Don't let a few imperfect cuts stop you from finishing a beautiful carving.
Howdy !
I hope everyone survived last weekend's time change. 🕰️
Here’s part of an email I received from Andrei, a very talented chip carver who has shared his work and patterns in the past:
“I am attaching a pic of my latest, a butternut rosette. As you can easily tell, it has many imperfections, but
one great merit. When I started having chip-out (mainly, I think, because of the texture of butternut and the intricacy of the initial design), I was tempted to throw the piece away and do something else. “
It reminded me of the phrase ‘perfect is the enemy of good’, meaning it’s easy to fall into the trap of focusing on even the smallest mishaps in a carving to the point that you think your carving isn’t good because it’s not perfect. Some may not even
try a pattern because of the fear of making a mistake.
Even though I am always aware of my ‘mishaps’ on each project – the cuts that aren’t as smooth, chip out, parts of the pattern that aren’t symmetrical – I’ve learned to see it as ‘character’ instead. I’ve also learned that it’s not necessary to point that character out to everyone. 😂 It was no surprise that Andrei also had the same message:
“Somehow I
persevered and managed to bring it to a decent end and now I can offer it as a present to some (undiscerning) recipient. ;) My lesson is this: try to integrate mishaps (chip-out or other) and see if you cannot end up with something decent (albeit different from the initial design).
Blessed Lent,
Andrei”
As you can see below, Andrei’s carving came out beautifully and will surely be treasured by its
future owner. So don’t let perfect be the enemy of good. Even if someone notices the character in a carving, they will know it was created by hand by an artist with talent and craftsmanship.
What projects have you been working on lately? I'd love to see them! Please send them to troy@mychipcarving.com.
March's Monthly Project
Wine Glass Holder:
Hearts & Flowers Pattern
The Hearts & Flowers combination is simple and elegant, and would make an excellent wedding or anniversary gift.
Order a Wine Glass Holder with or without a Pattern applied.
Inspired by Andrei's email, it made me think of a carving that I modified to cover up a stray cut that showed up after I applied gel stain.
The bar underneath the arc of triangles was originally thinner with a gap between the triangles and the bar. After I realized the stray cut was accentuated by the stain I decided to widen the bar such that the cut was no longer there. No one ever knew what the original pattern was supposed to be! Sometimes, character gives you an opportunity to use your creativity.
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