Good tools for incising/carving

[liambesaw]

I have a series of vases with shoulders I am incising and I'm just using an exacto blade and a Kemper small carver.  I've been doing it on leather hard, it seems hard to get crisp lines and uniform depth, I'm doing a lot of tedious touch-up. Any tips for this style of texturing/carving?  I have a ways to go on this piece but hopefully you get the idea.

[Benzine]

For what you are doing, I would say those tools work pretty well.

For smaller, more sculptural carving, I use dental tools.  My Wife is a Dental Assistant, and she gave me some, her Office was going to toss, as they were too dull for their purposes, but still great for clay.

I've seen that Xiem makes some small carving tools, but I haven't personally tried them.

[liambesaw]

32 minutes ago, Benzine said:

For what you are doing, I would say those tools work pretty well.

For smaller, more sculptural carving, I use dental tools.  My Wife is a Dental Assistant, and she gave me some, her Office was going to toss, as they were too dull for their purposes, but still great for clay.

I've seen that Xiem makes some small carving tools, but I haven't personally tried them.

Oh good idea, I am a dental technician, I will ask my boss for some old tools.  Don't even know why that didn't come to mind, I use them all day for carving haha

[LeeU]

Scalpels (inexpensive is fine) are good too. 

 

[Rae Reich]

You're losing chunks on the edges because your clay is too dry. I'm sure you're keeping them covered when you're not carving, but careful light misting can help. In future, start carving sooner and never turn your back on an uncovered partially carved piece, the unevenness in moisture will cause drag  on your tools. You want your carved-out larger scraps to still be a little flexible.  

Use the narrowest blade you can find, it will facilitate more precision and can carve on the curves more smoothly. 

Leave the little bits along your cuts alone until they dry up enough to be brushed off with fingers - no damp sponge or sanding till all done and dry. 

I put those little foam cylindrical cushions you can buy for pencils and pens on my carving tools (sometimes have to fatten up the shaft with a few layers of blue tape). That makes for more comfortable hours of carving, I can have a better grip and accuracy. 

If you're using a small, squared-off trimming tool for recessed areas, grind its bottom edges carefully to be more narrow for less drag (or use the same tool daily on groggy stoneware for several years till it gets there naturally.) 

Carving all the way through reveals your throwing skill. If you possibly can, refrain from carving out adjacent areas that have noticeable differences of thickness. In addition, there will be strength issues where the wall thins. 

Great start and interesting design

 

[liambesaw]

So do you start cutting at leather soft?  I started at leather hard because I was worried about weakening/distorting it. 

[Rae Reich]

Leather hard is still flexible, beyond that is not. You want it to hold its shape and not flex or sag after carving (although it still might during firing if you haven't planned carefully). If it chips, it's too dry. 

You can be selective, covering only the parts you mean to carve and allowing the base to dry enough to keep the whole piece evened out. I don't have a damp box for big pieces, just cover them individually with clay bags (inside out - no crumbs) to dry evenly after carving.  

As you learn the needs and tolerances of your clay you will be able to judge how far you can take it. 

[liambesaw]

Alright, I'll throw some more vases this weekend and try again when it's leather soft.  I have a large damp box so no issues keeping it soft or drying it slow.  I think my burnishing method also caused it to chip a little when I was refining because the burnishing leaves the outside very shiny and compressed, so I'll try one that's unburnished too.