The pupil has been instructed in Lesson [IV]. how to cut out the ground from a flat panel, leaving the pattern in relief. Very beautiful patterns may be executed with very little finish; and a vast proportion of beautiful old Gothic wood-carving depended far more on outline than on modelling for its effect. Modelling is the rounding or shaping a pattern to give it form. Now leaves, in one shape or another, more or less natural, form a great proportion of all decorative design. When they are simplified from the original type, and made merely ornamental, yet still preserving so much of the original shape that we can plainly see what that type was, they are said to be “conventionalized.” It is, therefore, very important that the wood-carver should know how to carve leaves well. He has already learned how to make the simple outline or groove of one or many with a gouge, and how to remove the wood surrounding them. He may now go a step further and cut with great care the elementary pattern, Fig. [38]. Use a flat gouge for gradually rounding and carving the surface, beginning with the outer or lower edge, and working up to the stem. The pupil will do this as well again, and with far greater confidence and ease, should he begin firstly by making a shaded copy of a leaf in pencil, then modelling it in clay, and then copying this in wood. The time thus spent will be gained in the end many times over by the skill and dexterity and eye-training acquired.
Panel in Low-relief
The first step in rounding a leaf is effected simply by “wasting” or chipping away little by little by straightforward cutting. This is the same for convexities and hollows. Such rounding and undulation is performed by skilled artists with very few tools, including gouges, skew-chisels, rasps, files, and the double-bent gouge.
Fig. 39.
The student may, in the beginning, round and scoop his leaves with any tools which seem fit, if he will only cut with the utmost caution, and keep the implements well sharpened. A very important and rather difficult part of this work is the cutting the ribs or stems which run through the leaf. One implement for this purpose is the so-called “macaroni tool,” but at present it is really very little used, owing to the great difficulty of keeping it sharp, and its liability to break. Nearly all veining can be executed with the fluter or large veiner, the hollow gouge, the V tool, or the flat gouge, according to circumstances.
“The wood,” as Eleanor Rowe remarks, “should be taken off in short, sharp touches, and not by deep and long cuts, and no attempt should be made to obtain a smooth surface until the form and general modelling of the leaf is done.” The edge of the leaf may be a little under-cut to give relief; this effect should be given by a V tool or small veiner. When the leaf is correct in form, proceed with flat gouges to remove the tool marks, holding the tool very firmly, and inclining it to an angle of about 45°.