y, work in which the projecting parts were composed
of many different pieces of wood, each carved separately, and afterward
glued or pinned together to form the composition. Many of the most
elaborate carvings by Grinling Gibbons are of this kind; they have a
charm of their own, but it is one of quite separate interest, and
belongs to a category entirely removed from the art of carving objects
in a solid piece of wood. Apart from this distinction, the difficulty of
the method requires the most accomplished mechanical skill and a highly
trained eye to either carve or compose such work in a way to command
respect. I shall therefore dismiss this branch of the subject as being
outside of our present limits.

Undercutting, on the other hand, is an expedient distinctly
characteristic of solid wood-carving, and some experiments ought to be
made by you in designing work in which it can be used. It may be either
partial or complete--complete, of course, only up to a point; that is to
say, the connection with the background must in every case be not only
maintained but visibly demonstrated. Partial undercutting applies to
such portions as the sides of leaves, the receding parts of heads,
wings, etc., where the wood between the object and its background is cut
away on an inward bend, either completing the projecting form, as in
the case of a head, or merely to hide the superfluous wood in the case
of a leaf. All this presupposes a certain amount of elevation in the
relief; indeed, it is only in such cases that the process is necessary
or can be carried out. The use of undercutting of this kind is like
every other technical process, liable to abuse through too much being
made of its effects. Fortunately the time it consumes is a safeguard
against any tendency to run riot in this direction. The point at which
it should in all cases stop, and that relentlessly, is where it begins
to cause a separation between any entire mass of ornament and its
background. If _portions_ are thus relieved almost to complete
detachment, but visibly reconnect themselves in another place, a certain
piquancy is gained which adds charm without destroying character. A
curious use is made of undercutting in the bunch of leaves given in
Plate XI from a Miserere seat in Winchester Cathedral; it may be said to
be completely undercut in so far that the whole bunch is hollowed out
under the surface, leaving from 1/4 to 1/2 in. thickness of wood, in
which the leav