Blog Category

Wood Carving

Every blog article filed under Wood Carving.

August 3, 2026

Wornum's Analysis of Ornament, read at the bench

The 1856 course that sorts all ornament into nine styles, the women who cut its plates, a reading map by PDF page, and an honest verdict on what still holds up.

August 3, 2026

Louis Quatorze Ornament, Built Out of Light and Shade

The scroll and the shell, and why a Louis Quatorze panel is never allowed a flat surface. Where the style turns into Louis Quinze, where it falls apart into Rococo, and what all of it teaches a carver about light.

July 30, 2026

How Can I Learn to Carve Acanthus Leaves in Wood?

Acanthus leaf carving is the craft of cutting the classical leaf of Greek and Roman ornament into wood with gouges. Five leaf parts, seven tools, a basswood board, and eight steps take a beginner to a clean first leaf.

December 7, 2023

From Russia to America, and What I Carve Now

Alexander Grabovetskiy is a master wood carver, born in 1973 in Dimitrovgrad in the Russian part of the Soviet Union. His great-grandfather built mahogany furniture in the Chippendale style. He ruined his own grandfather's chisel on a brick at six, became the only student of the carver Vladimir Tokarev at sixteen, and reached the United States as a refugee on 15 March 1996 with almost no English. He built the woodworking firm Aalmark in Indiana, hired other refugee woodworkers, then sold every machine to carve full time. In 2012 a panel called Wall Decoration took first place and made him International Woodcarver of the Year.

September 19, 2023

Is wood carving good for your brain? What the science actually found

Craft work most weeks meant 22 percent less risk of memory trouble in a study of 1,929 adults over 70. Four studies in plain English, what each one really measured, and how a master carver sets up a session that keeps working your brain after your hands go automatic.