STUDY OF MODERN CARVING / SCULPTURE TOOLS

STUDY OF MODERN CARVING / SCULPTURE TOOLS

MODERN  CARVING

Carving is the act of using tools to shape something from a material by scraping away portions of that material to make into desired shape. The technique can be applied to any material that is solid enough to hold a form even when pieces have been removed from it, and yet soft enough for portions to be scraped away with available tools. Carving, as a means for making sculpture, is distinct from methods using soft and malleable materials like clay, fruit, and melted glass, which may be shaped into the desired forms while soft and then harden into that form.Carving tends to require much more work than methods using malleable materials.

Meaning of Carving

 Creative

- Artistic 

 -  Reality

 -  Varieties

 -  Innovative

-  Naturalistic

- Glamour

HISTORY

The art of carving vegetables and fruits came to Europe from Eastern countries, like China, Thailand and Japan. Nowadays food carving professionals are welcome in the finest restaurants around Europe. The art of fruit and vegetable carving has its roots in the age of the Chinese Tang Dynasty (AD 618-906) and Sung Dynasty (AD 960-1279). This exquisite craft has been slowly developed and refined over the years in China. These beautiful garnishes and fruit carvings were not only created for the Kaiser's feudal banquets but they were also popular among average people, who enjoyed beautiful artistic food presentations.

Edible and Non-Edible carving

Although food holds the spotlight in all buffet presentation and the objective of buffet planning must be to achieve visual beauty both in the artistic presentation of each item of edible food and in the arrangement of the many dishes on the buffet table.Nothing heightens the beauty of the buffet more than an out-standing center piece made of ice, fruits, vegitables or other such materials. The guest should be able to identify the theme of the buffet at a glance, just by observing the non-edible decorations that provide eye-catching background for the presentation.

Edible food carving

Fruit carving is the art of carving fruit, a very common technique in Europe and Asian countries, and particularly popular in Thailand, China and Japan. There are many fruits that can be used in this process; the most popular one that artists use are watermelons, apples, strawberries, pineapples, and cantaloupes.Vegetable carving is the art of carving vegetables to form beautiful objects, such as flowers or birds.

Non-Edible Carving

The term non edible is used to indicate that the center piece is not meant for consumption along with the rest of the food on the buffet.

Modern Tools for Carving and Their Uses

Super sharp 3 piece carving knife set with wood handle. Created especially for the art of vegetable & fruit carving. Set includes: Bird's beak carving knife, a special curved blade seeding knife, and a larger slicing knife for fruits and vegetables. High quality for professional carving at a low price! High carbon stainless steel blades, hardened and tempered. 

UV 6 piece Fruit and Vegetable Carving Set

Details:

High-end imported carving tools, made from from high quality stainless steel.

Save time on repetitive fruit and vegetable carving tasks.

Light, durable, and versatile tools essential for modern fruit and vegetable garnishes.

Each tool is intelligently designed with a 'U' and 'V' shape to create clean cuts of fruit and veggies with maximum efficacy and minimum fuss.

Corrugated U Carving Set for Fruit & Vegetable Garnishing

Details:

Four piece fruit and vegetable garnishing set designed for fruit carving.

Consturcted of strong stainless steel.

This corrugated carving set includes four double-sided tools.

A compact way of having 8 garnishing tools!

Modern Tools for vegetables and fruit Carving

Sculpture

Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sculptural processes originally used carving (the removal of material) and modeling (the addition of material, as clay), in stone, metal, ceramics, wood and other materials but, since Modernism, there has been an almost complete freedom of materials and process. A wide variety of materials may be worked by removal such as carving, assembled by welding or modeling, or molded, or cast.

MATERIAL USE AND TECHNIQUES

The materials used in sculpture are diverse, changing throughout history. The classic materials, with outstanding durability, are metal, especially bronze, stone and pottery, with wood, bone. Precious materials such as gold, silver, jade, and ivory are often used for small luxury works, and sometimes in larger ones, as in statues. More common and less expensive materials were used for sculpture for wider consumption, including hardwoods, wax.Many sculptors seek new ways and materials to make art. Some sculpture, such as ice sculpture, sand sculpture, and tallow sculpture, is deliberately short-lived. The new techniques used by sculptors today are closely related to new techniques applied in building and industrial manufacture.

Making of armature

In sculpture, an armature is a framework around which the sculpture is built.^[1] This framework provides structure and stability, especially when a plastic material such as wax, newspaper or clay is being used as the medium. When sculpting the human figure, the armature is analogous to the major skeleton and has essentially the same purpose: to hold the body erect.

 An armature is often made of heavy, dark aluminium wire which is stiff, but can be bent and twisted into shape without much difficulty. The wire is affixed to a base which is usually made of wood. The artist then begins fleshing out the sculpture by adding wax or clay over the wire. Depending on the material and technique, the armature may be left buried within the sculpture but, if the sculpture is to be hollowed out for firing, it must be removed.Large representational sculptures meant for outdoor display are typically fashioned of bronze or other types of sheet metal, and they require armatures for internal support and stability. For example, a large armature designed by Gustave Eiffel holds up the Statue of Liberty. The armature can be seen from below by visitors to the base of the sculpture's interior.

Ice Sculpture

Ice sculpture is a form of sculpture that uses ice as the raw material. Sculptures from ice can be abstract or realistic and can be functional or purely decorative. Ice sculptures are generally associated with special or extravagant events (cold buffet) because of their limited lifetime.The lifetime of a sculpture is determined primarily by the temperature of its environment, thus a sculpture can last from mere minutes to possibly months. There are several ice festivals held around the world, hosting competitions of ice sculpture carving.

Techniques for ice sculpting

The temperature of the environment affects how quickly the piece must be completed to avoid the effects of melting, if the sculpting does not take place in a cold environment, then the sculptor must work quickly to finish his piece. Some sculptures can be completed in as little as ten minutes if the carver is using power tools such as chainsaws and specialty bits fitted to a die grinder.As various technologies are adapted for use with ice carving, many sculptures are now created largely by machine. CNC (Computer Numeric Control) machines and molding systems are now commonly used to create ice sculptures and complicated logos from ice. Color effects are also possible by a number of techniques, including the addition of colored gels or sand to the ice.

The ice may be turned clear after carving by applying heat from a Propane or Mapp Gas cylinder. This alters the opaque effect that is obtained when carving. The ice turns clear after the outside is melted. Caution is to be used as the ice melts very quickly and could soften edges and contours. Sometimes distilled water is used for enhanced clarity.

Traditional Versus Modern Tools

Now a days people use modern power tool , including Die Grinder, Sanders, Chainsaws, power drills and rotatory tools in making of ice sculptureIn traditional form of ice sculpture using handsaw, chisels and chippers.

Traditional ice carving tools:

Chisel- A chisel is a tool with a characteristically shaped cutting edge of blade on its end, for carving or cutting a hard material such as wood, ice, or stone  by hand, struck with a mallet, or mechanical power. There are various blade shapes of chisel are available such as wide flat, narrow flat, round and V shape.

Handsaws- Long before ice carevers use chainsaw to cut and split the large blocks of ice, they use large-tooth hand saw. Handsaws vary in lenth and tooth dimension  large-tooth saw are use for rough cut and small-tooth saw for finer cut.

Wooden template- permanent templates made up of wood were use fro ice carving.

Single Prong Chipper/Pic-the ice pick is use for chipping small section, cutting and punching small holes , and for scoring the ice.

Ice tong-it is  ise for handling as well as lifting securely grabbing large and heavy blocks. They are comes in two style Cincinnati or compression which requires only one hand once the tips are set in ice and Boston which requires both the hand.

Multi prong chipper- usually design with b fine or six prongs the  chipper is considered the most fundamental of the traditional tools.is obtained when carving. The ice turns clear after the outside is melted. Caution is to be used as the ice melts very quickly and could soften edges and contours. Sometimes distilled water is used for enhanced clarity.

Modern tools for Ice sculpture

Ø  Impossible as it is to separate tools from technique, this page is an     attempt to focus more on the tools themselves.

¢  Tools are divided into further more:

¢  Power tools

BITS

Grinding Discs Sanding and Grinding Discs

CNC (Computer Numeric Control)

Traditional Hand Tools