Using Petal Lifters / Undershot Bevelers

[Bob Blea]

Hello, I'm hoping to find out some opinions.....

I'm wondering when the 'right' time to use undershot bevelers or petal lifters is? I was originally shown to do this as one of the first steps in floral carving, if not the first step. But, I've had trouble keeping the 'lifts' in as I bevel and shade the leaves afterwords. I tried using the undershot after doing all the other tooling on the flower or leaf and I liked the result much better, so I am leaving the undershot until last now. I like the effect, but I wonder if there is something I'm overlooking? Is there a good reason to do it first versus last? Is there a technique to beveling around the lifted parts of a petal or flower without messing up the clean look of the lifted part?

Any and all opinions are welcome.

Thanks,

Bob

[Mike Craw]

Hey Bob,

I can't swear as to the "right" time to use them, but I use them real close to the end, and for sure after I'm done beveling all around the flower and thumb-printing the leaves. I found if you lift before and then thumb-print, you loose most of the lift. After I use the lifter, either one I made from a broken spike or the kind you hit with a mallet that I got from Lonnie Height at Hackbarth, I go over that area with a backgrounder since either kind tends to burnish the background a little.

Hope this helps answer your question.

Mike

Edited January 6, 2012 by Mike Craw

[pete]

Hello, I'm hoping to find out some opinions.....

I'm wondering when the 'right' time to use undershot bevelers or petal lifters is? I was originally shown to do this as one of the first steps in floral carving, if not the first step. But, I've had trouble keeping the 'lifts' in as I bevel and shade the leaves afterwords. I tried using the undershot after doing all the other tooling on the flower or leaf and I liked the result much better, so I am leaving the undershot until last now. I like the effect, but I wonder if there is something I'm overlooking? Is there a good reason to do it first versus last? Is there a technique to beveling around the lifted parts of a petal or flower without messing up the clean look of the lifted part?

Any and all opinions are welcome.

Thanks,

Bob

I get the best result when I carve,thumbprint, and then lift. (The thumb will smash it down if you lift first,)

and it makes the beveling around the flower much faster as you already have the "pocket" around the tips, and then backgrounder pushes it further down. The look is different too which I like.

Some folks use it last after the backgrounding but I think that it looks like a hole was punched underneath the tips, and it sometimes flattens out the backgrounding unless you do it steeply.

[Bob Blea]

Thank you both. Sounds like you came to the conclusions I did too.

Bob

[BarryKing]

Try it first, then last. That is, use it at BOTH times. Using it first lets you bevel just up to the lifts, so you are not trying to get a square beveler into the spots a lifter is used. Saves time too. After backgrounging, thumbprinting and all the other stamping, lift again, just before doing your finish cuts. If you like, re bevel some of the areas you want to stand out a little more, ie. flowers and leaves.

[Bob Blea]

Try it first, then last. That is, use it at BOTH times. Using it first lets you bevel just up to the lifts, so you are not trying to get a square beveler into the spots a lifter is used. Saves time too. After backgrounging, thumbprinting and all the other stamping, lift again, just before doing your finish cuts. If you like, re bevel some of the areas you want to stand out a little more, ie. flowers and leaves.

Thanks for the suggestion Barry. I did try that and I like how it allows me one final tweak to make sure it all looks good.

Bob

[electrathon]

Try it first, then last. That is, use it at BOTH times. Using it first lets you bevel just up to the lifts, so you are not trying to get a square beveler into the spots a lifter is used. Saves time too. After backgrounging, thumbprinting and all the other stamping, lift again, just before doing your finish cuts. If you like, re bevel some of the areas you want to stand out a little more, ie. flowers and leaves.

Barry is dead on here.