Making Boxwood Carving

The main artistic feature of boxwood carving is that all the works are made based on their original shapes, maximizing the use of the wood. Though there are many methods, the most prominent and popular way is circular carving.

The tools involved in woodcarving include a mud hammer, sculpting shelf, clay sculpture box, caliper (a kind of measurement tool), and scraper, as well as various kinds of knives. The tools used to shape the rough base include a saw, wood hammer and steel hammer, while the tools for carving are mainly chisels in various shapes like broad, flat and groove chisels.

The making process generally involves a couple of detailed procedures. First a sketch has to be made. Then the artist has to in succession sculpt the clay model, select fine wood, carve and then polish the wood, carve the grains, wax, and arrange the base. To produce boxwood carving of good quality, each of these complicated procedures has to be done very carefully.

Although usually more than one person creates the woodcarvings via a flow process, for some of the special works, only one artist completes them from the beginning to the end. Some adept artists do not need to sculpt the clay model, and rather can carve directly on the boxwood.