Carving Grape Onlay 2

Blocking in a bunch of grapes is giving the whole cluster its shape in three dimensions before you carve any single grape. So my answer is no, not in most cases. You look at the overall shape, take the bunch down with a bigger tool, and only then start placing grapes.

Do grapes look easy on a screen? Would you like your bunch to look round and full from every side? Then start with the whole bunch and leave the single grape for later.

Welcome back. This is the second lesson of the grape onlay, and I keep working on that same part of the panel. Today I want to work on the overall shape of one bunch, not on separate pieces or separate grapes, but on how it will look in three dimensional space.

I'm going to be honest with you. I repeat this so often that I asked you to forgive me for it, because I have seen so many people make the same mistake over and over again. They concentrate on detail. It's too early. You will see the tools I used, how I set out the grapes, and when I called the rough stage done.

The order I used on this bunch

• Shape the whole bunch first, in 3D, and look at it from several sides.
• Lower everything below the one high spot, or the bunch will not look good in 3D space.
• Use a bigger tool for that. I like a skew, but a normal gouge will do the job.
• Redraw any grapes you lose.
• Aim for a triangle where grapes meet; a square is all right when you can't avoid it.
• Dig in with the corner of the tool, slowly, to keep the grape next door safe.

Why not finish one grape before you start the next?

Detail done too early is the trouble. I compare it to building a house where you work on the roofing before you put the basement in. It just doesn't make any sense. You really have to concentrate on the overall look first, and that means blocking in.

It looks really easy on the screen, I know. I tried to teach it in person multiple times, and for some reason grapes give a lot more trouble to the carvers trying them than an acanthus leaf or anything else. I would say maybe it is because of detail too early.

In most cases it is better to just block in, see how it looks, and make your changes then. Changes are easy while it is only a preliminary look. Call this stage roughing in or blocking in, as you like, and on this bunch that's pretty much all I'm doing.

Is it ever right to finish one area first?

Yes, on some projects. I know some wood carvers, even professional wood carvers, who work just one area until it is done, and I've done it also. On a project like that it is fine. If you really don't want to lose the idea you have in mind, I guess that's all right.

From the other side, I said it in the Hashemi flowers course. I have a tendency to jump around my design, and I do that on purpose. When you just concentrate on one area, you are losing the overall picture sometimes. Maybe not you, but I do. I work on one area, then jump to another, and that way I see how the whole carving is developing and sometimes a design change I have to make.

Which tool takes a whole bunch down?

A bigger tool is always better here, like a number 2. There is another tool I like for this, and it is not always easy to find. I told you to search for it on the Tools for Working Wood site if you don't know it. The idea is the same. Pretty much just a skew.

The one I used is a skew by Ashley Iles, and it's a good one. About an inch wide (about 25 mm), I would say. What I like about it is how quickly you can block the thing in. You could do that with just a normal gouge, and you don't have to have a skew for this. Personally, I really like it.

Even with a flat tool, I'm still not pushing. I'm slicing. If I showed it in slow motion, you would see that my pass is still a slice.

Tool and size	What it did on this bunch	Which video
Skew, about 1 in (25 mm)	Took the bunch down below the high spot, and quickly too	First video
Number 5, about 1/2 in (13 mm)	Placed nearly every grape with one corner, going in shallow	All three
Number 7, 14 mm (9/16 in)	Gave the grapes better roundness in tiny slicing passes	Third video
Knife of any type	Cleaned the meeting points, worked on its heel or edge	Third video

If your set of tools is small, there is a whole course on tools for wood carving.

Where does the high spot go?

On one grape. I set the high spot in the first lesson, and that means I have to lower everything else, otherwise it won't look good in 3D space. At the start of this lesson the bunch still had its full depth, the full inch and seven eighths (about 48 mm).

I wanted to create some roundness. I took it down, gave it a shape, and you can see how quickly I can block it. I lowered the whole thing, and then I knew I needed to make it a little tighter.

Check it from different points of view, too. That way you will know exactly what changes you have to make.

What happens to the grapes you drew on it?

Don't worry about losing the details of those grapes, the individual grapes. You can redraw them, and they don't have to be at the same location. I redraw them and change the location based on how I feel at that moment and how it is supposed to look.

Even in the third video I was still looking back and changing some of the shapes, sometimes the position of a grape, or the motion, how the bunch is supposed to fall down. Sometimes I have to add some grapes.

Some of you commented about the pattern on the last lesson. I'll do my finalized pattern once this project is done, because I'm making some changes. When the movements are set, I'll take a picture and do some line work. Please be patient.

Where do the grapes go once the bunch is blocked?

I can see my triangle, my marriage point. With the same skew I go a little deeper, just to pre-establish the areas where the grapes meet. When it is possible, get a triangle and not a square, though it is not always possible.

Then I'm ready to set out the grapes, and I watch the direction too. The bunch has an overall movement, a spread, and that means some grapes get slightly longer. Once the main points where they meet are blocked out, I can easily see the position of the next grape. Essentially, I'm just looking for those connecting spots and using them to set the movement.

By the way, you could use just a knife for those meeting points, and with the skew I was only showing you a different technique.

For the placing I used a number 5 about half an inch wide (about 13 mm). Ashley Iles again, and I really like this one. I pretty much did all of the grapes with that same number 5. A number 7 will work if you want, a 6 is still going to work, and even a 4 or a 3 will do the job.

Sometimes my hand covers the view in part two, and I asked you not to judge me too harshly. My shoulder gets in the way too, because the camera puts me in an awkward position. Later I moved the camera and worked from the other side.

Sometimes the triangle I expect is not there. Once, in the second video, I thought I'd get a triangle at one junction, and it turned out to be a square, which I've said multiple times to avoid. It's all right, and I said I'd put that connecting point closer to the grape.

How big should each grape be?

Make the sizes of the grapes random, some bigger and some smaller. Avoid making them all the same size. It will look okay, I should say, but not really nice.

In the first video I decided to double one spot, one grape right there and a smaller one nearby, because it was a good spot for a smaller one. Part two had a big area where a couple of grapes could fit, and I said I would probably do a small one there.

Don't make them too small, though. Once you clean everything up, they are going to look like berries, so leave some room for the cleaning up. I come back to this in the third lesson.

What keeps the tool out of the grape next door?

The corner of the tool is the danger, so when you are digging in with that corner, don't dig too deep. If you go deep right away, you're going to damage the neighboring grape, and it's going to be really hard to fix later. You can always make it deeper later. Dig little by little.

I told you one more time in the second video. Even if you are slicing, try not to go too deep into the neighboring grape. That would be a big mistake, because once you damage the wall of that grape, it is very hard to clean up.

I carved berries on the furniture panel and said the same thing there. Concentrate on the triangle, use only the corner of your tool, and you can always go deeper a little later. Don't worry about cleaning up yet, you just create the overall shape first.

When is the rough stage done?

Mine was obviously not clean at all. I could just go over it with my skew or my knife and clean everything, but not at this stage.

Then I start on the meeting points, the marriage points, with a knife. Any type of knife will do. Mine can work with the heel or with just the edge to dig into those areas, and a normal cheap carving knife can clean that area too. Take your time. If you're happy with the overall shape, start the cleaning up process and make some deeper excavation.

To clean up a little, take it little by little, almost like an onion skin. You could also find a tool that matches the curvature. I tried a number 7, 14 mm (about 9/16 in), and it gave me even better roundness. Number 5 for blocking in, number 7 for roundness.

You are still slicing, in tiny passes, and not trying to reach the final shape yet. The number 7 also let me make some connecting points a little deeper, without being too crazy about it, because I still have to work on that section.

Try not to undercut at this stage. I did undercut one place in the second video, because I wanted it deeper. But if you undercut now, areas like that get hard to clean. Don't overdo the roundness either. At one junction, a square again, too much roundness would have made it hard to get in and clean.

Near the end I held off on one spot. There are connecting stems I do a little later. In another spot a leaf I don't want to lose was bumping against the grapes. And then, as far as the roughing in goes, the bunch was done.

Back in part two I saw that the motion going underneath is the same bunch of vines, running right under the grapes. That means the area has to come down a little, and I decided I could lower some of it right then.

Next I need to figure out the connections. Do I want them at all? Maybe not, because they could come from underneath and go up. Overall it looks good, and I can work on those next time, in the next lesson.

Does the same order hold on other carvings?

For the Hashemi flowers I called it the boasting stage, the quickest stage. It does not look appealing yet, I said, and it does not take too long to do. Then come the details, and that is the longest.

On the Venice Room panel I jumped to another area because I needed to get the overall shape first, before I could work on details. A volute I had worked on before was not the height yet, so I did not touch it then.

Want to see every pass on this bunch, all three videos of it? The whole lesson is waiting inside the school, next to the rest of my wood carving lessons.

Shall we carve?