Loading ...As I mentioned in the previous post, my trip to the 2010 Florida Woodturning Symposium started with a workshop with Dixie Biggs. I have admired Dixie’s work for a long time, so I was really excited about meeting her and the opportunity to take the workshop with her. I was not disappointed!
Dixie Biggs offering some advice during the workshop
Prior to the workshop Dixie sent out an e-mail with a list of supplies she wanted everyone to bring to the workshop. The list included a variety of carving burrs. This was her basic recmmendation, all available from MDI Woodcarvers Supply:
- Stump cutter #20-B5
- Mini Stump cutter # 21-SET36
- Mini Stump cutter # 21-SET39
- Diamond cutter set #17-20SET
- Kutzalls bur #12-3F1
Not a long list, it came to around $50 with shipping, and I was pleased to find out at the workshop that this set of carving burrs would enable me to get a good start with carving. As an aside I found the service from MDI Woodcarvers Supply to be excellent. The burrs arrived within a couple of days and they had substituted the 12-3F1 burr, which was out of stock, with a more expensive 37-3F1Y burr for no extra charge. There was even a hand written note explaining what they had done and telling me that if I was in Dixie’s class she was aware of the change.
The image below shows my efforts from the workshop. As it was one of my first attempt at carving I was quite pleased with it.
Work in progress
Dixie work primarily consists of carved leaves. To that end she has a Tupperware case of dried leaves that she uses as patterns. She also has a case of patterns that she has transferred onto a material called Borco. Also called Vyco board cover, it is the plastic board cover used on drafting tables and drawing boards. It is easily cut with a pair of scissors or utility knife and is pliable so that it can be bent around the surface of a bowl while you trace the pattern onto your workpiece. While the the Vyco has the advantage of being more durable than a dried leaf, it has the disadvantage that you are not able to observe the finer details and contours of the leaf. A quick online search for “Vyco board cover” revealed this result.
Gene and Nancy O'Donnell carving up a storm
To get us started, Dixie provided us with some leaf templates which we traced onto our workpiece. She then outlined the steps needed to carve the leaves. They were as follows:
- Carve out the outline of the two leaves. This thin outline needs to be carved to the final depth of the leaves. While carving the burr needs to be held so that it is cutting at 90 degrees to the surface of the piece.
- Then carve away the area around the leaves to establish the background.
- With the background of the two leaves established, you then carve the outline of where the two leaves overlap.
- Then an area of the lower leaf is carved away so that part of the lower leaf is below the level of the upper leaf. You don’t need to carve the whole lower leaf to achieve this, just the section that is close to the upper leaf. Note also that this carving does not go as deep as your background carving.
- If you want to show the veins of the leaves, these are now carved. I chose not to do this.
- The two leaves are then shaped by carving their surface contours and undulations. This is best achieved by observing an actual leaf and seeing how the contours of the leaf flow from the edges and the various veins.
- Then the surface of the leaf is smoothed and sanded using finer burrs and sandpaper. (I did not have time to get started on this during the workshop)
- Lastly the leaves are undercut to allow them to stand out from the background. When undercutting the stems, Dixie emphasized the importance of being careful as the stems are pretty delicate.
Yours truly engrossed in my carving
Listening to Dixie talk it became obvious that observation and procedures where important in carving. You need to observe the leaf closely in order to replicate it while carving and the steps you follow while carving are important to the final outcome.
During the workshop Dixie provided us with a list of carving supply sources:
- Wood Carvers Supply
- MDI Woodcarvers Supply
- Treeline
- Christian J. Hummul Company
- Rio Grande (Jewelry Supplies)
- The Sanding Glove (Pfingst Micro Sander & 3M Scotch-Brite Radial Bristle Discs)
- Constantines (Paste Wood Filler)
- Crafts Supply USA (Liberon White Liming Wax & Black Patinating Wax)
The final image shows some of the pieces Dixie had in the instant gallery. Definitely something to aspire to!
Dixie Biggs' work in the 2010 Florida Woodturning Symposium Instant Gallery
Thanks to Ed Malesky for the pictures taken during the workshop! I was to engrossed in my work to take any pictures 
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