miniature carving
john lucas
I'll take a photo when I'm done. Right now I'm trying to duplicate some miniature carving done on a 115 year old Grandfather clock. So Far I've only managed to cut my thumb once so I had to stop for a few minutes to keep the blood off the turning. It's a really shallow cut so no problems. This is moulding that is just a little over 1/4" tall. It's taking all my patience and skill to do. I cut for a few minutes and then quit because it takes really really steady hands to do this. I'm taking off slices thinner than a piece of paper. I've almost got the carving done and will then start trying to match the stain. Didn't quite get the carving right the first time around so tried more of a chip carving technique and that seems to be working.
Once I get this done it's time to work on the broken and missing finials. That part is easy because it's turned. Matching the stain is still difficult. Won't be doing much turning other than these finials for the next few weeks. I need to get this clock restored and out of my hair. I'll take some photos later today to show what I'm up against. Here is a photo we found in a book when trying to age the clock and see what the missing finial looked like. The top part of the central finial is what is missing. The left finial is broken off and was broken in two. I got it fixed already. There is minor damage all over the clock so I'm working on that and trying to carve and replace the small missing pieces of carved molding. This clock is 8'6" tall.