THE CRAFTS 
WOOD CARVING AND PYROGRAPHY. LEATHER AND METAL. BASKETRY, ETC. 
Under the inanagement of Miss Emily Peacock, Karol Shop, 22 East i6th St., New York. All inquiries in regard to the varioiis 
Crafts are to be sent to the above address, but will be answered in the magazine under this head. 
A II questions viuM he received before the lOih day of month preceding issue and vnll be answered under -'Answers to Inquiries" ojily. Please do not send stamped 
envelope for reply. The editors will answer questions only in these columns. 
JAPANESE GRILLE 
WOOD CARVING. 
Chapter 3 — flat and pierced carving 
Elisabeth Saugstad 
BEGINNERS usually want to start right away on a 
"piece," and then in the constant fear of "spoihng" 
it, work in a cramped and fussy way that is very hard to 
overcome. Technical skill comes only by doing much 
work, but freedom and flexibility and a large, simple and 
direct way of working, which is so essential in carving, can 
be most quickly gained by practising at first on waste 
pieces of soft wood, where mistakes will not matter; and 
even later it is always a good plan to try out a portion of 
any new design, or problem, on a small piece of wood of the 
kind to be used. 
There is nothing better to practise on than clear, close 
grained white pine. Begin with the V tool, holding it, as 
all the tools are held, with the top of the handle resting 
in the palm and grasped by the right hand, which supplies 
force and guidance. The left hand holds the blade and 
lower part of handle and steadies and restrains, both 
sensitively alive to every variation in texture and grain. 
They should be held firmly but flexibly, and the whole 
position should be as free and comfortable as possible. 
Just cut lines without thinking of their quality until the 
hand feels at home with the tool, then try to get the lines 
of even width throughout, whether shallow or deep. Then 
draw some simple curves and straight lines and angles and 
follow those. When some freedom has been gained take a 
piece of pine about 6 or 8 by 12 inches, and draw some 
large simple form like illus. i, for instance, being careful to 
leave no small angles and spaces too narrow for the tools. 
The design can be transferred to the wood with carbon 
paper, or it can be gone over with crayon or soft pencil, 
turned face down on the wood and rubbed on with the back 
of a knife blade or tool handle. Strengthen, if necessary, 
with a pencil, for a clear, firm outline is a great help, and go 
around it with the V tool, just touching the outline and 
about a sixteenth of an inch deep. 
Then take the chisels and gouges as they will best fit 
the lines of the design, and holding them upright, stab them 
straight down in the line of the V tool to the desired depth 
of the background — about a quarter of an inch in this case, 
and using the mallet if necessary. When all around, take 
a gouge proportioned to the depth and size of the spaces and 
cut out the background around the design, cutting in 
towards it all the time; then rough out what remains, and 
TREATMENT OF CANE DESIGN 
INTERLACED DESIGN 
