Grinling Gibbons – Maine class 9

Blending glued layers is the work I did at home in class 9, giving the upper one depth and movement so my panel would stop looking like two flat pieces stuck together. I came home from Maine with my Gibbons panel, looked at it from the side, and said what anybody can see, that it's two layers and they don't blend nicely.

Ever glued a second layer onto a carving and liked it face on? Then tipped it and looked again? That line between the boards is what class 9 is about. You'll see the one flower I went after, the tools in the order I picked them up, the holes I made by accident, and where I stopped.

Class 9 in six short lines

• From the angle, my panel still looked like two pieces glued together.
• The flower surfaces were too flat, so the job was movement going downhill and real depth.
• In Maine we worked with a few simple tools, and this stage takes a lot more.
• I went through in a few spots and left the holes.
• One edge went paper thin.
• I cleaned the facets with a back bent but left some of them for movement.

Why do the two layers show?

The surfaces on top were too flat. It looked somewhat okay, I said, but a few things I didn't like. First, of course, it's not done. Second, look from the angle. It's just obviously two pieces glued together, and it does not look appealing.

Then the surfaces. Too flat, I said. I wanted better movement, downhill if you wish, and a full 3D. One flower came first, to create some movement and then separate that layer.

The panel itself is two pieces of 2 inch (51 mm) stock on a 1 inch (25 mm) board for the background. We started it that way in class 1. How the class split the design into an upper layer and a lower one, and how the upper one wraps around the lower, is on the class 1 page.

Why wasn't it finished in Maine?

I did not even expect we could carve it in five days. It's actually four and a half days of carving, even less, because sharpening takes time, explanations take time, and Friday is usually a shorter day. So I brought it home to take it to a better stage.

I taught a Gibbons class at the Marc Adams School too, and there we blended everything a little better. It looks much better. I did not film that one. This one I did film, and I'm taking it to the extreme.

Did Gibbons have the same problem?

On some of his work, yes. I saw some of the Gibbons work side on, and it looks exactly like mine there. You can obviously detect those layers.

Class 10 is where I called it two pancakes, one on top of the other. Not always, I said, but his earlier works look that way.

Which gouge went in first?

A number 5, about half an inch, maybe a little more. I'd say 14 millimeters. I started out asking for a number 7. Seven, six or five will work, it doesn't have to be a seven. I grabbed the five.

I used it upside down and made a really deep pass right there, then cleaned it with that one tool. I really want to give that thing depth. There's excavation right underneath, and I didn't want to go through, which is possible. Good point to stop, I said. Now the petal rolls all the way, with a small twist inside.

What do you do with a twist in the leaf?

Take advantage of it. I grabbed a pencil to show you the twist, then excavated right inside it.

For that I picked up a number 9, about 3 millimeters, I'd say 1/8 of an inch, and made a plug cut. The angle of my tool has to be about the same as the angle of the leaf. You could drill it. A hand drill or an electric drill should be okay.

By the way, I was all the way through. There's excavation on the inside, as you know, and I said I hope I did not mess up.

How do you make a petal roll back?

A deeper pass on its side. A number 9 at 10 millimeters (3/8 in) did that. What I'm after is just a rolling back effect, and then the same tool went at the side with an undercut.

Hope you see that movement, I said. It just curls nicely.

Next to it I wanted to drop the area a little, for some kind of concave movement. I was careful there, since I'd already gone through in that hole. In some spots I was going against the grain. That's all right, I'll fix it a little later. No straight line, I said, so the curve goes downhill and then comes up again.

The small 3 mm nine went deeper there, and I said I could drop it even more concave.

What is a curly curl?

Two words I used on camera in part two, for the curl I wanted inside the petal. The tool was a number 11 at 4 millimeters, a little bigger than 1/8 of an inch. That's a spoon, by the way. I want to get that curl, really. Curly curl. I'm not sure if you can say that.

It doesn't look clean yet, and I didn't worry about that, since what I'm after is just the shape for now. One more pass and I'd make a hole, so that was my stopping point. We excavated it from the back side in class 6, and it's pretty close.

Where does the waviness go?

Inward, and not just along the edge. That's 3D this way, and in that direction as well, so there's no plane.

Inside that section I made a really crazy excavation, going up, going down, back, then backward, then up. That gives beautiful, gorgeous movement, and I hope you can see it.

Overall the leaf will be wavy, with no straight lines, and on one side I added an extra concave, going toward the center.

Why put a hollow in the middle of a bulge?

Petals and flowers grow from the center, I said on camera. Not fully developed, they roll like this and then they develop like that, and this area is always like concave. That's what I wanted to replicate, right in the middle of the bulging area.

With the same tool I excavated a little in the middle, carefully. Now it's all about blending, I said, and not more than I need, just indication.

What happens if you go through?

You get a hole, and I got a few. In part two I excavated right through, into the spot we had hollowed from the back, and I left that hole where it was. It's gonna look like I did it on purpose, although I did not. That's okay. I'll just work and live with that.

Undercutting a little later, I made another hole, and another, which is absolutely fine. There will be lots of holes like that in the future, as separation, but you gotta be careful.

In part three I said not to worry about that hole. There's going to be a bunch of leaves, and a hole like that can be just one of the separations. Then one more showed up. I guess I overdid it on the backside. It's okay. Openings made on purpose come in class 15.

Can you use tools Gibbons did not use?

On my own piece, probably. For a client I don't do that, I said. For myself I could probably use some of the tools he did not use. Or maybe not, I don't know.

Next came a number 11, maybe 1/8 inch (3 mm), and I started undercutting, with the tool on the right hand side and the flute at about three o'clock, removing the extra wood underneath.

I don't list all the tools for this project. It's more advanced, and most likely you won't get by with simple tools. We used only a few in class. To take it to the extreme you need a lot more than a few. There's a whole course on carving tools.

I was using a big tool for the hollow in part three, a straight one. Really good spoons help in an area like that, to work with the grain, and I have tiny small ones. If you don't have them, you can still carve it, like I just did.

Late in part two I said this tool feels like it needs to be sharpened, and I got another one, 6 millimeters (1/4 in). Sharpening has a whole course of its own.

Which tools did the work on that flower?

Eight of the tools I named on camera, in order, for this relief.

How thin can a petal go?

Paper thin, on one edge in part three, and I said that's it. Before that I was removing little by little, and I kept an eye on whether I was hitting through, because I really didn't want that. I can always take more a little later. But I don't want to do that until the last moment.

Earlier in part three I was almost through again and said that's my stopping point. I can't do that anymore. That would be a mistake.

A class later, a part I was working went somewhat darker, almost translucent. That means if I keep digging, I'll make a big mistake.

For the edge I took a small tool, and it doesn't matter what tool you have. Mine was a number 3, close to 3 millimeters (1/8 in), and in my case a spoon. The last bit was a small number 8.

Do all the facets come off?

Partly. I need to clean those facets, I said, and any back bent will work, so I picked up a number 3. I don't want to eliminate them completely, because I still want to see some movement.

I won't clean it yet, and I don't need to, I should say.

Where can you put something of your own?

On a petal like this one. It's probably one of the areas you can be creative, I said, so you can really express yourself.

Earlier I'd said, see how crazy I've got with that leaf. But that's what makes the flower alive. I added one more curl there, not too deep, because I could see I was almost through.

Later I lowered one side closer to the center, because it was a little too high. That took a flatter tool. I used a skew chisel number one, a quarter inch (6 mm) in my case. I want it to feel like it's rolling. With the skew I can excavate really deep and get that shape.

I said I like the overall movement of this petal, and that I'm really happy with the overall. Another petal is going to go right underneath it, and which petal goes over which is the class 8 page. But for now, it's good.

What hides a glue line on other carvings?

Matched grain, and then blending. For the Hashemi flowers I glued offcut pieces back on top as extra layers. Draw the direction of the grain, match it, and try to find a matching color, and it's not going to be noticeable.

I didn't use any clamps there. Rub the glue against the background piece and it makes a kind of vacuum, so it clamps itself. Believe me, you won't see the difference, I said. Once you carve into it, the grain matches, and you won't see the glue line.

The Byzantine acanthus in leaf 7 had one side going underneath, undercut a little, while the other side just blends. I pointed at the glue line there. I blended it so you don't even see it, I said. Looks like a solid piece.

Each layer of the Gibbons panel is its own carved board, and my work in class 9 was the flower on top.

All 18 classes of the Maine course, class 9 included, are part of the tuition. Seen that line on your own glued layers? This class shows what I did about it.

Shall we carve?