Carving Question:

[strapt]

Good morning all,

I have a quick question about carving celtic knotwork. I have a rather large belt and intend to carve the entire lengthWhen doing knotwork I usually lay out my pattern then hit all the lines with my swivel knife first, before going cross-eyed with my backgrounder and beveler.

My question today is: have any of you skipped the swivel knife step in this process? And or - What methods do you practiced veterans use for a project like this.

Will my pattern get all "muddy" if I just start out with the backgrounder and beveler?

Any thoughts or suggestions from the community?

[Roger]

on really small detailed stuff i will just bevel but, anything else get carved.

the swivel knife work should be fairly quick compaired to beveling and backgrounding

[strapt]

Thanks Roger!

[wildrose]

Actually, I've done the opposite and just carved. If you use an antique stain, it will still give outline to the project and can look nice.

[BillB]

I guess it would depend on what type of relief affect you want to have. Beveling the sides and beveling where one thread of the knot goes under another adds to the 3-d effect without backgrounding. Depending on the backgrounder chosen and the amount, the background may over shadow the knot work. Without having seen the knot pattern you plan to use, it is hard to say. I prefer to have a balance between the pattern and any backgrounding I use with the total background area less than than the area of the main pattern, in this case the knot work. On thing that has help me decide is to scan the pattern into my computer. Use a paint program to colorize the various ares, e.g. white for the knot and black for the background. This give me some idea as to the balance in the design. If I am then going to stain the piece with colors, I can use them to see what the final piece might look like.

BillB.

[whinewine]

Just a simple observation: if you're going to make a belt, it's assumed to be a fairly thick leather (say, 7-9++ oz & above), it would be better to use the swivel knife, cutting half way through (or a little bit less, anyway). Otherwise if you simply bevel without cutting, it'll look like machine embossing... On very thin stuff I probably/possibly won't swivel cut, but on thicker stuff, it's a definite swivel cut, simply to give added definition to the beveling that will follow afterwards. If I'm going to do a belt with a Celtic design (& I just bought a new kilt that doesn't use my traditinal width belt & I need to make a new one), I'll definitely make a belt that stands out= which means swivel knife cut- design + beveling afterward.

[strapt]

Wow, thanks to all of you for your thoughtful opinions/suggestions. Looks like I'm going to do the whole nine, cutting, backgrounding and all - your kind remarks were justthe kick in the britches I needed.

Thanks all! Now I've gotta get back to work...

[TwinOaks]

Just remember the old saying: " Don't learn the tricks of the trade....learn the trade."

You could save time by stamping only, but what if it didn't look right? Then you'd be cutting it anyway...and trying to work around stampings.

As far as that kick in the britches, well, we all need that from time to time.

Mike