Strapwork Carving

and the beginning of a new video

[The video embedded here wasn’t working for a day or so - but it’s fixed now…]

I had a couple of days out of the shop - too cold. Got back in there for half a day today and it was comfortable enough. I have a box I’m working on for a client. I carved the front a while back - it’s 8” high and I had no more oak that size dry enough to use right now. I planed a bunch of it a month ago, I’ll wait maybe another week or two for the rest of this box. It will get initials carved in some of that blank space and a lock up near the top edge.

Dedham box front

In the meantime I began two things I’ve been thinking about - one being another strapwork-patterned box. The other being a video about carving these designs. I had some 6” wide stock hanging around - so off I went…

the incised pattern; half a box-front

I’ve done some youtube videos about carving these designs, but now I want to re-tackle it - I have some ideas about how to present it more clearly. And I’d like to talk about the (very few) New England examples and the numerous English ones. The one I’m carving now is based on a box that is in the collection of Historic New England. Their photo of the box - originally it had a drawer below, but this is how it has looked since it was “discovered.”

HNE box; Thomas Dennis, c. 1660-1706

I work in my shop alone - so when I’m shooting photos, there’s a camera on a tripod. I’ve worked that way since Jennie Alexander taught me a bit about photography and we were trading notes and letters, starting in 1989. Today I didn’t drag out that gear until I was underway - so my first shots and video of this go-around are about the background removal - not about the layout.

some of the tools and half the pattern