Carving Ripples

[Dan]

I need to carve some water ripples and I was wondering if anyone could give me some advise or show me some examples because I have not found a example of ripples on water caused by a fish coming to surface.

[Janel]

My approach to carving water/ripples back when I was carving porcelain, was to look at water, and photos of water with various sorts of ripples. I would then draw the linear elements on one side of a piece of tracing paper, and do the shading on the other side. The shading was my guide to depth of the relief carving, and helped to sort out the positive and negative parts of the carvings. I have carved very little of water as a theme on wood. Subtle staining might help once the carving is completed and ready for the finish.

 

Good luck with doing the research and study of how to carve water and ripples before you launch into the selected piece upon which you will do the carving. Testing on scrap material of the same is really a good idea. Remember that it is an interplay between light and shadow, and you must decide from which angle and perspective it will be portrayed

[Dan]

ill practice on mahogany since im carving on purple heart and i dont have much in the way of scrap. mahogany and purple heart while different densities both have strait grains.thanks for the advise. have you ever seen it carved on the surface of wood before?

[Janel]

I was curious if a web search would bring forth images with this search term: water ripples carved into wood

 

I then looked at the images instead of the page with text and links and found: https://www.canadianwoodworking.com/plans-projects/relief-carving

 

If you give it some time you will find other examples on the web.

 

The fellow is sharing his "how-to" for carving swans, the ripples are not explained, but one can see them.

 

Looking at photos of water ripples, then drawing the up and down as light and dark areas can then help be a guide. A decision needs to be made about what kind of ripples, such as concentric rings from a pebble or fish jump breaking smooth water, or slight breeze to major breeze ripples, or river movement ripples, or river and breeze ripples, or ripples that go around grasses or river plants, to name a few kinds of ripples. Then one can go about figuring out how to carve the ripples by identifying the up and down, the angle of view and perspective, or from straight overhead. Good luck with it.

 

Janel

[Dan]

ok excellent when I did a search I kept getting photos of water and lathe turnings with rippling cuts thanks a lot ill be sure to post pictures of the pond desk set im working on.

[Janel]

Hi Dan,

 

I also saw the lathe turned ripples on vessels so I changed the search terms, which was helpful. The internet can be an amazing resource, and can be quite a distraction when something causes me to deviate from the original search. The huge library aspect is very much appreciated. Good luck with the project.

 

Janel

[Dan]

base is purple heart the log and plants is black locust the inlay is howlight (white, fins are orange calcite, and red spots is a red coral) I like the fish but I don't know that I like the plants and logs they look little plain in comparison but I don't know how I should change it or what I should use instead.thinking I might use my wood burner to texture the wood thought I would ask what you guys think before I spend more time on finishing

 

 

 

[yloh]

Thanks for sharing your wonderful work.

yloh