Pizart BACK |
Bas Relief
Cut
it down and cut it up
and
take it quarter-sawn,
and
put it into storage for at least a year or two.
Pile
it neatly, air between,
and
stickers dryly set at intervals,
between
the boards, while arid gently breaks.
Then
with blades of plane and boards
again
between, surface smooth your
pile
unpiled and pile them up once more.
Here
they sit,
prepared
for use,
no
check, no warp, and shrunk.
Now
required just the edges,
joined
and glued, a butt.
Ready,
now you’re set to carve,
and
what a relief
you’ll
have when finished.
One Sung Love
What
do I know about Sumac wood?
I
know that it’s green, and the grain is good
for
carving a grasshopper, one foot by four,
by
four inches high, or more.
And
Basswood, what do I know of it?
Just
that it’s soft, and treasured a bit
for
the pleasure of carving whatever is wont
to
come from a measure of it.
Walnut,
I know, can be just as dear
to
the heart of a carver, as anyone near
to
the trade can attest. And it’s
possibly true,
that
American Black Walnut is best.
And
Butternut, sometimes creamy and brown,
carves
with an ease that makes no carver frown.
And
anyone, from Butternut, with mind that is fertile,
can
carve a dancing turtle.
And
how about Willow? The color’s
exciting,
and
softness and grain make it very inviting
to
cut from the depth of a four by four foot,
a
dog, with a lop ear to boot.
I
know of a Juniper, Red Cedar by fame,
whose
color and scent live up to the name.
With
a grain sometimes wild, and knotted, and free
to
become just a small part of me.
And
what of the Pine, so carevably white?
That
can be any good carver’s delight.
For
the head of a decoy we would recommend
this
Pine, of your search be the end.
And
a few other woods I recognize now:
Cherry,
and Poplar, even Cypress, I’ll allow
can
be good for carving a pig or a horse.
But
that’s an opinion, of course.
To
go to the pith of the matter at hand,
it’s
really a pleasure them all to expand
by
carving away the wood in excess
and
each time arrive at success.