Wednesday, 27 January 2021

Custom Family Crest Sign | Coat of arms Carved Signs | Heraldic woodcarver | Custom Coat of Arms and Family Crest

Custom Family Crest Sign | Coat of arms Carved Signs |
Custom Coat of Arms and Family Crest

Custom Family Crest Sign | Coat of arms Carved Signs | Heraldic woodcarver |

Custom Coat of Arms and Family Crest

______________________

________

https://www.patrickdamiaens.info

Carving a heraldic Commission

The process is very simple. Please send our woodcarving studio a picture or heraldic design of what you'd like made. Also tell me what size you'd like your heraldic sculpture to be, and maybe you have some special requirements you may have.

I will send you a quotation free of charge. If you find it acceptable, we make clear agreements on advances and deadlines. When the heraldic sculpture of your coat of arms - crest is complete I will mail your item, packaged securely and insured by DHL.

Personal checks ( expensive), a normal banktransfer and XOOM ( a Paypal service).... are all acceptable forms of payments. And for every payment you recieve an invoice. If I am working on your heraldic commission, I will always send you photos of the carving stages, so that you will always know how the custom sculpture is progressing.

You are also always welcome in my studio for a visit, coffee is always available.

The Coat of arms “or Coat armour” dates back to the mid-12th century when knights began to have their shields decorated with marks to identify them.

These marks and colors evolved into a way to identify the bearer as a member of a certain family, clan or allegiance. The coat of arms represents the bearer’s family lineage and is traditionally passed down from fathers to sons.

A family crest is the element placed on top of the helm or helmet and indicates the rank or designation of the original bearer of the Coat of Arms.

The mantling is a depiction of the protective cloth worn by knights which is usually shown tattered or cut to shreds. Less often it is shown as an intact drape, suggesting that the bearer did not involve himself with combat, such as a clergyman. At the bottom, a scroll bears a motto or the origin of the Family name.

Rusian client

From the stripes on the shield to the images depicted, the Coat of Arms is the coded family history of the person or family who owned the Coat of Arms. The study of Coats of Arms and their meaning is called Heraldry and in some countries the official Herald is appointed by the Government and has the only office able to issue and regulate Coats of Arms.

Nearly all surnames originating in Western or Eastern Europe have some or other version of a Coat of Arms. If you have a surname originating in Europe, somewhere in your genealogy, over the course of history, it is most likely that a member of your family rose to distinction and earned a Coat of Arms. This is a mark of your History and in a sense belongs to you.

A beautifully hand carved Coat of Arms is a symbol of honor and a family heirloom to hand down to future generations; a highly prized gift to someone who values their families’ origin and culture. It gives the bearer a sense of place and belonging; a reminder of a family’s ongoing responsibility to honor the family name.

Over the past eighteen years, the sign carver has produced many Coats of Arms of various sizes for Families, Schools and businesses. These have been either carved in wood or made of clay and cast in cement. We offer custom made Family Coats of Arms with colour or natural wood, cement (painted or plain) or painted resin.

Belgian client

German client

Duché d'Amerval (France)

https://www.patrickdamiaens.info

Tuesday, 26 January 2021

A wooden carved Rococo mirror frame | Large wooden rococo style mirror | Carved and Gilded mirror over a chimney | Architectural woodcarving

Carving a Rococo mirror frame |
Patrick Damiaens, ornamental woodcarver

Carving a Rococo style mirror in wood

Wooden mirror for above a mantelpiece

Gilded Rococo mirror frame

A blogentry from this site:

https://www.patrickdamiaens.info

We always start with a design, my creation of a Rococo mirror frame was based on an example made in polyester. This polyester copy had been hanging in my client's living room for 25 years.

If you think long term, polyester is not a good investment, it hasn't had a long life, small and medium sized parts and pieces broke off from the mirror for quite some time now, the whole Rococo mirror was actually falling apart, and becoming sprinkly.

So it was time to replace it and the only option was for the customer to make an (improved) copy of the polyester model.

It is always nice to be able to make a nice design, this Rococo mirror is meant as decoration for a marble mantelpiece, sometimes you can see this kind of mirrors in a wooden trumeau, this one is about 2 meters high and 120 wide and intended for a house in the Netherlands.

Rococo is one of the more difficult styles to reproduce. Horizontal lines are almost non-existent, they are replaced by delicate curves, long drawn or pulled acanthusleaf motifs and many rocailles motifs merge into one another. Asymmetry is the strong point of this style.

The effect is capricious, marvelous, captivating and enchanting. It is a style that appeals more to the senses, less to the intellect and emphasizes beauty over content.

Placing a drawing on the wood

The preparation of the lime wood construction of the mirror, the sawing and the various operations with the router has taken a lot of time. Accuracy is important in every phase at this stage and that starts with transferring the drawing of the Rococo mirror to lime paper, by means of carbonless paper or hand film, the design of the Rococo mirror is transferred to the wood.

Remember this drawing is very important and you should definitely check it carefully (on lime paper and on the wood) to make sure that all the lines of the design are present.

Even a not unimportant..., a bad design or drawing can only lead to a bad end result. All stages in this phase of the creation are linked to each other, if you forget something or if you prepare something badly, this will have consequences at a later stage.

The four separate parts are glued to an MDF board, between the wood of the mirror and the MDF board is a newspaper or ordinary paper glued, this will ensure that after finishing the cutting work the part of the mirror is easily detached from the MDF board.

Practical mounting

The carving of the ornaments happens in this case with the drawing and the polyester example on the workbench. With an altimeter we take crucial measurements on the original and transfer these reference heights to the lime wood.

The large frame is cut first and then serves as a reference for and Rococo design of the ornaments, these ornaments have specific names, such as rocaille, acanthus leaf motif, agraphe, etc.... Each stage in the carving of an ornament is important but we start with the rough shaping of the whole and gradually refine it, until we are satisfied with design and finishing.

When the visible front of each part, in this case four pieces, is ready we turn the piece around, put it in a blanket and start cutting the back, the excess wood behind the ornament is removed and the Rococo ornament begins to come loose visually, you look sideways no longer against a mass of wood, and all attention goes to the ornament itself. What remains are the four transitions of the parts, making sure that mouldings and ornaments merge smoothly into one another.

This Rococo mirror frame will still be provided with gold leaf, but that's another specialisation that will be done by another craftsman.

Rococo

The rococo style is a European style period that reached its peak between 1730 and 1760. The name rococo is derived from the French word rocaille: an asymmetrical shell motif that was widely used in the mid-18th century on furniture, doors, panelling, etc..

The word rocaille goes back to the French words roc (rock) and coquilles (shells) and indicates that it is mainly a decorative style.

Rococo originated in France as a reaction to the severe classicist baroque of around 1700.

The subsequent Rococo style is characterised by grace, elegance, charm, wit and playful eroticism. The style remained popular for over seventy years in the eighteenth century. After that, the style of neoclassicism gradually made its appearance and the rococo style disappeared.

As many styles have received their names in art history, the name rococo was initially intended to be mocking. The word refers to decorative shell shapes from the Baroque period.

Despite the many commissions, the Rococo artists were severely criticised. Opponents felt that their works of art were not serious enough in terms of content. Moreover, it was thought to be too much in the service of the decadent upper class. Therefore, the Rococo was mainly regarded as a decorative style.

WIKI

Rococo, less commonly Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colors, sculpted molding, and trompe l'oeil frescoes to create surprise and the illusion of motion and drama. It first appeared in France and Italy in the 1730s and spread to Central Europe in the 1750s and 1760s. It is often described as the final expression of the Baroque movement.

The Rococo style began in France in the first part of the 18th century in the reign of Louis XV as a reaction against the more formal and geometric Style Louis XIV. It was known as the style rocaille, or rocaille style. It soon spread to other parts of Europe, particularly northern Italy, Bavaria, Austria, other parts of Germany, and Russia. It also came to influence the other arts, particularly sculpture, furniture, silverware and glassware, painting, music, and theatre.

Rococo wooden ornaments | A wooden carved Rococo mirror frame | Large wooden rococo style mirror | Carved and Gilded mirror over a chimney | Architectural woodcarving

Patrick Damiaens | A wooden carved Rococo mirror frame | Large wooden rococo style mirror | Carved and Gilded mirror over a chimney | Architectural woodcarving

https://www.patrickdamiaens.info

Monday, 2 December 2019

The decorative ornament MEDUSA | Greek mythology as decoration | Medusa ornament as ornamental carving

The decorative ornament MEDUSA

Greek mythology as decoration, Medusa

-A particularly common decorative ornament is the head of Medusa.

It can be executed in several ways: in stone, wood and iron and often it is depicted on a shield but occasionally I also encounter it without this background. As an independent ornament it can be in the form of a sculpture or a bas relief carving.

Who is Medusa then?

According to Greek mythology, Medusa is a daughter of the sea gods Phorcys and his sister Ceto. Together with her sisters Stheno and Euryale they were depicted as women with tusks, hands of bronze, golden wings and snakes instead of hair and were called the gorgonians. Medusa was the only one who was mortal.

Museum in Lille (FR) | Medusa

Originally Medusa was a beautiful girl until she was caught by Pallas Athens in one of her temples while there Medusa made love to Poseidon and thus disconsecrated the temple. According to Ovid, Medusa was raped by Poseidon. Nevertheless, Pallas Athens became so angry that she turned Medusa into a monster with snakes like hair, tusks of a pig, glowing eyes and a tongue that stuck out of the mouth. A cosmetic metamorphosis that made the sight of Medusa so terrible that everyone who looked at her turned into stone.

Medusa was finally beheaded by the hero Perseus, who had received some help from Athens, and as a thank you Perseus offered her the head of Medusa and Athens placed the head on her shield in order to petrify enemies with it.

The shepherd's hour with Poseidon was not without consequences and when Peseus cut off the head of Medusa, Medusa gave birth to the winged horse Pegasus together with the giant Chrysaor.

Because of the frightening sight of Medusa's head, this motif is often used as an ornament on doors and facades of buildings or in the possession of a king.

Here are some examples of this decorative ornament

that I've photographed for many years.