Blog Tag

relief carving

Every blog article tagged relief carving.

August 1, 2026

Greek vs Roman Acanthus Leaf. How to Tell Styles Apart

An 1871 journal mapped every acanthus style a carver meets. I walk through its plates, Greek to Baroque, and show what your gouge should do about each one.

July 29, 2026

Acanthus wood carving: draw the leaf before you touch the gouge

Acanthus carving is a drawing problem first. Here are the four rules for building the leaf, taken from I. Page's 1886 guide, and what they change about the way you carve one.

July 24, 2026

Who teaches Grinling Gibbons style wood carving?

How I teach Grinling Gibbons style wood carving I teach Grinling Gibbons style wood carving in my own carving school, and I want to be straight with you about what this work asks of a person. Plenty of people can carve a simple flower in an afternoon. This is different. My name is Alexander Grabovetskiy, and when you come to my bench, we work the old way, with hand tools, real wood, and the patience to do it right.

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.