carved open
fretwork--that is to say, the ground is entirely cut away, leaving the
pattern standing free. This will form an excellent piece of discipline
with regard to the design of background forms, because in such work as
this, those forms assert themselves in a very marked manner; if they are
in any way found to be conspicuously unequal in size or are awkwardly
designed as to shape, the whole effect of the work is spoiled.

[Illustration: FIG. 24.]

For your first effort make a design based upon No. 24, and please to
observe these rules in its construction. The main or leading lines of
the pattern are to run as much as possible without crossing each other.
The holes are to be fairly equal in size, or rather in area, as they
need not be at all like each other in shape. The amount of wood left
standing to be of a width averaging never less than half the length of
the average-sized hole. This is necessary for securing sufficient
strength of material in the cross-grained pieces, which would be liable
to split if made too long and narrow. The pattern should be formal in
character, not necessarily symmetrical, but it should be well balanced.
You may have one part of your design composed of large holes and another
of small ones, provided the change is part of a definite design, as in
Fig. 25. You may even leave the wood in some parts forming a solid
background, or you may treat it as a separate piece of simple carving
on the solid, as in Fig. 26, being careful to execute it in a
consistently simple manner, as in this kind of work much change of
manner in execution is inadvisable, although, at the same time, it is
open to any amount of variety in design of outline and combination of
contrasts.

[Illustration: FIG. 25.]

[Illustration: FIG. 26.]

Take a piece of pine about 3 or 4 ft. long and 7 or 9 ins. wide by 3/4
in. thick. Trace on your pattern and drill circular holes in the middle
of each space to be cut through. Then take a keyhole saw, and remove the
wood by sawing round the space close to the blue line, taking care not
to cut through it in any place. The saw must be held very truly upright
in order to cut the sides of the spaces at right angles to the face of
the wood. Now carve the pattern on the surface in whatever manner you
have designed--in grooves suggesting the articulation of the leaves, in
short grooves which may pass for additional leaves, or in a dozen ways
which practise may help you to invent.