I have been in Norway for a relatively long time, but recently, looking through the photos, I found some with Norwegian woodcarving, and sometimes with subsequent painting on the carving, I want to bring them to your attention.
Everyone is well aware of this folk craft, in Russia it was also widespread. Let's remember carved furniture, caskets, household items, window frames, children's toys. But this is our native, which does not seem to be anything special.
The place of residence of the nationality certainly has a huge impact on folk crafts, they show the local national flavor. It's something unique, something you won't find anywhere else.
Let us take the opportunity to compare the already known Russian carving motifs with the Norwegian ones given here. And both ancient and modern. Perhaps there is something in common with the folk crafts of the peoples of the Russian north.
Wood carving in ancient churches
We visited several old wooden churches, decorated inside and out with intricate artistic carvings.
They are called stavkirks. These are unique churches that were built in the 10th-13th centuries from logs, there is not a single nail in them.
Remember Russian wooden architecture of the 18th century (much later!)? Kizhi. Something similar here. The Vikings built their drakkars (warships) in a similar way.
And each of the stavkirks where we visited was, of course, the most-most. One is the oldest church in Norway, the other is the smallest, and so on.
Norwegian church "stave church" with carvings
Surprisingly well preserved ancient carvings around the doors. The wood is black, looks like charred. To keep it longer in a harsh climate, the wood was pitched.
What was a little surprising - the entrance for visitors to all the churches was paid. And the price is decent, 50 - 80 NOK, mostly 60, i.e. about 6 euros, which seemed quite expensive to me just for visiting a small church on my own without any excursion. But the old man ... You have to look.
Previously, there were a huge number of such wooden churches, their number numbered in the thousands. The first ones were built right on the ground, served their purpose until they rotted away after one or two decades. New ones were built in their place. Resining the tree increased the service life, but not for long. Later, churches were built on stone foundations.
In total, very few such stave rock have been preserved, less than 30 pieces throughout Norway. All of them are inactive. Some have become open-air museums, others have become private property. Hence the cost of visiting.
I really liked the national motifs with stylized deer, which are usually arranged in pairs in the drawings, two by two, arranged symmetrically one to the other. They are so unusual that they immediately attract attention. They are found quite often, on shop windows, walls.
The museum shows how the wooden surface is marked according to the sketch, how the carving goes. There is an example where a carved motif is already traced from below, and only a pencil markup from above.
Norwegian deer are so camouflaged in a complex pattern that it is not immediately possible to find them. Try to immediately find them in the picture below among the ornate patterns!
Planar slotted thread with sketches
Interesting examples of geometric slotted woodcarving. This is a composition that consists of elements, each of which is inscribed in a square. As we can see, it can be a circle. A drawing is placed in the frame next to it - a diagram (sketch) for the thread on which the work was performed.
Slotted carving is characterized by the fact that the pattern is performed not only on the surface of the wood, but it is cut through. It turns out an openwork pattern. Everything happens on the same plane, so this type of cut is called planar.
It can be called geometric because each detail consists of a centrally symmetrical geometric figure, additionally decorated with surface relief carving.
Glass is inserted on the other side, the whole composition can successfully serve as an artistic partition through which light penetrates to the opposite side.
Here is one example of a simple geometric thread pattern.
Below is a sketch on which a carved artistic wood carving was made. The diagram looks simpler than the original.
If you are going to do this type of creativity, then you can take any contour drawings, patterns, ornaments as a stencil for carving. They can be intended for something completely different - for example, for embroidery with satin stitch or cutwork, drawing and the like.
Modern souvenirs carved from wood
There are a lot of souvenirs in shops and shops on the shelves - choose according to your taste.
What kind of figurines can be purchased here? Of course, northern animals. These are whales, dolphins, penguins, walruses. Many boats, beautifully arched, with sails reminiscent of the Vikings.
I love wood very much, probably primarily because it is a natural material, it is “warm”, so I always pay attention to wood products.
Viking Drakkar - wooden craft
Walruses - wood carving
There are also Norwegian jewelry in the national style - pendants with geometric carvings.
Carved wood panel
In one of the settlements where we stayed (we spent the night in the so-called huts - wooden houses), I found an interesting picture decorating the outside wall of a wooden house.
Woodcarving - a panel based on Norwegian fairy tales
As far as I remember, there is such a Norwegian fairy tale about three trolls who had only one eye for two. They kept walking one behind the other so as not to get lost, and if necessary they passed the eye to each other.
Two boys from a poor family were at that time in the forest, they took away the only eye from the trolls, and returned it only for gold and silver.
The panel is cut out of wood, and then its individual parts are painted in different colors. Even in such a harsh northern climate, the paint is well preserved.
The same technique was used to decorate the "window", or rather, similar to the frame window (bulletin board), which contains information about the upcoming important events in this locality. Only a few colors were used - brick red, dark green and yellow-gold.
A small bonus. Just look at the wood products that adorn small cozy Norwegian hotels and cafes.
Wall lamp and mug made of birch with bark and birch bark.
In the shop, along with the mug, they also sold Viking lingerie - a bra and panties. But the most remarkable thing is that they were sewn from skins!
Volumetric, contour and geometric wood carving are one of the most ancient methods of decorating a wide variety of products. By and large, nothing is needed for work, except for a wooden blank and a fairly sharp knife: with proper skill, a carved casing, a beautiful toy, or any other product can be obtained.
Of course, you will get masterpieces only after many years of practice. But you can start mastering carving from the simplest details: just study this article and understand the basics.
Thread types
Despite the fact that the simplest tools are used in working with a tree, and the processing techniques are not difficult, the result can be very different. Depending on the appearance of the treated surface, the following types of threads are distinguished:
- contour thread- perhaps the simplest (outwardly, not in terms of execution technique). The pattern is applied to a flat surface with shallow lines, forming the contours of the pattern.
- Geometric carving- the most common due to ease of development. Unlike contour, patterns are formed not by lines, but by a combination of geometric shapes, most often wedge-shaped recesses.
- Flat serrated thread - the technology of applying an ornament or pattern on a flat board. At the same time, recesses are cut out on a flat background, which form the pattern we need.
A variation of this technique is also considered a through thread, in which not only recesses, but also holes are formed in the workpiece.
- sculptural carving(volumetric) - the most difficult technique. A chock, branch or root is taken as a blank, after which the part is given the desired shape. Here it is important not only the skill of the carver, but also how competently the wood is selected.
Of course, this classification is very arbitrary, but it gives an idea of where you can strive to improve your skills.
What do you need to work?
Carver's tools
To make wooden toys, carved frames, architraves and other decorative objects, the craftsman needs the right tools. In addition to the usual carpentry (saw, drill, file), you need to use special tools:
| Illustration | Tool | Purpose |
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joint knife | A versatile tool that is used for both geometric woodcarving and sculptural work. |
 |
Chisels | The most extensive group of tools used to form recesses. Depending on the shape of the edge, the following varieties are distinguished:
|
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Cranberries | Special chisels with a curved working part. With their help, a relief carving with a strong deepening is performed. |
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Spoon cutters | As the name suggests, special tools for making wooden spoons. The special shape of the blade (ring or semi-ring with one-sided sharpening) allows you to effectively select large volumes of wood. |
The price of professional cutting tools is quite high. And yet, a novice master should not save money: it is better to purchase several knives and chisels of decent quality. Then the first experience will not be spoiled, and it will be possible to focus on mastering the techniques and techniques of carving.
Choice of wood
Artistic carving requires the formation of a fairly clear relief. And for this you need not only suitable tools, but also the appropriate material. Not every wood is suitable for carving, and if you are just starting to master the technique, then you need to be very meticulous in choosing:
- Linden- Ideal for the beginner. The material is soft and homogeneous, therefore it is better to master the most complex patterns for woodcarving on linden.
- Alder (red and black)- also a very good option, albeit more dense. Ideally cut, almost does not warp when dried. The main downside is hard to find!
- Birch- firmer and more resilient, but at the same time quite suitable for learning the basics of carving. When dried, it can be deformed, therefore, small products are usually cut from birch.
- Oak- a great option, but only for an experienced master. The relief is perfect, but you need a very sharp tool and a confident hand.
- Pear- wood with high density and good uniformity. The structure of the material allows you to make the thinnest products.
From a tree of these species, it is first necessary to cut blanks, dry them, and, if necessary, process them rough. Only after that, drawings and sketches are applied to them, according to which carving is carried out.
Techniques and techniques for geometric carving
In fact, all work on a carved detail comes down to three operations:
- Training- selection and roughing of the workpiece, transferring the pattern.
- Actually carving- drawing a relief pattern.
- Finishing- elimination of defects, grinding, varnishing, etc.
Instructions for performing basic threading operations are shown in the table.
Making an icon case
05.02.2019, 09:14
Making a table of contents with wood carving for the icon case
In a similar way, the table of contents (top) for the icon cases in the photo below were made.
To enlarge the image - click on it with the mouse.
First, on paper, in accordance with the dimensions and proportions of the future icon case, a sketch of the table of contents is drawn in real size. It is determined where the wood carving will be located, the sketch of the carving itself is preliminarily drawn.
Then the drawing is transferred to a sheet of fiberboard or plywood and carefully, as accurately as possible, cut out with a jigsaw at low speed, without turning on the pendulum stroke. File with a fine tooth (I use files BOCH T101 AO or Gepard T101 AO)
Thus, we made a template, according to which we will make the top (crown, table of contents) of the icon case using a milling cutter.
There are two ready-made templates in the photo below: the first of the fiberboard is the wall of the table of contents, the background on which the woodcarving will be attached. The second plywood template is the cornice, the arched frieze of the kiot, it will be made of wood.
All bends, roundings, lines of templates are carefully polished with emery cloth. How symmetrical, even and neat our template will be depends on the appearance of the finished table of contents of the icon case in the future.
The following photos are a template for the bottom and top of the kiot
We lay the fiberboard template on a sheet of plywood and circle it with a pencil.
After that, we cut with a jigsaw close to the drawn line, but without touching the line itself.
We fasten the template in a plywood blank.
With the help of a milling cutter and a direct copy cutter with a bearing, we go around the workpiece along the contour.
The bearing on the cutter moves along the edge of the template, and the cutter removes excess material from the workpiece.
In this case, the workpiece exactly copies the profile of the template.
We also circle the arched cornice with a pencil on a wooden shield.
Cut with a jigsaw, roughly, without touching the line.
We attach the template to the workpiece and repeat the previous operations.
We fix the template with self-tapping screws on the back side of the part, not on the front - so that no traces of self-tapping screws are visible on the finished element.
Although if you make a mistake - putty to help.
We repeat the same when making an element for the lower part of the icon case.
Using an edge molding cutter, select the desired profile from the front side of the eaves.
Then we select a shallow (5-8mm) groove inside the eaves.
We connect the cornice with the wall of the table of contents.
You can immediately glue together two parts and then paint as an assembly, but it’s more convenient for me to varnish and tint these two elements separately.
View from the front and back.
Sketch, wood carving template
Laid on carving for an icon case
25.01.2019, 06:50
Production of carved decor for the table of contents of the floor icon case.
The top (or table of contents, crown) of the floor icon case is an arch with overlaid wood carvings.
Inside the arch there will be an Orthodox eight-pointed cross with carved decoration.
At the beginning, we draw the arch itself on a scale of 1: 1 and then the cross, around which our woodcarving will be placed.
Initially, the sketch is drawn "by hand", the accuracy of the lines, the smoothness of the curves at this stage do not play a significant role. The main thing is to arrange the pattern evenly around the cross, observing the proportions in general terms, to create a logical and complete drawing of a floral ornament.
After that, with the help of patterns, we align the lines drawn "by hand", achieving smooth transitions, roundness of the curls, and adding small details to the sketch.
We draw, as usual, only one left part of the pattern - the right one will be strictly symmetrical to it.
In order to understand how the finished carving will look like, you can attach a mirror along the vertical line (passing along the cross). The right side of the thread sketch will be reflected in the mirror, that is, the whole pattern as a whole will become visible to us.
I shade with a pencil those parts of the sketch that will be cut with straight chisels. Unshaded areas - semicircular incisors.
Some craftsmen cut out a sketch and glue it onto a piece of wood. Then, along the lines of the sketch, using a jigsaw, remove unnecessary parts of the pattern and cut with cutters directly on the paper and on the workpiece at the same time.
With this method, the sketch template is not saved, and if later you need to make exactly the same decor, you have to re-create the drawing.
I do it differently: I laminate the sketch drawing with a simple transparent adhesive tape on both sides. Then, with the help of cutters, I carefully cut it out and get a carving template that can be used many times. You can call it a stencil.
I apply the template to the workpiece and circle it with a sharpened pencil or pen. With the help of a jigsaw, I remove all unnecessary and get a blank for carving. Outwardly, this is a house slotted carving, but we still have to work on itcutters and chisels. In order to make it clear to me where, what and how to cut, I transfer the sketch drawing to a wooden part. Also with the help of patterns.
After processing with cutters, the finished decor is manually polished with fine sandpaper.
With a sandpaper we remove burn marks from a jigsaw file, smooth out irregularities after working with chisels.
By turning the thread over, you can cut the reverse side of the pattern with cutters in some places. Thus, we will, as it were, lift, separate our carved decor from the background to which it will be attached.
In the following photos, the wood carving is covered with a transparent varnish.
The wooden shield for the blank was glued from different plots - this can be seen from the different colors of the planks. In this case, it does not matter - the finished carved decor will be painted with gold paint.
The lacquer acts as a primer and several coats will give you a smooth finish before gold plating.
Woodcarving on the icon case painted "under gold".
Floor icon case with wood carvings
Wood carving, sketches, photos
14.09.2018, 04:29
Transferring a woodcarving sketch to a lime board using a template
If the applied thread is symmetrical in the horizontal or vertical plane, then only half of the sketch (template) is drawn
"Spruce and Drill" - hand carving workshop in Belarus
Decorative panel for church furniture
12.09.2018, 06:50
Panels are made by us only from wood: ash, oak, birch, alder. Most often, of course, from linden.
If necessary, we will do the finishing: tinting with stains or stain, varnishing.
All wood carvings are carved by hand.
A drawing, a sketch, a sketch of a carved ornament is discussed in advance. As are the sizes.
Carved panels can be used as wood carvings for church furniture, for example, for a floor icon case or a church iconostasis.
Carved panel for a wooden altar
08.09.2018, 07:57
Decorative panel made of wood, hand-carved
At the first stage of work on the panel, a wooden shield is glued together, assembled from identical lime slats (lamellae).
A sketch for wood carving is marked on the shield and all unnecessary parts of the ornament are removed using an electric jigsaw. It turns out a slotted or through saw thread.
A decorative panel can become an element of a furniture facade
In our case, wood carving (carved panel) was made for the door of a wooden altar in an Orthodox church.
You can order the manufacture and buy an altar with a canopy in the form of a floor icon case from us.
06.09.2018, 07:36
Wood carving - from sketch to finished product
Creating a sketch or drawing is the first step in making a carved decor.
The sketch is drawn on a scale of 1:1.
This takes into account not only the external, aesthetic appearance of the future product, but also the capabilities of the carver, his skill, the presence of the necessary cutters, the complexity and size of the carved decor.
To enlarge the picture - click on it with the mouse.
The next step, after creating a sketch of woodcarving, is laminating it (for example, with ordinary transparent tape) and cutting the template along the outline of the picture.
With this method, the thread template can be used repeatedly if several carving patterns are to be cut.
Just trace the template along the contours with a pencil.
The next step is cutting out a welt pattern with a jigsaw.
We remove everything superfluous, leaving what we will work with incisors.
In principle, this is the so-called house carving.
A simple slotted wood carving used to decorate houses.
With the help of patterns or "by hand" we apply cut lines, drawings on the workpiece.
After working with cutters, sanding, tinting and painting, this is a wooden carved decor.
This applied cross with a carved pattern was cut out for a church lectern made by our workshop.
You can see his photo and description in the "Analoi" section.
When copying images and reprinting an article, a link to the site is required!
21.05.2016, 07:50
Wood carving for the front part of the church lectern.
Step by step manufacturing.
Transferring the drawing, sketch to the board.
You can transfer the pattern to the workpiece through a carbon paper or using a cut out template.
With the second method, a template once made and cut out, for example, from thick cardboard, can be used many times if you need to make many identical products.
The finished slotted pattern is processed with cutters and chisels of various shapes.
At the final stage, wood carving is polished with a fine-grained sandpaper before painting or coating with oil, wax, stain.
Wood carving, for a mirror
26.03.2016, 09:19
Making a sketch of a carved pattern
Transferring the pattern to a lime board and cutting out the outline with a jigsaw
Finished work... Then sanding, tinting, painting...
A small video clip of a master class for making a carved frame for a mirror or picture
There is a legend among the locals that tells why the village has such a name: they say that once a small unknown village burned down near Slonim. Two inhabitants of this village - two brothers, who bore the surname Krakot, went down the Jordan River to these places. The first brother settled in the headwaters of the Jordan River, and the other went down the river. The place where the older brother settled was called Great Krakotka, and where is the youngest - Malaya Krakotka. To date, these two Krakotki are still one next to the other ....
Here is another story from that time.
Once they decided to involve the boyars living in Velyka Krakotka in the usual daily work, which was done by the peasants. The boyars then began to resist, saying that digging the earth, carrying hay are duties and occupations for the peasants. And their boyar business is military service. Offended and went to the capital - Warsaw, to the king himself ZhigimontVase.
He listened to the boyars and said that no one would do this to them anymore and gave them a paper in which it was written that the boyars should not be involved in any other work, except military service. The kings did not give offense to their subjects and tried to adhere to the ancient laws.
After three sections of the Commonwealth, Krakotka ended up in the Russian Empire in the Slonim Povet. There is evidence that in 1798 31 men lived in the village. The fact is that before that there was a liberation uprising under the command of Tadeusz Kosciuszko.
In the 18th century, almost all of our country was Uniate. Uniates lived then and in Great Krakotka, and in Malaya Krakotka, behind which there has long been a Uniate cemetery.
At the Krakotka cemetery
Attractions
The village is famous for its natural monuments.
On the very outskirts of the village is the Republican geological geomorphological monument of nature "Krakotskaya ridge". Scientists say that it appeared 220 thousand years ago during the Ice Age! Such ridges, they say, appeared from sand, stones, in the openings of water flows in ice cracks.
The famous Krakot boulder
When the ice came down, a man came here.
On the outskirts of Krakotka, in the forest, there is a very beautiful juniper grove. If someone was in the Crimea, he saw such juniper groves. In Belarus, such groves are rare.
On the outskirts of the juniper grove, an old cemetery has been preserved, along which stones are scattered. The fact is that according to the local rite, when someone who took his own life was buried, a stone was placed above the head and at the feet, where a wooden cross was also placed. It is believed that when the day of judgment comes, and everyone goes to the judgment of God, it will be easier for him to get up, holding on to the cross. Now these stones are destroyed, because the cemetery was plowed up and planted there.
About the holy healing spring
In the village there is a holy spring with healing water, which has been known since ancient times.
There is a local legend about the krinichka.
They say that once this land belonged to Pan Skurat, who had a daughter, she had very poor eyesight. Once an old man came to the village, stopped near the mountain, from which water flowed.
The elder drank this water, rinsed his face, and immediately his eyes began to see better. They came to the village, told the people about it, who passed everything on to Pan Skurat. Pan began to take this water and treat his daughter, wipe her eyes - the girl was cured. Then Pan Skurat dug a well on the mountain, and from that time on, this little cup was called Pan Skurat's little cup.
Now the crinichka is consecrated in honor of Forerunner and Baptist of the Lord John. They say that on holidays the water is scooped up to the bottom, but it quickly fills up. Water helps with diseases of the eyes and stomach. There are examples that people were cured by this water. But it is known that water helps those who believe.
The Holy Krinichka is located near a river with an interesting name Jordan. It was deeper and wider until reclamation was carried out. And when reclamation was carried out, it became a small stream. The name of the river is mysterious. The legend says that once a man who called himself Jordanas was killed in these places. Or maybe there is a connection between the Jordan River and the famous Jordan River, in which John the Baptist baptized Jesus Christ?
Here, water-blessing prayers are performed, with special solemnity - on the day of the Nativity of John the Baptist (July 7). Water from this source is taken not only by local residents, but also by pilgrims, travelers from near and far abroad.
Famous personalities of Great Krakotka
In the part of the village that used to be called Malaya Krakotka, Ivan Solomevich was born - a Belarusian literary critic, folklorist, bibliographer, translator, encyclopedist.
He signed his works with the pseudonym Krakotsky or Yan Solomevich.
The writer was born in Malaya Krakotka, and went to school in Velikaya.
By the way, the famous Belarusian Grigory Okulevich was also born in Velyka Krakotka. During the occupation in Polotsk, he was an active figure in the national liberation Belarusian movement. He was also one of the organizers of the BKRG and TBSH. When the Poles began to hunt Okulevich, he was forced to emigrate to Canada to avoid arrest. But he did not leave the Belarusian activity there, and together with his friends he created the first Russian newspaper in Canada, which had its own Belarusian page in the Belarusian language. And when World War II began, Grigory Okulevich volunteered for the war. After the war, he became the chief secretary of the Russians in Canada Federation in Canada, and later became the editor-in-chief of an emigre newspaper. In Canada, Okulevich wrote and published two books: "50 Years of the Belarusian Republic" and "Russians in Canada".
In Velikaya Krakotka, Grigory Okulevich and his friends created a Belarusian library on the basis of TBSh and named it after Yanka Kupala. And the Poles did not like everything that was Belarusian, they did not like the local Belarusian movement, so the Poles closed the library. All Belarusian books were taken out of the library. Only in 1939, the Belarusian library of Yanka Kupala was updated in the village.
The Second World War began, and the library was destroyed, but in 1946 the Yanka Kupala library in Velyka Krakotka was born for the third time. The wife of Yanka Kupala, Vlada Frantsevna Lutsevich, corresponded with this library.
Yakub Kolas, Arkady Kuleshov, Kondrat Krapiva, Ivan Shamyakin, Mikhail Lynkov sent books with their autographs to the library. In 1970, a new library named after Yanka Kupala was built in the village, but today it no longer exists. Pavel Tavlai, the father of the famous Belarusian poet Valentin Tavlai, took an active part in the construction of Yanka Kupala.
Tavlai began writing poetry at an early age. When he studied at the Slonim Teachers' Seminary, during the census he registered as Belarusian, and wrote Belarusian in his native language, for which he was expelled from the seminary. In 2014, the 100th anniversary of the birth of the poet Valentin Tavlay was celebrated. He spent 7 years in Polish prisons for his Belarusian activities, but, fortunately, he did not fall under Soviet repression and did not rot in Stalin's camps, he died a natural death in 1947. He wrote a lot about Valentin Tavlay, studied his work, his fellow countryman, Belarusian poet Mikola Arochka dedicated many poems to him.
Mikhail was born in a neighboring village, but he liked to come to Velyka Krakotka, he loved these places. In the village they are proud of their countryman-poet.
The Great Patriotic War
In 1941, a strong battle took place near Velyka Krakotka. On the German side, the Gulden regiment fought here against the Red Army. 160 German soldiers died here and were buried on the mountain near the church. And in 1944, when the Germans retreated, they dug up the remains of each of their dead soldiers, put them in new coffins and took them to Germany.
No one can say today how many Red Army soldiers died. Only 1600 soldiers were taken prisoner, they were led through the streets of the village. In the middle of the village of Velikaya Krakotka, 17 known and 338 unknown Red Army soldiers are buried in a mass grave in the middle of the village. And how many of them lie still, covered in funnels, trenches?
A house was recently built in the village and the remains of 4 more Red Army soldiers were found. They were brought to a mass grave and buried there.
On the outskirts of the village and in the forests, even now, amateurs studying the history of the Great Patriotic War, the history of the Great Krakotka find objects of those times, testifying to strong, bloody battles.
One of the old finds, the cross was found on the road leading to the temple in Malaya Krakotka
Search at the monastery lake (formerly Lake School)
Solidus 1663. Much was found along the road near the temple in Malaya Krakotka
ringlet
10 pfenings
The program "Journey of an amateur" and "Hope for the village"
An interesting and informative BT program has finally visited our village!
Velyka Krakotka is rich in interesting sights and people.
A story about them and much more - in the video report offered to you.
