Stan the carving man

Stan is an experienced cabinetmaker who felt he would like a hobby which was a little less physical, and two years ago he approached master carver, Bill Parrack, about learning to carve. He took lessons and found he enjoyed carving.

Stan is currently working on an owl which will hold a clock in its abdomen.

He said the hole for the clock will be drilled out up to the rim of the clock. It will then be the carved to represent feathers around the clock face.

But in carving the body of the owl, Stanley had to “bost” his piece, one of the most difficult facets of carving to master.

Bosting, also known as roughing out, blocking in, or wasting, is shaping and isolating the main forms and masses of a carving by chopping the bulk of the waste material away in the block of wood before carving commences.

It requires cutting vertically into the wood at 90 degrees to obtain a sheer face, or the cut can be at a slight angle to highlight shading on the carving.

Part of the problem is knowing how deep to cut because the piece is then chiselled horizontally to the depth of the bosting.

“Of course, if you make a wrong cut you merely make an ‘artistic correction’ which incorporates the cut into the aesthetics of the piece and leaves the viewer none the wiser,” said Mr Lewis.

His mentor, Bill Parrack, said that a person does not have to be artistic to become a carver. “But you do need to be able to see what you are looking at,” said Mr Parrack.

Mr Parrack is regarded as one of the country’s foremost master carvers and teachers of the art.

Mr Lewis is a member of the East Rand Woodworkers’ Association (ERWA).

To learn more about carving, contact Mr Parrack on 084 509-7379.