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When we 'line in' the butterfly with our V tool, we are essentailly 'out-lining'. This protects the subject from subsequent gouge work on the background and also makes it easier to 'set in' later.
After lining in we set about lowering the ground around the butterfly. Be disciplined and a little painstaking here; these cuts lay the foundation for the next, leveling stage and if you have lowered well, the levelling can be very quick.
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Mistake!
Right at the start let me confess to a brain freeze and doing something quite contrary to what I'd just recommended!
See if you can spot it before reading further. Really.
Do it now. Have a look from around 1:40.
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Did to spot it?
I explained that as a V tool cuts diagonally across the wood, one side of the V groove will cut with the fibres and normally produce a 'good' (clean) surface; the other will cut against the wood fibres and produce a 'bad' (rough) finish. It does depend too on how 'carver friendly' your wood is but it's the nature of the V tool beast.
The upshot is that you want to 'line in' with the good/clean side of the V to the subject, leaving the opposite side to chew up the waste. Good carving practice.
So I described all this, then merrily lined in around the drawing in the opposite way to what I had just described, putting what would be the clean side of the V cut towards the butterfly!
If you didn't catch it, have another look.
It's hard to explain what happened there: Putting aside the 'senior moment effect' as a given, I think I made a first unthinking cut with the V tool and because the wood (Jelutong) is so amenable, both sides of the cut looked fine, so I carried on. If I had noticed any tearing towards the butterfly - and this is something to take on board - I would have immediately stopped and reversed direction.
