Hints on Documentation, given to a Wood Carver Documenting a Chest...

by Mistress Isobel Grace Haddleigh

Intro:

A few sentences on box/chest carving, then a few sentences on the particular box or box type that you are carving. Don't go crazy. Don't give the exhaustive history of box carving, or of carving in general. The judges will want to beat you to death....or at least won't read it.

What is it? One picture of the original period box/chest that you are trying to recreate, or that has the "flavor" of the one that you are creating. Date, who owned, where is it now? Reference for this picture. Maybe book with the picture in it, present on table also.

Goals Section (optional):

Design:

Used a traditional __________ design, often seen on period boxes, as shown in the picture, above. Why different from original? Ex. Altered it for a customer to contain her coat of arms. Or...put a Celtic design...not often seen on boxes of this sort, but requested by customer (you will probably lose a few points for this...life goes on. If you want a show box for A&S, then try to duplicate an existing period box as nearly as possible, using both techniques and materials. You can also probably do well showing a box shaped like yours, then showing that a particular design was often carved at that time on items similar to boxes).

Construction:

Break down the construction process.

Materials:

Wood: Period use (reference). What did you use? Is it the same as was used in the period box? Why did you choose something different? Note...cost can count, particularly when your goal is to learn part of a period technique, without using the most expensive materials.

Putty: blah blah. In period used ______ (reference). I used ________. Explanation if different: ex. This is as close to period as is safe...the period stuff contains something horrible that kills wood workers prematurely. (Judges respect the "safety" type of argument, if this is indeed the case). Stain: Blah blah..similar or different from period, when they used ________ (ref). Justify.

Nails/pegs: Period boxes were put together with______ (ref). I put his one together with _________ because....

Equipment:

What you used. What they used in period. Why you chose to use what you did (Working on design, rather than the actual carving, would be a good excuse to use non-period tools... later boxes will be constructed using more period tools).

Technique:

Cutting: Made such and such joints. These were or were not used in period (give reference and picture if possible).

Carving: As discussed in methods and design section, used _______ to carve this period/non-period design. Did it prior to assembly, which is period/non-period... etc.

Assembling: Put together with (pegs/nails), similar or different than in period. Finishing/polishing. How done by you and in period.

Conclusions:

What you learned from this box. How do you like how it turned out?

Bibliography:

What books did you reference in your documentation? Some laurels are fixated on you having three references; cover your rear and put at least three. For a box, it would be easy to have a reference for the book showing the box, a book on basic carving techniques, and a book on the history of carving wood boxes.

Put everything up to the conclusion in two pages, if at all possible. If you’ve done a good bit of research, put it all in... but then make a second documentation card (see Gunnvör’s article) for people to look at quickly. Pick your favorite Laurel or two, and tell them about what is in your entire documentation. Put your bibliography on a third page, and you will be able to use it again and again. Make up a notebook with all of your documentation in it, with photos, to serve as a stand in for given-away projects, in body of work competitions.

Good luck!