All wood employed for carving - purposes must be well seasoned, and free from"knots,"or faults. If, however, work has been begun on a piece of wood which shows, by"warping,"that it has not been properly seasoned, it need not necessarily be thrown away on that account. Try first to remedy the defect by one of the following simple means. Either place a damp towel under the concave side of the wood, and a weight (not so heavy as to break the wood) over it, or place the warped wood at about three feet from an ordinary fire, with its convex side towards it. Whichever plan is adopted, watchfulness is needed so as not to"overdo"the remedy, and thus to allow the wood to warp in the contrary direction.

The choice of the wood to be used is of much consequence. I have already spoken of the advantages possessed by lime-wood: it is quite as suitable for small works as for large designs. Sycamore, holly, and chestnut are among the lightest of our woods. Sycamore is therefore generally used for bread-plates. American walnut is of a dark color. Accidents are more apt to occur in working with it than with lime-wood, owing to its more open grain; but it is much in favor for small works, where no great thickness or solidness of carving is required. Oak is oftenest chosen for church-work or solid furniture. Pear somewhat resembles lime in working, but it is darker and harder. Italian walnut is also one of the harder woods ; but it is beautifully adapted for panels and cabinets, and well repays the extra labor which it entails. For very fine work, close-grained woods, such as box or ebony, are the best.

Before beginning to draw on the wood, it is advisable to whiten the surface by brushing Chinese white, diluted with water, over it. In case you are working on a dark wood, this will enable you to see your drawing or tracing clearly on it. But there is another reason for the"whitening,"besides this; namely, that in the after-process of carving, when you have already cut away a good deal of the groundwork, the places where the white remains will show you plainly where you require the greatest relief or projection. If your design is of a conventional or geometrical type, the two sides being similar the one to the other, rule a line down the centre of your piece of wood. Draw your design on one side only; trace it; then lay your tracing over the other side, with dark tracing-paper between, and retrace it. If your design is of a flowing or irregular type, it is best to draw the whole on paper first, and, having made a tracing of it, to retrace the whole at once on your wood.

I should strongly advise those who are beginners in the art of wood-carving to try their skill first on a simple design involving no very great amount of labor. We will suppose that you have chosen a spray of ivy (see illustration), and propose to carve it on a piece of lime-wood. Bear in mind that every cut you make will tend either to beautify or spoil your design, and will bear a clear and lasting testimony for or against you. Having drawn or traced your design on the wood, take your carving-gouge No. 3, and, wherever it fits the curves of your design, proceed to outline with it. Outlining is technically called "hosting,"a word probably derived from the Italian Abbozare,"to sketch."You will probably have to use several variations of the carving-gouge, possessing edges with different sweeps of curvature. It is quite impossible to lay down a rigid law as to what tools will be required for different parts of your work; as practice, and practice only, will soon teach you which tools will fit the different curves, and are therefore the best adapted to your purpose. Hold your tool in your right hand, either quite perpendicularly or slightly bending outwards (on no account let it slope inwards, and thus tend to undercut the leaves); press it into the wood by gentle taps with your mallet. When the mallet is not required, the handle of whatever carving-tool you are using should be grasped firmly in the right hand, the left wrist lying on your work, and the left hand holding the tool a little below the middle; or the left hand may be held in a hollowed position, so that the tool rests in front against its fingers. This position enables the right hand to act as a guide, while the left hand steadies the tool, and prevents it from slipping forward. If these instructions are carefully followed, any injury to the work or hands will effectually be prevented.

Fig. 128. - Spray of Ivy-leaves.

Now cut or scoop away the wood of the ground; that is, every part except where the stalks and leaves are to be formed, with your chisels. This"cutting-away"process is often repeated two or three times by carvers. But, having cut away the wood once, you can then save yourself a great amount of labor, and at the same time insure your ground being perfectly level and smooth, by using the cutter No. 12. This is a small piece of steel, with a flat sharp edge, inserted between two strips of wood. This steel should be made to project beyond the strips to the depth which you wish your ground to be of, and is then securely fastened by the strips being tightly screwed together. Move the cutter steadily backwards and forwards until it has cleared the ground to the depth you require, taking care not to injure the outlines of your design in going round them. This grounding is the only work in carving which necessitates any considerable exertion : you will therefore find it pleasanter, generally, to have two or more pieces of wood-carving on hand at the same time, in different stages of workmanship; so that you need not overtire yourself by doing all the hard work at once.

The grounding being done, the formation of the stalks and leaves next engrosses our attention. The stalk must not have the same amount of projection in every part. In nature, the stalk is much thicker at A than at B; and your carving must imitate nature as closely as possible. The surfaces of the leaves are rounded, and have a downward slope towards the edges. The leaves C, D, and E, lie above the stalk, and must therefore project over it; while the leaf F lies under the stalk, and must therefore have a much slighter projection. The stalk should be rounded, but left rather rough, in order to preserve a natural appearance. Where one stem passes over the other, G and H, a clear distinction between each stem must be observed; and yet the under stem must not be cut away or depressed in an abrupt manner. To avoid this, begin your line of slope sufficiently far back, and cut away the wood equally on each side of the under stem.