This process of flattening, wheeling, tracing, and stamping wood, though little practised now, was so common in the Middle Ages, that there are very few galleries containing pictures with gold backgrounds in which there are not specimens of it. Very great masters in painting frequently practised it. After gilding the ground, they outlined the pattern with a prick-wheel, which is quite like the rowel of a spur, and often traced dotted patterns with the wheel itself on the flat gold. Black or dark brown paint was then rubbed into the dots. Sometimes the stamp was also used, and its marks or holes filled in the same manner. It is not necessary to gild the background to produce a fine effect. First apply a coat of varnish, polish it when dry with finest glass-paper, then apply a coat or two of white oil paint, toned with Naples yellow, and when it is dry work it with wheel-tracers and stamps. When dry polish it again, and rub dark brown paint into all the lines and dots. Cover it with two coats of fine retouching varnish, and the effect will be that of old stamped ivory.
This first lesson may be omitted by those who wish to proceed at once to carving. It is given here because it sets forth the easiest and least expensive manner of ornamenting wood, and one which forms a curious and beautiful art by itself. With it one can acquire a familiarity with the method of transferring patterns to wood, and with the management of the tracer and stamp. The pattern-wheel should be held in the right hand, and guided by the forefinger of the left, which is a good preparatory practice for the chisel and gouge.
While the tools requisite for this work are few and inexpensive, it may be observed that tolerable substitutes may be obtained for them anywhere. Almost any knife-blade, eraser, or screw-driver can be ground into a dull edge which may serve to trace and press the wood, while a spike or very large nail can, with a file, be so crossed at the end as to make a stamp.
SECOND LESSON.
CUTTING GROOVES WITH A GOUGE.
We will now suppose that the pupil has a piece of smooth pine wood, at least six inches by six in size, and half an inch in thickness, fastened to the table before him. Let him draw on it two lines with a lead pencil, across the grain, one-fourth of an inch distant from each other. Then taking a fluter or gouge of semi-circular curve, also one-fourth of an inch in diameter, let him carefully cut away the wood between the lines so as to form a semi-circular groove, Fig. 28 a. This is not to be effected by cutting all the wood away at once. A very little should be removed at first, so as to make a shallow groove, then this may be cut over again till the incision is perfect. Hold the handle of the tool firmly in the right hand, with the wrist and part of the forearm resting on the bench; place the two first fingers of the left hand on the face of the blade about an inch from the cutting edge, to direct and act as a stop to prevent the tool advancing too fast. Some place the thumb below the blade, so that it is held between the thumb and the two first fingers.
“Keep your mind on your work—a careless movement may cause a slip of the tool and ruin it.” Let every stroke of chisel or gouge be made and regulated by purpose and design, not haphazard, or at random. Think exactly what you wish to cut or mean to do, and leave nothing to involuntary action. The habit of doing this may be acquired in the first few lessons, if you try, and when it is acquired all the real difficulty of carving is mastered.
Never attempt to carve anything unless it is fastened to the table. Pupils who do this fall into the habit of holding the panel down with the left hand, and the result is that the tool slips sooner or later, and inflicts a wound which may be serious. Always keep both hands on the tool.
When the pupil shall have cut perhaps twenty straight grooves with great care with the gouge, he may then cut cross-barred grooves, Fig. 28 b, and then curved ones as in Fig. 29 a, b, c.
Two sections of a circle thus intersecting form, as may be seen, a leaf. One, two, or even three lessons may be devoted to this, but let the pupil go no further until he can cut these grooves perfectly. He will then find it excellent practice at odd intervals to carve grooves in circles, spirals, or other forms. Groove-carving may be regarded as line-drawing, for any pattern which can be drawn in simple lines can be of course imitated with a gouge.
Very pretty decorative work may be effected by this gouge-grooving alone, and in fact it was very common in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, as is shown by specimens in the museums of South Kensington, Munich, Vienna, and Salzburg. The wood chosen was generally a highly-grained or strongly-marked pine, the natural yellow colour of which was somewhat heightened by staining, oiling, or age. The pattern, generally a leafy one, was then outlined with a narrow, say one-third inch gouge, and the grooves painted in with black or brown. This was applied in many ways, but especially to large cabinets or wardrobes. It is a very rapid and effective kind of work.
Celtic or Irish (or Runic) patterns, which resemble ropes or ribbons crossing one another, can be very well imitated by running these lines with a gouge, Fig. 30. No writer on wood-carving ever seems to have noticed what beautiful, complicated, and valuable work can be executed in this manner alone. These lines can be painted in black, dark colours, or red, so as to make fine effects in decorative furniture or friezes. It may also be observed, that when cut they may be used for moulds for plaster of Paris, papier-maché, and leather. The pupil would do well to pass a few days in developing simple groove-work, which is worth perfectly understanding. There are few who cannot with care learn to cut grooves very well with a gouge after a few days’ practice. I urge that the pupil shall do this with ease before going further. Secondly, that he shall actually realize what a great amount of beautiful work can be made with one gouge of from one-fourth to one-third of an inch diameter; as, for instance, in inscriptions, interlacing bands or any kind of design formed of lines or cords, Celtic decoration, interlacing ropes or ribbons, etc. The artist who proposes to master carving for general decoration should pay particular attention to this simple work.
Beginners in carving are, without exception, so anxious to get ornaments or leaves in relief, and to produce some kind of high-class art work, that they pass over grooving and curve-carving or flat-cutting as of very little consequence, when in fact it would be in every way much more to their advantage to develop it to the utmost. The great reason why there is at present so little decoration of broad spaces in panels, scrolls, or furniture, by means of carving, is because all carvers are devoted almost exclusively to more ambitious work, and ignore what may be done with a few tools by the simplest methods.
THIRD LESSON.
FLAT PATTERNS MADE WITH CUTS AND LINES—CAVO RELIEVO OR INTAGLIO RILEVATO (CAVO-CUTTING).
There is an easy kind of flat or hollow carving, if it can be so called, which is executed with a gouge or V tool, or a firmer alone, but which produces flat patterns. Make the design, and as it is to be executed almost entirely with lines or grooves, or small hollows, it must be so designed that the patterns are close fitting, or separated only by lines. Now and then, or here and there, a small corner or larger space or cavity may be removed by a touch of the tool, but as a rule there is little work in it beyond mere lines. However, as in the gouge-work of the previous lesson, although anybody can learn in a day or two to “run” the lines, yet if good patterns be available, remarkably beautiful and valuable work may be produced by it. It is as applicable to cabinets, chests, panels for chairs, or other kinds of decoration. Of course the lines, or hollows, or excavations may, as in all cases, be filled in with colour, Fig. 31.
This work can often be very well executed with the firmer (or flat carver’s chisel) alone, and it will afford good practice to acquire familiarity with that greatly neglected tool.
Flat or cavo-cutting of this kind as work is only a little advance on grooving with a gouge, but its results may be very much more artistic. It occupies a position between gouge grooving and cutting out the ground. Each of these are as separated as so many distinct arts, but they lead one to the other, Figs. 31-35.
The easiest way to prepare this work is to execute the pattern on the wood in Indian ink, and then simply cut away all the black. The lines in leaves, etc., must be very carefully run with the V tool; all the larger hollows should be cut with a gouge. If very large hollows, or spaces, or grounds are left, they must be executed as described in the next lesson.
Observe in Figs. 31 to 35 that all the carving is confined to simply cutting away the parts indicated by the black ground. The fine lines can be best executed with a parting or V tool, and in many instances with the smallest gouge or veiner. Though not usual, it is excellent practice, when possible, to learn to do this with a small firmer, or carver’s chisel.
These cavo relievo or cut-out flat patterns are as easy of execution as gouge-work to any one who has learned the latter. They are not now much studied, but they are capable of a wide application in large decorative art. The lines and cavities look best when painted or dyed. It is the next step beyond gouge-work, which represents simple drawing of lines in design, and corresponds to sketching.
Contour or rounding and modelling of course correspond to light and shade, but plain gouge and cavo-cutting is simple sketching. Any animal, or a human figure, a vase, flowers, or vines may be thus carved, the only further condition being that the outlines shall always be broad and bold. Great care should be exercised not to make too many lines, especially fine ones, and in all cases to avoid detail, and make the design as simple as you can. When in thus outlining an animal you have clearly indicated, with as few lines as possible, what it is meant to be, you have done enough, as in all sketching the golden rule is to give as much representation with as little work as possible, Fig. 36.
It may be observed that familiar and extensive practice of the very easy gouge-groove work, and of simple flat or cavo-cutting in hollows, if carried out on a large scale, as for instance in wall and door patterns, gives the pupil far more energy and confidence, and is more conducive to free-hand carving and the sweep-cut, than the usual method of devoting much time in the beginning to chipping elaborate leaves and other small work. Therefore it will be well for the pupil to perfect himself in such simple groove and hollow work. This was the first step in mediæval carving, and it was the proper one for general decoration. It was in this manner that the old carvers of England and their masters, the Flemings, taught their pupils.
FOURTH LESSON.
CUTTING OUT A FLAT PANEL WITH A GROUND.
Let the pupil take a panel and draw on it a pattern, Fig. 37 a. He is to cut this out in what is called flat carving, and sometimes “ribbon work.” He begins by outlining, which may be effected in different ways. I. By taking a small fluter or veiner, or a tooling-gouge one-tenth of an inch in diameter, and cutting a groove all around the pattern just outside of it, but accurately close to it. If perfect in Lesson II. this will be very easy for him. II. He may do this also with a V or parting tool, but the gouge is better for a first attempt. III. The outline cutting may be effected by taking a firmer or carver’s chisel, one-third of an inch broad, and placing it “up and down” close to the pattern, but sloping outwardly, give it a tap with the mallet so as to sink it a very little way into the wood. Do not cut “straight up and down,” but so as to make a sloping bank. IV. There is yet another way, which is more difficult and seldom practised, yet which if mastered gives great skill in carving. Take the firmer or flat chisel, and holding it with great care run it along the edge, sloping outwards, so as to cut the line accurately. By means of this method the whole work may be very well outlined. It is not urged as absolutely necessary at a first lesson, but it is advisable to practise it sooner or later.
When the outlining is done, let the pupil take a flat gouge (if he has cut the line with a small gouge), and very carefully shave away the wood from the ground. Let him cut at first very little at a time, for his object is now not to make something to show, but to learn how to manage his tools. Do not finish all the cutting in one part at once, leaving the rest untouched, but go all over it gradually several times, until it is nearly perfect. Let every touch tell. Remove the wood at every cut, and leave no edges or splinters. To do this well you must also always watch and consider the grain of the wood at the particular spot you are operating upon; it is easy enough to see whether you are cutting with, that is in the same direction, as the grain, or across the grain; but it is something beyond this that has to be looked to. It is invariable that all wood, whether cut with the grain or partly across the grain, will be found to work better, smoother, and with less tendency to splinter either in the one or the other direction, that is to say, when cut from right to left, or the reverse, from left to right. The required direction in which it will cut the smoothest is at once shown by the behaviour of the wood itself and the quality of the results; hence, should the work or surface show a tendency to splinter, if possible cut it from the opposite direction, and turn the work round on the bench should that be necessary to enable you to do it, that is, if you cannot use the tool in either hand. Beware above all things of letting the hands work mechanically. Think of what you are about. By learning to cut clean and flat you are taking the first step towards the “sweep-cut,” which will come afterwards, and which requires both deliberation and dexterity.
When all is cut out nicely and carefully, take an extra flat gouge and clean “the floor,” removing every trace of unevenness. Then take a French round nail or bodkin, and with the mallet fill the ground with little holes so as to make a rough surface; or you may use one of the stamps for this. This requires care, so that the shape of the stamp may not be apparent. It is advisable to trim with a very sharp small chisel, and with great care, the edge of the pattern. For this lesson it will be best not to cut away more than one-fourth of an inch to form the ground.
If the outlining is done with a chisel and mallet, before cutting away the ground, go over the outline and cut at a little distance from the line already cut towards it, so as to remove the wood and form a V-shaped groove, as one digs with a spade.
Teachers or pupils are begged to remember that the sole object of this lesson is to learn how to handle and manage the tools; that is, to become familiar with them, and how to learn to cut a ground with skill and confidence. To do this there should be much occasional practice on bits of waste wood. Therefore it is earnestly urged that no beginner shall go further than the work described in this lesson until he or she can execute it with accuracy and ease. When this is gained all that remains to be done is easy.
The reason why the “parting” or V tool is not specially recommended to beginners for outlining is, that it is the most difficult of all tools in ordinary use to sharpen. The small gouge answers every purpose for the work in hand.
To recapitulate, first, we have the cutting away from between the outlines of the pattern: If the panel be half an inch in thickness, it should not be more than a quarter of an inch in depth. Cut over the whole very lightly at first, and then go over it again and again. Do not dig or cut out the whole quarter of an inch in one place at once, leaving the rest as yet untouched. Should you do this you will be led to cutting too deeply in some places. When the hard work is effectively executed, and nearly all the wood is roughly cut away, the work is said to be bosted or sketched, a word supposed to be derived from the French ébauché or the Italian abozzo, meaning the same thing.
After cutting Fig. 37 a, the pupil may proceed to 37 b, which is simply an amplification of the same.
FIFTH LESSON.
CUTTING SIMPLE LEAVES—CARVING WITH THE LEFT HAND—MODELLING OR ROUNDING—SHADED PATTERNS AND MODELLING—PROGRESS TOWARDS RELIEF.
It will be very much to the advantage of the pupil, so soon as he can cut confidently and correctly with the gouge or chisel, to practise with the left hand as well as the right. The younger he is the easier will it be to form this habit. A carving tool is sharpened from both sides because the edge, so made, enables the artist to cut from many positions without turning the wood, and when he can use both hands he has the same advantage to a greater degree. Try, therefore, to acquire a perfect command of the tools, so as to cut with both hands, and in many directions and ways, the greatest care being always taken, however, that you do not turn the point towards yourself, lest an unwary slip should produce a wound. When you can cut with confidence, and do not rely under any circumstance on splitting, digging, prizing up, “wriggling,” or rocking with the gouge to remove wood, then you can tell beforehand what you are about to do. To attain this skill you must frequently practise cutting on waste wood, and not spend all your time on perfectly finished work.
The pupil has been instructed in Lesson IV. how to cut out the ground from a flat panel, leaving the pattern in relief. Very beautiful patterns may be executed with very little finish; and a vast proportion of beautiful old Gothic wood-carving depended far more on outline than on modelling for its effect. Modelling is the rounding or shaping a pattern to give it form. Now leaves, in one shape or another, more or less natural, form a great proportion of all decorative design. When they are simplified from the original type, and made merely ornamental, yet still preserving so much of the original shape that we can plainly see what that type was, they are said to be “conventionalized.” It is, therefore, very important that the wood-carver should know how to carve leaves well. He has already learned how to make the simple outline or groove of one or many with a gouge, and how to remove the wood surrounding them. He may now go a step further and cut with great care the elementary pattern, Fig. 38. Use a flat gouge for gradually rounding and carving the surface, beginning with the outer or lower edge, and working up to the stem. The pupil will do this as well again, and with far greater confidence and ease, should he begin firstly by making a shaded copy of a leaf in pencil, then modelling it in clay, and then copying this in wood. The time thus spent will be gained in the end many times over by the skill and dexterity and eye-training acquired.
The first step in rounding a leaf is effected simply by “wasting” or chipping away little by little by straightforward cutting. This is the same for convexities and hollows. Such rounding and undulation is performed by skilled artists with very few tools, including gouges, skew-chisels, rasps, files, and the double-bent gouge.
The student may, in the beginning, round and scoop his leaves with any tools which seem fit, if he will only cut with the utmost caution, and keep the implements well sharpened. A very important and rather difficult part of this work is the cutting the ribs or stems which run through the leaf. One implement for this purpose is the so-called “macaroni tool,” but at present it is really very little used, owing to the great difficulty of keeping it sharp, and its liability to break. Nearly all veining can be executed with the fluter or large veiner, the hollow gouge, the V tool, or the flat gouge, according to circumstances.
“The wood,” as Eleanor Rowe remarks, “should be taken off in short, sharp touches, and not by deep and long cuts, and no attempt should be made to obtain a smooth surface until the form and general modelling of the leaf is done.” The edge of the leaf may be a little under-cut to give relief; this effect should be given by a V tool or small veiner. When the leaf is correct in form, proceed with flat gouges to remove the tool marks, holding the tool very firmly, and inclining it to an angle of about 45°.
It is advisable for the beginner to cut several simple leaves with great care, Fig. 39, and, if possible, let him draw, shade carefully, and model them all in clay before carving them. He will be astonished to find how much easier the latter process is, and with what confidence it can be carried out, after the two former have been executed. Having for several years had under my supervision large classes in wood-carving, both with and without modelling in clay, I speak from experience on this subject.
It is to be observed that, as leaves and sprays involve every possible curve, he who can design, model, and carve them well, will find no difficulty in executing birds, animals, or the human face or figure. In their simplest forms, or in flat work, these are all extremely easy. Then they may be a little rounded, or modelled, and so going on, step by step, the carver may come to full relief. Oak leaves are, perhaps, the most graceful of all objects, and lend themselves to as many forms as the acanthus, but they are also very difficult in their more advanced developments. Therefore they form an admirable subject for study.
SIXTH LESSON.
CUTTING WITH THE GRAIN—TURNING THE TOOL—THE DRILL—BOLD CARVING—AND LARGE WORK.
In both large and small carving there is one common difficulty, the frequent resistance of the grain of the wood and defects incidental to it. This question has already been touched upon in the Fourth Lesson, where the pupil has been told that he will usually find the wood cut more readily from the one side towards the other. To this may be added, that as he progresses and carves in higher relief he will not only find the same thing in working leaves and other ornament, but he will also find that some portions about these will always cut better, more smoothly, and without splintering, when the tool cuts downwards, that is, from the surface towards the background, but with other and quite adjacent portions when the tool is made to cut the reverse way or upwards. As a first rule, therefore, so soon as there is the smallest sign of splintering, try the cut from an opposite direction to remove it, and it should cease.
Further, if the edge of the gouge or firmer cut in certain directions against the grain of the wood, it will “catch,” or tear, or splinter. As another precaution against this, the carver may shift the position of the wood by unscrewing it, if it is held by a clamp or holdfast. This is more easily effected if he have, in the French fashion, only three or four nails driven into the table, in which case he has only to pick his work up and put it into a different position; or he may shift his own position. But it is best of all to be able to carve with both hands, a feat which, after all, is not difficult to acquire, and which comes very soon with a little practice; and to master the art of turning the tool about and cutting in any position, which also comes with practice to an incredible extent. He who can do this, can manage to cut with the grain in most cases without shifting the block.
Wood should never be torn or ripped; everything should be done by clean, smooth cutting. To make sure of this you must first of all keep every tool as sharp as a razor all the time, and always cut with the grain. Cutting diagonally, or partly across, is still cutting with the grain, and is easier and surer than going parallel with it.
Mark out the pattern, Figs. 40 or 41, and outline it. The Greek and Roman workmen, and very often those of later but early times, with a gimlet, or drill, or centre-bit, bored out holes here and there, both in wood-carving and in stone, and worked up to, or around these. They formed beginnings, as it were, to guide the gouge or chisel. These were often of great practical utility wherever a small round cavity occurred, but their chief use in wood was to aid and direct the tool in certain places where there were difficulties of grain to contend with, or sharp points or corners of ornaments likely to be broken off. I was once puzzled to know why the drill was so much more used in ancient than in modern carving, but reflection convinced me that where decorative work must be done expeditiously or cheaply, and a little coarseness of execution did not signify, it was a very great aid.
In the pattern, Fig. 38, the leaf is easy to cut; that is to say, one single leaf. Cutting it once more, or repeating it, is only doing the same work over again; yet if this same leaf, or another not a bit more difficult, be repeated twenty-five or thirty times in a wreath, it will seem to be a very difficult piece of work. Now, it is a matter of importance to understand that if you can do a very small, simple piece of wood-carving really well, you can also by mere patience and repetition execute a piece of work which would seem to be very remarkable, or quite beyond your power. The illustration to this lesson, Fig. 40, shows what I mean. Almost any one with care could cut out a leaf, and he who has done one can repeat it in any other arrangement. Now a vast proportion of all decorative patterns in flat or ribbon-work, and even in higher relief, are formed on this principle of repetition, or of so-called “lobes,” so that he who can carve even a little neatly may be confident almost from the beginning of being able to execute even valuable work.
Such a panel as Fig. 41, when once carved, may serve for the lid or sides of a box, the cover of an album, or any object with a smooth, flat surface. But I cannot repeat too often this injunction, to constantly practise cutting on waste wood, so as to acquire facility of hand, before attempting anything which is to be shown or sold. It is unfortunately true that, left to himself or herself, there is not a pupil in a thousand who would not devote all the time or work to producing show-pieces, even at the first cutting, instead of practising so as to learn how to produce them.
When pupils have teachers who are practical and workmanlike, it is probable that as soon as they can handle the tools they will be set at bold, large work. This is fortunate for them, since it is the greatest advantage one can have, be it in Design, Modelling, Wood-carving, or any other art of the kind, to be made familiar with free-hand, large, and vigorous execution.
Highly Finished Studies of Foliage. P. 48
SEVENTH LESSON.
THE SWEEP-CUT OR FREE-HAND CARVING—CUTTING NOTCHES IN LEAVES—THE ROUND-CUT.
Boldness in cutting is a matter of very great importance, since no one can carve really well till he gets beyond chipping or “wasting.” To carve boldly we must use the sweep-cut. It may be observed that in modelling in clay there are certain methods of shaping the material, which are quite peculiar; as, for instance, when we press the modelling tool down or up, and at the same time turn it to the left or right. This makes an inclination upwards or a depression downwards, yet sloping to one side or the other. It is made by two movements in one; so in cutting with a sword or long knife, if we chop, yet at the same instant draw the blade, the result is a much deeper incision. This is called the draw-cut, and by means of it a man may cut a sheep in two, or sever a handkerchief or lace veil thrown into the air.
Very much like this is the double motion of the hand in the sweep-cut, which must be acquired by all who would learn to carve leaves well. It is not quite true that all work must go through the three stages of blocking out, bosting, and finishing; for when leaves are carved with the sweep-cut they are generally finished at one operation. With this cut, which is usually performed with a flat gouge, the wood is removed so as to give a peculiar form or curve—as when a leaf slopes down and sideways—by a single but compound movement; that is, we must, while pressing the edge, also move it or give it a slight lateral motion. This sweep or side-cut is developed more fully in sloping larger and especially rounded surfaces, like whole leaves, which rise and fall, or undulate, Figs. 41, 42. This cut, by means of which one can carve with confidence the most brittle and difficult wood, requires a tool of very good quality, which must be kept scrupulously sharp. It must be practised on waste wood till the pupil is a master of it, but when it is once acquired, wood-carving, as regards all large and effective work, may be said to really have no further difficulties. With some it seems to come all at once, by inspiration.
The simplest or first form of the sweep-cut occurs in making leaves. Every one who has tried this knows that the cutting the notches or making lobes in the wood, but especially the shaping the points, is a difficult matter, for if we simply shove or press the edge of the cutter, as in ordinary or plane work, the leaf will probably break, especially if the wood be “splitty,” uneven, or brittle. Having marked out a circle to include the lobes of the leaf, we cut a notch half way between the proposed points, and by shaving first from one side and then the other, bring the leaf or its lobes into shape, Fig. 43. Of course, in doing this we cut from the point to the corners.
For the present it will suffice to apply it in its simplest and easiest form to cutting groups of leaves. In the previous lesson the pupil has been told how to cut out a single plain leaf in relief by simply “wasting” or chipping away the wood little by little with a flat gouge. In like manner it might be filed, or rasped, or scraped like metal, into shape. Let the pupil now sketch Fig. 43, and then bost it out, by cutting round and clearing away as already described.
The dotted lines indicate the original shape or circles in which the leaves are cut. When it is “all done but the finishing,” or bosted, then cut the notches backwards in the manner already described. And, as I have said, if the pupil has practised the sweep-cut, and keeps his flat gouge perfectly sharp, he may cut the finest notches in the smallest leaves in the splittiest wood without once breaking away a piece.
The sweep-cut gives perfect confidence, and he who has acquired it, and knows how to apply it so as to make any curve or boss or involution which he pleases, may be said to have passed from the amateur stage to that of the artist, or at least of the clever workman. By means of it one can model the most refractory wood into any shape, and to any one who is expert at it oak is as easy to carve as pine. Therefore the pupil should spare no pains to acquire it; and it will come sooner perhaps than he expects if he first of all takes all pains to understand what it really is, and secondly to practise it for a few hours on waste wood. There are, however, many carvers who pass months or years in “wasting” away wood by simple straight cutting or chipping before they get any idea of what a sweep-cut is—if indeed they ever learn it. But if the pupil has previously acquired skill, that is to say, ease and confidence in running gouge lines and hollow cutting and shaping simple leaves by straight cutting, he will without doubt find that the free-hand sweep-cut comes as by inspiration.
EIGHTH LESSON.
FURTHER APPLICATION OF THE SWEEP-CUT TO HIGHER RELIEF.