Posted by Dave Bull at 10:50 AM, June 8, 2009

Continued from [Forest in Summer - 2] | Starting point of the thread is [Forest in Summer - 1]

Another good solid day of work, and this first block is coming along very well. Not quite able to get it finished this evening, but it's within striking distance now ...

Here's a close-up of the main carved section (all images clickable):

Tomorrow isn't going to be as productive; there is a guest (from Florida) coming in the morning, which should be an interesting change of pace, and I've also got to put my 'shipping' hat on and get some back numbers wrapped and taken to the post office. Might be able to get a few hours of work done in the evening ... we'll see.

The thread continues in [Forest in Summer - 4] ...

Following comment posted by: eli griggs on June 9, 2009 2:34 AM

Wonderful detail David, thanks for sharing.

Let me ask, in a block like this, do you carve the entire leaf, one at a time or, do you start in one point and simply carve the negative areas in an outward manner?

Following comment posted by: Dave on June 9, 2009 9:39 AM

I carve the positives, absolutely. It's just like carving calligraphy; there is no way that it will look right if you work along the block, chopping out each of the little open spaces in turn. The knife runs down the complete length of each blade of grass, lightly 'pulling up' at each of the crossing points.