“In my opinion, wood is the warmest material in every sense of the word and the most powerful,” admits Bohdan Gritsak. Today he is one of the most famous carvers in Russia and Ukraine, the owner of his own workshop Artwoodbg. His products are known to everyone who appreciates exclusive handcraft, high quality and aesthetics of wood.

The tree in all its manifestations always bewitched him: he could not look at the slender trunks of pine trees without a sinking heart, and the textures of oak and pear excite his imagination. It’s impossible to believe your eyes: the things that Bogdan creates, these elegant cabinets on legs with scrolls, carved berries and wolf hairs, are made from a piece of wood. The very piece that anyone will pass by without flinching. But Bogdan is able to feel its warmth and power, to give life in a new form.

Bogdan Gritsak agreed to tell us about his profession in all details.

What kind of profession is this? What is the carver's goal?

What I do is called artistic woodworking. This is a type of decorative and applied art. Unfortunately, the profession itself is quite rare today. Computer progress, which influenced the spread of CNC machines, has reduced the appearance of real masterpieces, because, as it seems to me, they are created only by hand! For me, wood carving is the path to happiness through the spirituality of creativity. The more I give away beauty, the more I am charged with positive energy. Sincere and honest art is powerful and forever. This is inspiring!

What should a person who decides to become a carver do? Where to begin?

At a minimum, read an introductory book about wood carving. Watch how the masters work. After which you need to get a “knife-jamb” chisel and a linden board. You should start with geometric carving... this is the perfect and simple introduction to cutting tools and wood. There are also professional virtuosos in this style of carving who can provide inspiration. If the acquaintance was successful and you became familiar with this wonderful art, you can acquire a minimum set of chisels for artistic wood carving. And conquer new heights. It is ideal, of course, to have an art school background or be able to draw!

Where can you learn carving?

I can say for sure that only a professional master can teach. At one time, it was enough for me to simply watch how the masters worked. It was priceless. I collected all kinds of information from the world, bit by bit. I remember how I ended up in a carving workshop to do an internship after college. You could see how more than one master works. Everyone has different styles and working methods. You need to not just adopt knowledge, but try to surpass it. It worked for me. I believe that it is in such an environment that you can learn to create professionally - that is, become a real creator and then build your own path.

Specifically, I did not study to be a carver in educational institutions. I already came there with experience. I just have a diploma in “carpenter-furniture upholsterer” and a diploma in “technologist in the woodworking industry” after technical school. This, of course, is not wood carving... but the acquired professions perfectly complement my creative path. I am sure that self-education is much stronger and more important than what is taught in educational institutions. The main desire.

Do you conduct master classes?

I rarely conduct master classes. There is not enough time for this - there are many projects of my own that need to be implemented. I plan to build a creative foundation, which in the future, I think, will make it possible to approach learning more thoroughly!

What difficulties would you note on this professional path?

Having the right comfortable workshop with all the tools. This is quite an expensive part. But everything is possible if there is a firm goal. The second point is the ability to sell and find clients. Sometimes it can be quite difficult. The main thing is to create honest, exclusive and new products with love! Sooner or later they will notice it! Such things do not go unnoticed.

Who are your clients?

True connoisseurs of handmade work. People who love high-quality exclusive products. Collectors.

What can a carver not do without?

Without a good atmospheric workshop. But when it comes to small items, a small table and a set of tools in the corner of the apartment are enough. You also cannot do without inspiration; you need to be able to draw it from the right sources before each project. Grow spiritually! Be sure to start work only in a good mood and with love! It is important.

A tree is a unique gift of nature, something alive and amazing. Talking to it and hearing it, transforming it into new forms is, of course, the task of the carver. And the purity, warmth and beauty of future creations depends on how sensitive a master he is.

You can learn more about the work of Bohdan Gritsak here:
https://vk.com/artwoodbg
(@artwoodbg)

Wood carver

Wood carving is one of the most popular artistic crafts. Since ancient times, people have decorated
wood carvings of their homes, objects of labor and everyday life. And in the north, where people were surrounded by huge forests, where all buildings and almost all household items were made of wood, and in the south of our country, where there were few trees, in cities and villages - almost everywhere people were engaged in wood carving.

But here’s the problem - carved wood, even with very careful storage, sometimes gets destroyed. And for many such works it is simply impossible to create favorable conditions. A huge number of them were destroyed or damaged during periods of natural disasters and wars. Modern craftsmen - woodcarvers - can restore lost beauty to people. Another direction of their activity is performing decorative work for trade and catering enterprises, wedding palaces and clubs, theaters, concert halls, museums, etc.

These craftsmen work in art and design factories, at folk arts and crafts enterprises, and in organizations involved in the restoration of ancient buildings and things.

Most often, a woodcarver works at a workbench designed in the same way as a carpenter's workbench. Work is done standing or sitting. Various devices can be used to fix large products during processing. In some cases, carvers work directly at the site of restoration or installation of wood carvings.

Carving is done mainly using various chisels. Straight chisels are mainly used for clearing backgrounds in relief carvings, but may be needed in other cases. Chisels with a straight blade beveled at an angle of 60-70° at the end are called cutters and are used for shallow carving of geometric patterns. Semicircular chisels are divided into flat, medium and steep. The shape of a semicircular chisel is determined by the bending radius of the blade and the width of the blade in a straight line. For sloping chisels, the bending radius of the blade is approximately twice as large as its width, for medium chisels it is equal to the width of the blade, and for steep chisels it is half the width.

Another type of chisel is tsaraziki; in their shape they are very similar to narrow semicircular chisels, but in cross section, in addition to the sharp bend of the blade, they have like walls. Carrots are used to cut veins.

V-shaped chisels are used to cut lines and veins. The angle is formed by a sheet sharply bent along the length, each side of which is 5-15 mm.

Cranberries are any chisels with a very short blade and a long neck curved near the blade. They are used to make deep bas-relief carvings.

The quality and speed of the work depends on the correct selection of chisels. Some carvers who carefully assemble their tools have several hundred different chisels at their disposal.

Much in the work of a carver also depends on the selection of material. The tree is very diverse in its properties.

Let's get acquainted with the wood stored at the workshop. Let's pay attention to a thick stump of some light wood that has no noticeable texture. Let's run our fingernail along its surface. The wood is so soft that a fingernail mark was clearly visible on it. This is linden, perhaps the most commonly used tree by carvers. Linden wood cuts easily and cleanly. Works made from it are less susceptible to cracking and warping. Next to the linden tree is a huge butt of a yellowish-brown tree with a large, pronounced texture. Here we have oak - a hard, very durable tree that acquires a beautiful dark tone over time.

By chance we hit some trunk, which responded to us with a clear, distinct sound. So we found a maple tree. It has light, slightly yellowish-pink dense wood. When working with maple, the carver has to exert significant physical effort, but this material conveys the finest movements of the tool.

Next we saw wide planks of wood of a distinct reddish hue. This is mahogany (mahogany). It cuts well, but requires care, as if handled carelessly, some part of the image may break off. And here is another, slightly reddish tree. It turns out that alder wood has this appearance; It is very soft, cuts well, and warps a little. Alder can be polished and painted to imitate mahogany or ebony. Next to the alder is a block of brownish wood. This is a nut. For a carver, walnut is a fertile material: it cuts well in all directions, rarely chips, and conveys the finest carvings.

Now let's see how the cutter works. Here is a carver making a floral ornament. When starting to make a pattern with high relief, the master must choose a chisel whose curvature would correspond to the curvature of the part of the pattern from which he intends to start working. Having placed the chisel on the outside, tightly against the line, and holding it with such an inclination that it slopes towards the outside, he, pressing firmly with his hand or confidently hitting the handle with a mallet, “goes along the contour” and at the same time makes sure that the chisel does not crashed too deep into the tree. Once the outline is made, the carver takes a nearly flat, grooved chisel and carefully cuts away a layer of wood from the entire background. Usually he does not immediately cut the tree to the background level in one place, leaving other areas untouched, but passes several times over the entire surface.

The carver then turns to the relief of the ornament. He holds the chisel in his right hand, and places the fingers of his left hand on its blade at a distance of 2-3 cm from the cutting end, pressing them on the surface of the chisel while working. For ordinary cuts, he simply pushes the blade forward; with curved cuts, in addition to translational movement, lateral movement is also performed. And bending is the third movement in direction. These three different movements are combined into one and applied simultaneously; This summed continuous movement produces a curved cut.

To ensure that each cut is distinct, the carver carefully removes the wood without leaving any nicks. To achieve this, he follows the direction of the grain of the wood in the place where he cuts; Is it longitudinal or transverse? When cutting along the grain or slightly obliquely, any wood is cut better, with less tendency to nick. The direction in which the wood is cut more smoothly is determined by the carver immediately, based on the results of several cuts. If it turns out that the tree is prone to getting rough, then the craftsman cuts it from the opposite side, using his left hand instead of the right, and if cutting in the opposite direction is inconvenient for him, he turns the product over on the workbench.

Until the overall modeling of the sheet is completed, the carver does not smooth the surface. Having completed the work, he begins to remove marks from the tool. He does this using a chisel, tilting it at an angle of 45°.

The work of a carver requires high precision movements. He needs to feel the resistance of the tree, the pressure of the tool and the direction of its movement. Well-formed motor skills and highly coordinated hand movements are the basis for moderate, artistic work.

Accurate discrimination of the spatial arrangement of carving elements, direction, width and length of the lines being processed at the moment, determination of the proportions and pattern of the parts being performed, a high level of spatial concepts, developed imaginative thinking and good aesthetic taste allow the carver to embody artistic ideas in the material.

The formation of the image of the future product is facilitated by preliminary sketches in clay or plasticine, sketches on paper. Many carvers are good at drawing and modeling. Success in these activities may be one of the prerequisites for choosing this profession.

When carving wood, it is necessary to constantly take into account the characteristics of the material and shape of the product. Therefore, the carver needs to be able to concentrate. A lot of labor goes into making wood carvings. Persistence and perseverance, emotional stability, the ability to devote oneself entirely to the carving process itself and to work calmly, without fuss, are also necessary for the future carver.

Another prerequisite is the ability to withstand the fairly significant physical stress that can be associated with a number of types of carving. Therefore, the choice of this profession should not be recommended for people with severe cardiovascular diseases.

You can get a specialty as a woodcarver at secondary vocational school No. 61. Mostly young men are accepted. A further school could be the Art School named after V.A. Serov, Higher Art and Industrial School named after V.I. Mukhina, Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture named after I.E. Repina.

There are fewer carvers now - young people are not interested in this, states Alexey Sidorov, a member of the Creative Union of Artists of Russia, a member of the Amur Art Studio named after. Vereshchagina, member of the New Era Academy.

- Did you study separately to become a wood artist?

My occupation is correctly called - relief wood carving. That is, the creation of semi-volumetric paintings. Although sometimes there is full volume - this is already a figure.

Linden - optimal

I had a general specialization in “Painting and Drawing”; wood was an additional specialty. And over time, I completely switched to wood - somehow my hands reached out on their own. This thing is more lively, or something. Although from time to time I also paint (points to the landscape on the wall of the studio - Author).

- How long have you been working with wood?

In general, I started learning this in 1995. And professionally, in the sense of creating works for sale, since 1999.

- How exactly did you learn the art of working with wood?

Almost completely on my own. The art department taught mainly painting and drawing. There was very little wood in the program - once or twice a week.

But the drawing still helped me a lot and is still helping. It doesn’t mean that you took a piece of wood and went to cut it. The basis of everything is drawing; without it there is no painting, no sculpture, no carving. And in sculpture, you also need to sculpt the future appearance of your idea from plasticine. So first we draw what we want to see and show people. You can sketch it in separate parts, sketches. The sketch takes from 5 to 20 minutes.

- Do you cut in single compositions or do you have to fasten or glue something together?

There is also a one-piece thread - from one piece. But in most cases, everything comes together from parts. Here is a relief - a rider on a horse - made up of the back, front of the horse, rider and shield.

- How difficult is all this?

It’s really difficult and difficult, which is probably why few people do it. Even women can do something small. But something big is cumbersome, heavy, and generally not a woman’s business.

Alexey creates unique works in his workshop. The main thing, says the master, is to feel the material.

- So this is the most difficult thing in wooden art?

You need to feel the tree - with your hands, with your head. Even education is not required here. I know people who, without special knowledge, took it and did it - out of their own interest. To make a rook (removes from the window sill - Author), you don’t need to be a genius. Here is an ordinary piece of sleeper. We take a semicircular cutter and hollow out a bed for the rowers on top. Then we chop off all the excess from all ends. And then the artistic part came - the “head” and “tail” of the rook.

- Why did you choose the tree in the first place?

Well, first of all, it was a coincidence. Secondly, for example, other technologies and tools are needed for stone. And we didn’t have much training in stone. By the way, even before college, I did a little root surgery; I even cut bones (shows the handle of a knife - Author). You also have to cut on ice. By the way, I’m wearing all the snow and ice figures on the square for the New Year.

- What types of wood do you use for your work?

Various, but now mostly linden. Recently, metal has gradually begun to be used. For example, potal (sheets of alloys and metals) looks like gold leaf.

I use linden because I have a lot of it and it is soft and pliable. Therefore, more plastic things can be made from it. And then linden does not provide texture. You see on the products there are a lot of different veins, stripes, fibers... Because of this, it is harder to cut. Larch has this quality. Now I don’t bother with this, only if the order arrives. The same larch is very difficult for carving, you just need to hammer it with a sledgehammer. A very hard tree is maple, as well as pear, apricot and generally all fruit and berry trees. It’s not bad to work with aspen, although, as it seemed to me, it is harder than linden. Well, someone says that aspen takes away energy when you cut it.

-Where does the material come from?

Yes, from everywhere. Gather on the street (for example, how many poplars are abandoned on the spot after sawing), look at your dachas. You can buy it, but I don’t see the point in it yet. Pieces of linden were given to me by friends and colleagues, and this is a very expensive tree. You can buy it at a building materials store. You can do it even easier - work with the Christmas tree. And the material for work is excellent, and you can get it at any sawmill or sawmill. After the boxes - forms for future snow and ice figures - a lot of wood remains. You can get it somehow, but it’s all burned anyway.

Alexey Sidorov’s main place of work for 14 years is fire station No. 12 of Blagoveshchensk. Alexey works on the duty shift, an internal service warrant officer. The 12th part is specialized, that is, to extinguish large fires in the region, including forest ones.

In great demand

- How profitable is it to be a woodcarver?

I can work purely for sales, and I will always have orders. At one time I traded at the Amur Fair. There, the price that I set myself was increased by 40%. Now I am moving more work to the Blagoveshchensk exhibition hall. There is a demand - the work practically never comes back. I took it to China - everything remained there, even my painting.

- How do you like the work of Chinese carvers?

Of course, they work in their national style. But recently they have begun to work more with stone, with root plastics. In general, you look, there are few carvers. Young people no longer want to do this; they are moving more into electronics.

- Tips for beginning carvers...

Before starting work, I repeat, try to draw or at least redraw. It happens that already in a piece of wood some kind of figure is immediately visible - this is more relevant in root plastics. Here is the figure of a sleeping hero (shows - Author) - and I had this idea, and a suitable piece of wood came across - the figure was drawn by nature itself. True, the original piece was three times larger - they had already cut it down. This is my largest figure to date.

Unified Tariff and Qualification Directory of Works and Professions of Workers (UTKS), 2019
Issue No. 61 ETKS
The issue was approved by Resolution of the Ministry of Labor of the Russian Federation dated 03/05/2004 N 40

Wood and birch bark carver

§ 16. Wood and birch bark carver of the 2nd category

Characteristics of work. Manual carving of simple plot and ornamental designs on birch bark. Marking the main lines, drawing the contours of the picture and simple compositions.

Must know: techniques of artistic carving on birch bark; techniques for drawing outlines of simple drawings; methods for determining the suitability of birch bark by quality and color; folk artistic traditions of crafts.

Work examples.

1. Burachki.

2. Boxes.

3. Bodies.

4. Caskets.

§ 17. Wood and birch bark carver of the 3rd category

Characteristics of work. Manual carving of birch bark with medium complexity of plot and ornamental designs and creation of ornamental compositions characteristic of folk craft traditions. Contour and volumetric carving on wood by hand, simple designs, shallow cut lines with background processing. Chopping or filing and roughening the flower, cutting out the lead, arranging the pins. Repair flower.

Must know: techniques of artistic carving on birch bark, drawings of medium complexity and simple drawings on wood; techniques of volumetric flat-relief carving; elements of ornaments; properties and types of wood and birch bark; rules for using the tool used.

Work examples.

1. “Squirrel with a nut”, “Woodpecker on a tree”, “Chickens pecking”, “Bird at the feeder” - artistic carving.

2. Spoons of different shapes - artistic carving.

3. Salt shakers made of birch bark - artistic carving.

4. Flowers: light rose, light blue, light yellow - artistic carving and primer.

§ 18. Wood and birch bark carver of the 4th category

Characteristics of work. Hand carving of complex plot and ornamental designs on birch bark with the introduction of elements of folk ornamental traditions. Wood carving by hand, in-depth notched, staple-notched, three-dimensional designs of medium complexity.

Must know: techniques of artistic carving on birch bark with complex patterns and medium complexity wood patterns; techniques for drawing the contours of complex designs on birch bark; methods for determining hidden defects of birch bark; types of wood for making flowers; flower carving methods depending on the purpose of the design.

Work examples.

1. Sculptural items such as “Flight to the Moon”, “Bear Dancer”.

2. Chickens, cuckoos, guinea fowl, owls.

3. Upper piano frames.

4. Birch bark tuesok.

5. Flowers of Turkish and Viennese designs without a set of picots, dark blue, dark yellow, light greens.

§ 19. Wood and birch bark carver of the 5th category

Characteristics of work. Manual carving of particularly complex plot and ornamental compositions on birch bark with the introduction of images of human figures, animals, birds and various architectural motifs. Wood carving is manually notched, flat-relief with an oval and with an optional background of complex patterns with their full elaboration in relief. Volumetric carving with tinted elements. Cutting out figures, obtaining a shield with a pattern copied on it; cutting off or sawing off a flower, inserting figures into old flowers or replacing them with new ones.

Must know: techniques of artistic carving on birch bark for particularly complex designs and complex designs on wood; the basics of constructing national ornaments; methods for making flat-relief and through threads; rules for constructing compositional solutions; basics of inlay; requirements for the quality of highly artistic wood products with various types of carvings.

Work examples.

1. First aid kits - openwork carving.

2. Sculptural products such as “Bear in a Wheelchair”, “Bear at the Telephone”, “Bear with a Barrel”, “Bear Bends an Arc” - artistic three-dimensional carving.

3. Brushes - Kudrin carving.

4. Doll furniture, pencil cases - relief carving.

5. Viennese flowers, dark Ukrainian flowers, Turkish flowers with a set of wire peaks - carving.

6. Boxes - geometric carving, tinting, polishing.

§ 20. Wood and birch bark carver of the 6th category

Characteristics of work. Wood carving by hand of particularly complex ornamental and thematic compositions, volumetric, flat-relief and through with a selected background with full sculptural, bas-relief elaboration with a highly in-depth background. Fine geometric carving, a combination of carving and inlay. Carving in the traditions of national carving. Seating of manners according to a sheet copied from the drawing.

Must know: techniques of artistic wood carving of particularly complex designs; basics of drawing and plastic anatomy; rules for constructing compositional solutions for sculpture; the basics of complex inlay - intarsia.

Work examples.

1. Sculptural items such as “General Toptygin”, “Skier with a dog”, “Carrier in a boat”, “Fisherman with a fishing rod”, “Russian Troika” - artistic three-dimensional carving.

2. Boxes and caskets - Old Russian carving.

Author Nina Ignatova asked a question in the section Architecture, Sculpture

What are the people called who make wooden spoons? and got the best answer

Answer from GoogLenna[guru]
If the question is about a profession, then the name of the profession is CARVER. .
Wood carving masters work in art and design factories, at folk arts and crafts enterprises, and in organizations involved in the restoration of ancient buildings and things. In some cases
carvers work directly at the site of restoration or installation of wood carvings. You can get a specialty, for example, at the Art School named after. Kalinin in Moscow and at the Art School in Abramtsevo, Moscow region. You can continue your education, for example, at the Higher Art and Industrial School, the Art Institute named after. V. I. Surikova.
Related professions: Wooden toy designer, wooden model maker.
Contents of work: Making a future product in sketches, clay, plasticine, artistic carving of varying complexity on the surface of sculptural products, toys, three-dimensional carving, making decorative panels, caskets, caskets, etc., work by hand and at a workbench.
Must know: The basic properties of different types of wood, methods of its harvesting, storage and processing, arts and crafts, rules for storing and handling tools, the basics of drawing, drawing, methods and techniques of all types of carving.
Spoon making process:
Source: Dictionary of Professions

Answer from Ludvika Brasletova[guru]
Craftsmen

Answer from Clayton[guru]
Lozhkari

Answer from Ivan Gerentsev[guru]
thumbs up

Answer from Svetlana Saenko[expert]
Spoonmen

Answer from Daria Krivosheina[newbie]
yeah

Answer from 3 answers[guru]

Hello! Here is a selection of topics with answers to your question: what are the people who make wooden spoons called?

What are the people called who make vases (boxes) from stones, for example from malachite? Question from a 2nd grade child.
I immediately remembered Bazhov’s malachite box and Danila the master))

master stone cutter