Without doubt, the acanthus leaf isone of the most widely usedplant motifs in the decorative

arts. Its origins lie in the ancient Romanand Greek empires and have been tracedback as far as the fifth century BC.

The Acanthus Mollis is a Mediterran-ean plant which is also known as ‘BearsBreeches’ or ‘Brank Ursine’. It was styl-ized in different ways for Greek, Roman,Byzantinian and Gothic arts but hasremained in constant use.

During the renaissance and the revivalof classical Roman and Greek decoration,the acanthus leaf returned to its mostfavoured form and its presence spreadwherever European tastes were adopted.

DesignIt is good practice to collect pictures of

antique furniture and study how the leafdesigns have been used. The leaf can alsobe found carved into stone to decoratebuildings in towns and cities, especiallythose of the eighteenth century. Photo-graphs of these decorations can prove tobe a valuable source of inspiration when

developing designs of your own.Photo.2 is a fine example of acanthus

decoration carved into wooden mould-ing. This moulding was salvaged from thefire at Windor Castle in 1992 and wasused as a pattern by carvers during therestoration work.

Project Preparation This issue’s carving project (Photo.1 &

Fig.1) forms an introduction to the acan-thus leaf and flower and will also encour-age you to start thinking in three dimen-sions with your carving. Inspired by aVictorian design, the pattern is not elabo-rate in detail, but provides scope for shap-ing in various ways. On completion it canbe applied to a panel if desired as anembellishment.

I used Mahogany for this piece but anygood carving material can be used.

It is important that the profile of theleaf formation is the same on both sides toprovide balance. However, the shapingdoes not need to be exactly symmetrical.

Enlarge the drawing in Fig.1 to scale,ensuring that each grid of the square mea-sures 20mm x 20mm. You can make theacanthus smaller or bigger than this if you

Fig.1: An acanthus design based on carv-ings from the Victorian era. Enlarge thepattern so that the grid squares measure20mm x 20mm

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NUMBERSPt.7 — Acanthus Leaves and Flowers by Mike Davies

Woodcarving By

Photo.1: Acanthus leaf and flowerdecoration

Fig.2: Tool profiles used in this series

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wish, but the pattern at this size has beendeliberately designed to suit the tool pro-files shown in Fig.2.

Prepare your carving blank, 155mm x120mm x minimum 30mm thick (Pho-to.3). Ensure that one face of the timber isplaned perfectly flat, as this will be re-quired for the rear of the carving.

Mark the pattern onto the timber withthe grain running from top to bottom. Thiscan be done by using carbon paper ormaking a cardboard template. It is impor-tant to be as accurate as possible with thedrawing of the pattern onto the blank(Photo.4).

Use a scrollsaw to cut out the shape,taking care to cut on the waste side of themarked line (Photo.5). Once again, workas accurately as possible.

You need to firmly secure the blank to

Photo.3: Preparing the carving blank

Photo.4: Using a template to transferthe pattern

Photo.2: An example of acanthusdecoration carved into a mouldingfrom Windsor Castle

Photo.6: One way to mount the blank isto glue it to a timber board after theback has been scored and waxed

Photo.5: Cutting out the outline of theacanthus leaf using a scrollsaw

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a work surface before you can begin tocarve. One method is to attach the workwith two screws through the rear of abackboard. Always make sure that thebackboard is big enough so that you canthen fix the board to your work surface(vice, bench, etc).

If you choose this approach then it isessential to carefully position the screwsin a part of the carving that will remainhigh. There are few things worse thanfinding a buried screw with your razorsharp carving tools.

Another problem with fixing the workwith screws, is that support is not provid-ed for the entire carving. If your designrequires fine areas that are carved thinand close to the backboard, you may findthat they can be easily broken duringcarving.

An alternative method is to glue thework to a backboard. Ensure that the backof the carving blank is perfectly flat andclean. Lightly score a chequered patternonto the back of the wood using yourskew chisel #1 or a marking knife. Thenrub a candle over the surface to apply athin coating of wax. Glue can then beapplied and the carving blank clamped tothe board until the glue is dry. This workswith any sort of woodworking glue in-cluding conventional PVA (Photo.6).

All elements of the carving blank arenow held firmly in place to allow you tocarve the project piece.

On completion, the carving can bereleased using a thin pallet knife. Somecarvers opt for paper in the joint instead ofwax, although this may result in a weakerjoint and the back of the carving willrequire more cleaning up. If you do usepaper, apply glue to both sides beforeplacing it between the carving blank andthe board.

Carving the PatternPosition the blank on your bench so

that the grain is pointing away from you.Select tool profile #4 (Fig.1) and hold

the tool in the Pinch position. Set in theprofile of the two flowers in the middle ofthe carving, making sure that the cuts areat 90° to the surface of the wood (Pho-to.7).

Use the tapping technique with tool #5to remove the surrounding timber fromthe flowers. Continue to set the profile ofthe flowers in more deeply as you pro-gress, until the timber around the flowersis reduced to a thickness of around15mm.

Try to achieve a clean, flat surfacearound the flowers using tool #11.

You can view my demonstration of theSignificant Six tech-niques by scanningin the QR code, orby typing “RecordPower SignificantSix Techniques withMike Davies” intoyour internet searchengine.

With a pencil,divide the blankdown the middleand add curved lines to the left and right(Photo.8).

Photo.9: Using tool #6 to create a cleanstraight line at the bottom of the valley

Photo.7: With the #4 tool held in thePinch position, the flowers are set in

Significant Six QR Code

Photo.11: Roughing in the shape of theleaves

Photo.10: Setting in the profile of oneflower. Note the shape of the centrevalley between the ridges

Photo.8: Drawing more detail on theblank

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These curves will later become highridges when carved.

With chisel #8, carefully carve be-tween the curved lines below the flowersto form a valley. You can see in Photo.9how tool #6 is used to create a clean

straight line at the bottom of this valley.The finished result is shown in

Photo.10. Note how an inverted pyramidshape has been created where the bottomscroll meets the leaves.

In Photo.10, one flower is beingdefined from the other by setting in theentire profile of the flower and angling theother towards it.

At this point you can start to rough inthe shape of the leaves, using various pro-files from your tool kit (Photo.11). In the

same photograph you can see how theflowers have taken on their rough shape.

Create a concave shape on the twolarger leaves leading down towards thescroll. Try to keep the edges of the leaveshigh, where they meet each other in thecentre of the design.

Think about each cut that you areabout to make and visualise how youwant the leaf to lie. You might find it use-ful to collect leaves from the garden forreference and experiment with the shapeto ensure that your carving looks realistic.

If you are working to your own design,I would recommend that you create a pat-tern first in clay or plasticine so that youcan be certain of the shape that you want.

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Photo.12: Removing the waste from around the scrolls

Photo.13: Markingthe flowing lines inthe leaves. Notethe various carvedshapes at this stage

Photo.16: Refining the back of theacanthus carving

Photo.15: Releasing the carving fromthe backboard using a pallet knifepressed into the joint

Photo.14: Forming the valleys betweenthe leaves

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You can use your wood carving tools tocut away the clay or plasticine.

Form the scrolls by setting in eachshape with tool #4 and removing theexcess timber from around the cuts withtools #4 and #12 (Photo.12).

In Photo.13 the overall shape has nowbeen formed or ‘roughed in’.

When you have the shape figured outfor the leaves and flowers, round overeach scroll with tool #4. Hold the tool inthe Fist position and practise the slidingtechnique to create clean shapes for thehead of each scroll. Remember to finisheach cut by ensuring that you have re-moved all of the waste material.

Otherwise your work begins to lookvery untidy if you leave splinters of timberattached.

In Photo.13, note how a series of lineshas been created, flowing together with-out any awkward ‘elbows’.

You may often hear or read the term‘clean’ or ‘flowing’ lines. This indicatesthat the lines of the carving flow welltogether.

These lines will form high ridges, sotake the time to ensure that they flow gen-tly towards the centre line of the leaf andultimately towards the scrolls.

In Photo.13 you can also see how thepetals of the flower have been marked inpencil and then set in using tool #4.

Begin by taking small slices towardsthe set-in lines of the petal, to help defineeach component. Carve each one as if it isslightly overlapping the next.

Notice in Photo.14 how tools #2, #3 &#4 have been used to carve in betweenthe pencil lines on the acanthus leaves toform a series of concave valleys. The pen-cil lines have become ridge lines.

Take time to ensure that the ridge linesflow in the same way as the pencil linesdo. The sliding technique will be particu-larly useful as you will inevitably en-counter awkward grain during the cut.

Note also how each flower petal hasbeen developed. Once you have formedthe first series of valleys and ridge lines onthe acanthus leaves, you can pencil in asecond set of lines.

Carve between the second series oflines with tools #2 and #10. This processwill create another set of flowing ridgelines to give additional depth, interest anda sense of movement to the leaves.

Use tool #1 to divide the valley justbelow the flowers and in between theleaves once again. The idea is to formsmall triangular shaped sections, that cre-ate the impression of stems beingattached to the flowers.

When you are happy with the final fin-ish of your work, use a fine bladed palletknife to gently separate the work from theboard. Take care to release the edges ofthe work around the entire perimeter,before you push deeper into the centre(Photo.15).

Carving the BackTo give the work a more delicate

appearance, you can refine the back of

the carving.Turn the work over and place the carv-

ing on a soft item such as a work cushionor cloth. Using the various tools fromyour kit, remove the timber from theunderside of the leaves at a slight angle,so that when you look at the carvingstraight on, the thickness is hidden(Photo.16).

Be extremely careful to ensure thatyour fingers are well out of the way whendoing this work.

Always carve away from your fingersand body and only try to remove smallslices with each cut, to ensure that theblade is being used with controlled pres-sure.

You can assemble your own starter setof chisels for this series of projects or yourcan purchase the Record Power CarvingTool & DVD Set specifically designed toaccompany this series of articles.

The Record Power 12 piece CarvingTool Set with bonus Woodcarving Found-ation Skills DVD and booklet (RRP$132.00) is available from The AustralianWoodworker Mail Order Bookshop,(pp.82-90, Ph: 024759 2844), or fromRecord Powerstockists.

Use the QR Codeprovided to accessinformation on theCarving Set and Education on yoursmartphone. QR Code Carving

Promo on YouTube

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