Another Caduceus cribbage board

Last year I carved a custom Caduceus cribbage board and was asked to do another one with the same design and Celtic knot around. Here is the second carving, done in darker finish than the original piece:

Serving plates - chip carving

Two 10'' plates finished with a coat of art resin. The plates can be used for serving or as trivets and the carved areas will stay undamaged. It is a lengthy process from the design to the finish with the resin but the results are great:

Chip carving!

Few chip carved pieces from last month... 12'' basswood plate with Nietzsche's quote that I used on so many plates by now and two basswood card boxes for Magic the Gathering game:

 

Nietzsche and art

''The essence of all beautiful art, all great art, is gratitude''

A quote by Friedrich Nietzsche chip carved on a 12'' basswood plate. A detailed rosette is in the center of the plate and foliage design is all around the outside rim:

Detailed photo of the very challenging outside rim carving, the leaves are carved to the edges of the plate, there was no room for a mistake:

And a photo of carving in progress:

Caduceus cribbage board

An interesting custom order I've done recently. It is an 11'' basswood cribbage board with Caduceus chip carved in the center and Celtic knot borders. The area between the staff and the Celtic knot is carved out for extra dimension. I am very happy with the result and as far as I know it's been received very well:

Chip carved pieces finished with Danish oil

I use water based lacquer for all my cottonwood bark carvings but this finish is horrible for chip carved basswood pieces. Mostly because it doesn't work well with gel stain I apply on most of my chip carvings. I've been using combination of sanding sealer and polyurethane then but after trying few pieces with Danish oil I think I am going to switch.

This is 7.5'' on 7.5'' trivet finished with Danish oil and gel stain:

It takes longer for the finish to dry but it pays off, I find it way easier to work with the gel stain and there are almost no streaks in the wood grain. The following is a picture of 5x5 inches trinket box:

I did this Magic the Gathering card box after practicing with the oil on the projects above. This box is only partially finished with light brown gel stain. The slight contrast is pretty neat:

And finally feeling comfortable enough I used dark mahogany gel stain on this detailed 12'' basswood plate. People who check my blog will recognize the Nietzsche's quote I've carved quite a few times before:

A close-up photo of the center rosette:

Large basswood plates - chip carving

Three basswood plates done in the last few months for Charlottetown Farmers Market.

I used once again the popular quotes by F.Nietzsche and L.Stokowski. The plate in the middle was a custom request - I was carving the center of the plate without deciding on what writing I'd use and a customer liked the design but wanted a neat foliage border instead of some quote.

The second cribbage board

11'' basswood Cribbage board. I purchased the basswood blank but design, carving and finishing is all my work:

And a view with metal pegs which came together with the board:

Stained plates

Two 12'' basswood plates which were chip carved after the staining.

The first one is done with a design I used last summer with the difference I traced only the rough shape and carved some smaller curves and all the leaves free hand. It is way more detailed and organic. The quote about family which really fits the tree design is by anonymous:

The second plate has way lighter touch and only the rim of the plate was stained beforehand.

The center of the plate was finished with gel stain after the carving.

The quote ''True, we love life, not because we are used to living but because we are used to loving'' is by Friedrich Nietzsche:

More Nietzsche and Stokowski plates

New plates for the beginning of the year, all carved with the favorite quotes I used many times before and the designs are done as variations of my previous work.

The Leopold Stokowski quote is carved on a plate with a design similar to one of my very first chip carvings, where it was done on a candle holder. It is finished with a light coat of gel stain:

Friedrich Nietzsche quote with swirl rosette and two lines of Gothic borders, finished with dark mahogany gel stain:

A custom work done as a result of the two plates above displayed at local Farmers Market.

A customer wanted the Stokowski's quote but with the style and color closer to the Gothic style:

Anniversary plate

A chip carved Anniversary Plate done as a custom order earlier in autumn.

I was requested to incorporate a book, treble clef and Tryzub into the design.

The piece is finished with light brown gel stain:

Traditional chip carving

Another chip carved plate with the quote by Friedrich Nietzsche.

The rosette is done in fairly traditional style and I kept the font simple and clear.

It is finished with a light touch of gel stain:

Experimental chip carvings in basswood

Two experimental pieces that turned out great. Both the plate and the candle holder were first fully finished with stain and just then the design was created and chip carved.

The finish on the plate is sanding sealer, polyurethane in spray and three coats of dark mahogany gel stain:

The tree of life design was based on a variation I found on the Internet, I tried to contact few people who I thought created the variation of this design but couldn't find the original creator.

The quote carved on the rim of the plate is by Friedrich Nietzsche:

6'' candle holder with somewhat Gothic design. This piece was first finished with tinted polyurethane, brushed on in 2 layers:

Custom chip carved pieces from summer

Three custom pieces I did shortly before and during summer.

They are all chip carved in basswood and finished with gel stain of various intensity.

12'' wedding plate:

Wedding anniversary box, the design was requested to be done similar to the cribbage board I created early this year:

12'' Award plate requested from ACT (a community theater) of PEI:

Two basswood plates with the same quote and different approach

A simple but catchy quote by Friedrich Nietzsche once again chip carved on basswood plates. Both plates are 10'' in diameter and finished with light brown gel stain:

This is my very first experiment of using the stain first and then carve the plate.

I kept the design fairly simple as I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out but it is neat.

I am in process of making another plate with this style of finish, it is going to be 12'' basswood finished with dark mahogany gel stain so it will be way darker - the contrast should be interesting:

Leopold Stokowski quote number 2

''A painter paints picture on canvas, but musicians paint their pictures on silence'' quote by Leopold Stokowski chip carved on 12'' basswood plate, finished with light brown gel stain:

Nietzscheism in basswood

Two basswood plates with chip carved quotes by Friedrich Nietzsche, both were sold the very first day at Stan Rogers Folk Festival in Nova Scotia last weekend. It is satisfying to see people really liking one's work.

I carved each of the quotes three times before, always with different design and font.

And though I am not sure how many times more I will carve them, people who get them can be always assured they are getting a unique piece of work.

The plate above is 10'' in diameter, the design is very geometrical with arched borders.

The plate below is 12'', it has a very decorative 6-pointed rosette in its center.

They are both finished with a coat of light brown gel stain.

Cribbage game anybody?

16-pointed rosette design with swirl rosette center chip carved in 11'' basswood cribbage board.

The piece is finished with light brown gel stain.

Twilight of the idols

Another plate plate with a quote by Friedrich Nietzsche ''Without music life would be a mistake.''

This chip carved plate is 12'' in diameter, once again I used oak foliage design with treble clef in the center. I feel like the foliage design on the sides could be larger and cover more surface but altogether I am happy with the carving.

Pink Floyd - The Wall - chip carving

Decorative chip carved plate inspired by The Wall by Pink Floyd.

It was a custom order where I needed to incorporate the famous screaming face and

a part of the song Comfortably Numb lyrics, I am quite happy with how it turned out: