should you point the chisel towards yourself: cut away from you or hold the tool parallel to your chest.
• Work the cutter directly behind the pencil lines, leaving them visible.

Correct and accurate removal of the background is largely the essence of relief wood carving. Mastering this skill is a responsible task for a beginning carver. Radius chisels (semicircular or sloping) help to remove a lot of background with minimal effort. In our case, we will leave the background of the composition in the form of wide decorative grooves (photo 3). If necessary, it can be made even using a flat chisel.

Having formed the background, we will return to the corner chisel and once again “finish” we will walk along the contour of the main composition (photo 4). Then we’ll straighten the background (photo 5).

Angled chisels are optimal as a tool for fine contour work. #15 (blade width 6 mm/corner 45°) or #16 (blade width 6 mm/corner 35°).

Outline the fox's eye, keeping the pencil outline (photo 6). Go down and start working on the mouth: carefully select the background around the teeth and inside the mouth (photo 7). Focus on volume and the laws of perspective in the composition: since the front teeth are in the foreground, they should be slightly exaggerated. Work on the nose area.

To work out the shape of the head, use a radius (sloping) chisel with a width 10 mm. Start with the ears: make the left ear in the foreground taller (photo 8).

Round the shape of the head (photo 9), making a smooth transition to the muzzle, which should remain flatter and without pronounced volume (photo 10).

When working on specific areas, do not forget to periodically evaluate the overall composition: how correctly the volume flows, how the perspective is worked out, etc. Here, every detail is interconnected with each other. Relief carving should be perceived as a complete composition, and not a collage of a set of carved elements.

To work on this element, use a cerasic - a deep semicircular chisel with a width 5 mm(photo 11). This narrow tool is well suited for working out small elements and creating leaf relief.

Make a neat trim along the entire perimeter of the sheet so that it stands out well from the overall composition and seems to be torn off from the background (photo 12). Having outlined the main outline and selected the background around the leaf, proceed to cutting out the veins (photo 13). Having finished forming the relief, cut off all the remaining flat places with a serger (photo 14).

Using a trimming knife, create a deep shadow above the eye, line the lower eyelid with the incisor and give the eye a roundness (photo 15).

Finish working out the small elements of the mouth with a chisel (photo 16).

Imitating the texture of wool is an important skill that every carver needs to practice, because in the future you will repeatedly encounter carvings of various animals. In the presented project, fox fur is created using the simplest scheme: cerasic 5 mm short and shallow strokes are made (arrows indicate the direction of natural growth of the animal’s fur) (photo 17).

For greater naturalism, you can work out the texture of the wool with a thin steel cutter - a serger. Work on the texture until there are no flat spots left.

How to clean wood carvings?

When working carefully, the sharpest cutters almost always leave rough spots and minor defects that require elimination. Use a fine gravel to clean out recessed areas and trim small chips. Volumetric surfaces are cleaned sandpaper P150. To finally make sure there are no undetected minor defects, wipe the painting with a rag soaked in white spirit and carefully examine it again from different angles. When all the imperfections have been cleaned out, you can begin finishing.

How to coat wood carvings?

For single-color finishing, the following compositions are used:

stain . In flat-relief carving they are used not only to give wood a more noble appearance. With the help of stain, the contrast of certain areas is enhanced; they, in turn, emphasize the relief and volume of the composition. To achieve this effect, it is enough to apply stain to deep areas of the carving that should appear shaded.

If you decide to completely tint your work, you need to use stain carefully, taking into account the type of wood and the characteristics of the workpiece on which the composition is carved. Under the influence of moisture, small-relief carvings can swell, warp, raised pile and other defects can form on it, which will irreparably spoil the appearance of the work. A common flaw when staining carvings is unevenness of tone, especially often manifested in places where the bars are glued.

The history of wood carving goes back to the emergence in human society of techniques and methods of processing wood, as the simplest and most common material, as well as the emergence of wooden architecture. Our distant ancestors knew that wood has very valuable qualities: waterproofness, thermal insulation, low density, and a rich variety of texture patterns. In addition, wood is convenient to process and harvest. In this regard, flat-relief carving was widely used in everyday life on wood - almost everywhere from the construction of defensive fortifications to kitchen utensils and agricultural implements.

Since the advent of the first tools, all people have strived to create beauty. Over time, this desire brought results in the form of the ability to create incredible works from natural materials. There is hardly a people who do not decorate their homes and household items. However, the history of the development of carving in each country is special and is associated with the level of culture, skill and worldview in society. This is probably why in each country the art of wood carving has its own unique characteristics, techniques and styles.

Learn flat-relief wood carving with your own hands

Flat relief carving is one of the most popular types of wood carving. It is very widespread in house carvings, as well as in the manufacture of various souvenirs.

Flat-relief carving is a carved pattern that stands out low above the main background of the ornament with the possibility of giving relief to both the design itself and its background part.

Usually the background around the main picture is cut off completely or removed by five to seven millimeters so that the contrast between them is emphasized as much as possible.

Although the image differs quite significantly in height from the background, the drawing itself, having three-dimensional outlines, is usually made approximately in the same plane.

The selection of the ornament relative to the background plane can have several variations: they can be decorated with notches, notches, rounded edges and become concave or convex, partially or completely.

A sketch for carving using the flat-relief carving technique can be any realistic or stylized images of animals, plants, birds or even people, if the experience of wood carving allows you to work out even the smallest details in detail and with high quality.

There are several types of background: oval, cushion, inserted, matched and undercut. You can examine all these types and visually study the differences between them in the photo below:

Let’s just look at the option with an oval background (outline)

To perform this type of carving, grooves are cut along the contour of the sketch, which are then ovalized (rounded) both from the background and from the ornament side.

First, make cuts with a blunt knife along the contour. On curves, cuts are made using semicircular chisels of suitable width.

The background of the picture is also removed with a knife or a straight chisel, maintaining a 30-degree inclination of the cut to the plane of the workpiece.

On the side of the image of the ornament, the contour should be steeper, on the background side it should be sloping, this will allow the pattern to look more convex. After finishing the rounding, you can use cutters to sand the product with fine sandpaper.

With a selected background.

The difference between a carving with a selected background and a flat-relief carving with an oval background is that the background around the ornament is removed with one selected angle of inclination to the workpiece plane (30-45°) and is not further processed (rounded) with a cutting tool or sanding.

With pillow background.

Cushion carving is a type of carving with an oval outline. The only difference is that the background does not remain flat and may be lower than the plane of the product’s ornament. Raising the ornament above the background has its advantages, but also its disadvantages. Cutting the entire background to the same height takes quite a lot of time, especially with large volumes. In addition, this work requires skill and accuracy so as not to damage the product.

With a selected and trimmed background.

This type differs from others in that depressions are created around the main picture, which is why the image seems to rise above the background to a different height (usually within 5-7mm), turning out to be deeper and more interesting in appearance.

It is very difficult to see and feel the difference between different types of carving. Often many types are combined in one product, because of this it is not worth giving clear definitions and starting any disputes on this basis.

Video on the topic of the article

At the end of the article, we have selected a video for you with examples of flat-relief carving, as well as with a fascinating and detailed description of the process of creating these very products.

Wood carving is one of the most ancient arts of mankind. Of course, in the era of its appearance, this type of activity did not have special devices, and they cut out whatever they needed.

Our ancestors appreciated wood itself as a material; they identified in it a number of positive properties in the form of:

• Low density.
• Increased thermal insulation.
• In convenience and ease of processing.

Wood, due to its ease of processing, allows you to make a wide variety of designs on it, both simple and incredibly complex, and in particular, flat-relief carving is one of the most successful and widespread methods.

Which wood is more suitable for types of flat carvings?

In total, on a flat surface, the thread has the following division:

1. Flat relief carving on wood. With this type you can apply any background or pattern to a wooden plane. For example, this variety includes such subspecies as pargori, or Abramtsevo-Kudrin carving.
2. The next type of carving, sawing, also belongs to the flat type, but is performed not with ordinary carver tools, but with a jigsaw.
3. The next variety is slotted. This type of carving is applied only to flat surfaces, with some parts subsequently removed.

As for what kind of wood may become more relevant, the answer is ambiguous. If experience is not enough, you should work with soft breeds. If the master is far from a beginner, the choice becomes wider, for example:

• Pine, aspen, linden are soft species.
• Ash, beech, oak and walnut to hard ones.
• Very hard ones are hornbeam, acacia and yew.

To perform this type of thread you should prepare:

• Set of files.
• Electric drill.
• Ruler.
• Planer with jigsaw.
• Knife-jamb with hacksaw.
• Strubnin.
• Eraser with compass.
• 2 chisels (up to 2 cm semicircular and flat).

Types of flat-relief carving

Flat relief thread can be:

1. With an oval background.
2. With a selected contour.
3. With pillow background.
4. With undercut and selected contour.

In order to make a flat-relief carving with an oval background, you should prepare sketches in advance. The process itself begins with cutting out grooves along the background, which are subsequently rolled out both from the side of the pattern itself and from the side of its background.

After this, using a jamb knife, you should make cuts along the entire contour. Where there are curves, cuts should be made only with semicircular chisels. To remove the background, you can take the same blunt knife or a straight, narrow chisel.

It is extremely important that the cut angle is exactly 30 degrees to the plane of the workpiece. No more and no less.

The next type of wood carving is with a cushion contour; it differs from an oval carving in that the contour itself is located lower than the plane of the pattern.

This form of thread has positive and negative properties. The fact is that if the sketches for a given work are large, cutting along the contour may take more than one day. In addition, such activities do not allow for the lack of professionalism of beginners, since it is simply impossible to do without dexterity and experience.

Another type of carving, with a selected background, is even more interesting. Its essence is that the contour around the pattern must be removed at a 30-45 degree angle throughout the entire wooden workpiece, and this is where the processing ends. Such a part does not need to be supplemented with other cuts, much less polished.

As for the selected and undercut contour, it is radically different from others in that the drawing itself is always in an elevated state from the surrounding background. This form of execution is considered particularly complex, but also unique and original.

If you look at some photo with completed patterns, not everyone can immediately notice the difference between them. Many masters do not use one technique in their creations, but rather a combination. For this reason, it is difficult to draw definitive conclusions. It is much easier, if you have the desire and opportunity, to take the necessary tools and try to do it yourself, naturally, to start with something simpler.

Basics of wood carving techniques

The jamb knife is the main tool of the carver. To begin with, hold the knife with the blade towards you and move it along the pattern. Of course, you shouldn’t press too hard, and you should hold it slightly tilted to the side. After this, tilt the knife in the opposite direction and trim.

When the contour has already been completed, it should also be trimmed so that the end result is a straw. Any rounding of the contour should be done with only one corner of the chisel and, if necessary, you can change the radius, which depends on the blade of the chisel itself and its width.

You need to act clearly, but measuredly, because with the right approach, the straw itself separates from the workpiece. Otherwise, all the work will have to start from the very beginning and with a deeper cut.

If it is necessary to cut out curls, they should only be done with a tool with a semicircular blade. Making them is very simple:

• The semicircular blade should be slightly deepened into the material and then turned with the hand.
• Then rotate around its axis.
• This movement should be performed until the curl lines connect.

In cases where this technique is new, it is recommended to use sketches when working, since a sketch on paper can help you navigate and do everything in the right order.

If you watch a video lesson on this topic, it will become obvious that you can make all these patterns yourself. In addition, the process itself is quite interesting and exciting. The main thing in this matter is perseverance and if you figure out what and how from the very beginning, everything will definitely work out.

Video: