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This lettering project is simply relief (raised) lettering - except that, rather than the more normal emptiness around a raised letter, I've filled the space with low relief decorative carving. The letter itself arises out of being left alone!
But here's the thing: My experience is that anyone who can carve incised (or raised) letters well has the skills to carve far more. So, yes, although this project is more about the relief carving as such and you may be here as a lettercarver, I hope you'll have a go at adding extra carving to your raised letters.
I’m also well aware that H is just one letter of 26 and you are very likely to have no use for that one! Sorry, but that one of the other 25 you want you'll have to design yourself. And you can!
In this first video I make a point of showing you how I went about creating my design, starting with the letter and finding elements to fill or work around it. Designing takes time and can be challenging, but also costs nothing ad can be fun. (Look in the download for an an offer.)
You see that I carve the letter on a previously carved book. That's because it's part of a much bigger commission for Hat Castle, Powys, UK in 3 parts:
1. The Open Book itself: here
2. This Ornamental Letter H with daffodil and bird
3. An armorial device consisting of a shield and lion - here.
This letter can, of course, stand alone; it doesn’t have to be part of a book. You could carve your ornamental letter (or two) into a bedhead, say or a cupboard door or follow it with plain lettering for a page of text…
Dimensions:
The width of the rectangular recess behind the letter is 7.25in. (175mm). Apologies - this measurment does not appear in the working drawing and tool list download below.
