Russian folk crafts. Shemogodskaya carving. Slotted birch bark How to cut patterns on birch bark

Birch bark is birch bark, which is a unique natural material. Lovely birch - decoration of Russian forests, the personification of youth and chastity

Among the endless vast world of plants on Earth, only birch has a snow-white bark.

Birch bark has a peculiar structure. Its surface layer is highlighted in white.

It is followed by the thinnest, numerous yellowish layers that make up the so-called birch bark - a durable, flexible material that does not give in to decay, a unique natural formation.

These properties made birch bark one of the most vital materials for humans. They drove black tar from birch bark, got along with light boats, roofing for huts,

weaved sandals and waders, jackets and caps, bottles and inkpots, horns and pipes that caress the ear.

In specially made tues and boxes, liquid substances were stored - milk, sour cream, cedar oil, various animal fat, honey, salted fish and much more.

A birch bark canteen is like a thermos: sour cream does not sour in them, the fish does not freeze in winter, and does not deteriorate in the heat.

All these products could be stored indefinitely because birch bark has excellent bactericidal properties. It is no coincidence that the air in a birch forest is several times more sterile than in an operating room. The seams in the products were sealed so tightly that they did not let moisture through.

Bags, clothes, shoes were made from specially processed birch bark.
which in their qualities are not inferior to leather products.
In ancient times in Russia, birch bark was used in large quantities
for writing. The writings of the ancient Novgorodians have been well preserved to this day - birch bark letters that brought to us pictures of the life of that distant time.

Birch bark is one of the most poetic materials of folk decorative
applied arts. Like clothes, it reliably protects the tree
from various adversities. In the spring, on bright sunny days, snow-white
the bark reflects the scorching rays of the luminary. Autumn birch bark "cloak"
protects the trunk from moisture, putrefactive microbes,
in winter - from bitter frosts.

The craftsmen of many provinces were engaged in the production of products from birch bark. Carved birch bark was used to decorate art products.

Each large center for the production of birch bark products developed their own methods of decorating things, in which patterns, ornaments with images of birds and plants were often used.

The master performs all kinds of birch bark products with the finest carving and embossing, in combination they are harmonious. Skillfully varying patterns, he makes each object seem to sound in its own way.

Birch bark is a very warm material. Even in a cold room, it is warm to the touch, because it has a lot of positive energy.

Very often we hear from women who have been working on a computer for a long time that a rim made of birch bark relieves fatigue, and often normalizes pressure.

Each product is unique.

Products made of birch bark are very beautiful - their soft charm with a touch of Russian antiquity makes people gravitate towards such items with all their hearts ...

Slotted carving on birch bark. Master Class

Many people who start working with birch bark are wondering: how to make a slotted thread

First, we need a joint knife and a feather knife as the main knives. These are the main knives and we will use them the most. Professional craftsmen usually use only a feather knife at all.

We also need a set of chisels for wood carving.

Since I used to study woodcarving at Tatyanka, I have such a set of chisels in stock.

We also need an awl. The main thing in working with birch bark is to prevent the awl from scratching it, so give yourself a couple to work with birch bark and blunt / round off a little.

We need first-class, high-quality birch bark for the slotted carving. With a jamb knife, it is necessary to remove all growths and stratify the birch bark, removing the white layer. As we remember, birch bark is compressed layers of the thinnest outer bark, so delamination will pass easily.

Getting started

The first thing we need to do is prepare the drawing that we will cut out. To do this, it is enough to print the necessary drawing on the printer, attach it to the birch bark and with an awl (which is why you need a rounded awl), carefully circle the drawing, not pressing hard on the drawing, so that the outline remains on the birch bark.

One of the favorite materials of the craftsmen was birch bark. Baskets, salt shakers, boxes, shoes (sandals, feet) were woven from it. Of the combined products (wood and bark), the most common was a tues, consisting of a layer birch bark and skolotnya (birch bark cylinder).

Birch bark has antiseptic properties, which allows you to store food in a birch bark dish for a long time. In addition to utilitarian items in the peasant hut, there were toys made of birch bark - wicker balls, rattles (shuffles), "birch bark" figures. Simple musical instruments - horns and pipes - were also made from birch bark. Pots, glass bottles, handles of tools were wrapped with birch bark ribbon.

Birch bark crafts, once widespread throughout the country, have survived in the northern, northeastern regions of the European part of Russia, in the Volga region and Siberia. Elm bark bodies are made only in the Bryansk region (Maloye Polpino). Unfortunately, at the present time the trade is not so widespread, and the bodies are made only by individual craftsmen.

If you have been to the forest, then, most likely, you have seen a rotten birch stump at least once. If you kick it, it will crumble into dust, but the birch bark will remain strong. Birch bark is durable and does not decay, and people have long understood this. In the huts, it was placed under the lower crown of the hut so that moisture would not penetrate into the house. Birch bark was used to create moisture resistant footwear, sheathing of birch bark boats, and the manufacture of tues, which kept their contents cold even in the heat. One of the historical sources is the well-known birch bark letters, which have brought us samples of ancient Russian writing. Birch was used as paper due to its elasticity.
Birch bark products used in everyday life were often decorated with a cut pattern. The city where more than in all other places they were engaged in carving on birch bark was Veliky Ustyug.
Birch bark is easy to process, even using simple tools, you can perform various decorative work.

The most important tool when creating slotted birch bark is a cutter. Punching tools are also needed (Hand tools for punching small holes in various materials) - they are made from sheet steel rolled up in the form of tubes of different diameters. The profiles of such tubes can be made in different shapes: oval, square, triangular, round. The tubes must be driven into wood handles and sharpened on the outside.
Also, engravings and a blunt awl are useful in work. The more different tools there are, the more interesting the drawing will be.

Birch bark harvesting should be planned for late May / early June, it is at this time of the year that the birch bark has a particularly beautiful shade and is easy to remove. Only remove birch bark from already fallen trees!

Peel off the outer white layer with sandpaper and remove the remaining bark from the front (inner) side.
Fresh birch bark exfoliates easily, but dried birch bark will need to be steamed with hot water and separated into layers with a knife.
To make the birch bark straight, put it between two planks and press down with a load.

For processing birch bark, you need a board (preferably linden or aspen). The birch bark is attached to such a board with the help of clerical buttons, and a sheet of thin paper with a pattern applied to it is fixed on top, then the drawing must be circled around the contour with a hard pencil so that the print of the pattern can be seen on the product, later you can circle it with an awl and directly on the birch bark ...

Difficult parts of the design must be cut with a cutter, and punch holes are well suited for small, often repetitive elements. In order to make the pattern even more interesting, engravings are used, they are slightly knocked on with a hammer so that a depression or bulge appears in the birch bark. Carefully, if you are not sure that you will get exactly a deepening, and not a through hole, it is better to practice working with chasing on a test piece of birch bark. Embossings and punches are used to simplify the same elements on the product. Awl is used to depict short lines and dots.

After your work is completed, you need to carefully remove the birch bark from the board and glue it to the background - smooth birch bark, colored foil, etc. For gluing, you need to use wood glue and do it under a press. If during work it loses its color and freshness, then it should be wiped with oil (sunflower or linseed) with a soft sponge or cloth.
The finished product can be used to decorate a pencil case, bookmark, pencil holder, glasses case and many different objects that we meet in everyday life.

So, our master class on making a pattern on birch bark by slotted thread:

Tools

First, we need a joint knife and a feather knife as the main knives. These are the main knives and we will use them the most. Professional craftsmen usually use only a feather knife at all.

We also need a set of chisels for wood carving.

Since I used to study woodcarving at Tatyanka, I have such a set of chisels in stock.

We also need an awl. The main thing in working with birch bark is to prevent the awl from scratching it, so give yourself a couple to work with birch bark and blunt / round off a little.

Getting started

Many different tools can be used to emboss birch bark, but to get a full range of designs, I advise you to use a leather embossing tool.

Here are some examples of leather embossing:

The effect will be the same, except that the birch bark is more fragile, calculate the force when hitting with a hammer :) Practice on an unnecessary piece of birch bark.

The frame around the picture is traced with a metal ruler, this is a proven way to make a straight line.

After that, take some rest.

In order to glue our drawing on the decorated object, we take PVA glue, a sponge for dishes, and apply glue with small light movements, the glue is applied both to the object and to the birch bark, remember you don’t need much glue, otherwise it will flow out of the ornament and then all this will have a rather unpresentable look.

Good luck in your endeavors!

Artistic processing of birch bark is one of the types of folk decorative art that has preserved to this day the traditional techniques and methods of processing natural materials.

Due to its remarkable properties (strength, flexibility, resistance to decay), birch bark has long been widely used in everyday life. All various birch bark products of the peoples of Russia can be conditionally divided into three groups:

1. Things made from a whole piece of birch bark are the simplest in shape: checkmans (wide and low four-sided open dishes), box bodies, rags.

2. Wickerwork in a variety of shapes and sizes: small salt shakers, huge shoulder bags, wicker shoes, etc.

3. Sewing products, the most complex and labor-consuming: beetroot, boxes.

The methods of decorating birch bark products are also varied: scraping and engraving, embossing and carving, painting with paints.

Acquaintance of children with the artistic processing of birch bark, practical training in their technical methods of this craft is quite accessible at home, and not only in places where folk crafts operate, but also where their influence does not extend. The main thing is that there is an adult nearby who either knows how or wants to learn this craft and pass on at least a spark of his passion to the child.

For a slotted ornament, a birch bark is necessary that is even, smooth, without knot holes, sagging and growths. Let's say right away that birch bark can only be harvested from trees felled during planned felling. In no case should you use growing trees for harvesting: removing the bark leads to the death of the tree.

Birch bark is different in its qualities. According to the observations of birch bark specialists, its quality depends on: the age of the tree; from the area where the birch grows; from the health of birch.

Young birch trees (3-4 years old) do not have birch bark at all. On birches 15-25 years old, birch bark is thin, clean and soft. On very old birches and near the butt of birch bark it happens with outgrowths, cracks and dark lines. The best birch bark is on medium birch trees, 75-100 cm thick in girth.

From birches growing in too damp, swampy places, birch bark turns out to be fragile, with roughness, with many small and large lines.

In open sunny places, birch bark is weak and fragile. Better to take birch bark from birches growing in moderately humid places, in moderately shady forests.

Birches affected by diseases, insects, fungi give very bad birch bark. Good material is provided by perfectly healthy trees, and birch bark must be removed at a certain height from the ground.

Birch bark is removed from trees in various ways, depending on the purpose: with narrow ribbons; sheets or plates; with hammers.

For slotted birch bark, you will need sheet or sheet material (it is most easily removed from tree trunks).

A birch bark cut is made along the entire smooth part of the trunk; the edges of the cut are slightly bent with a knife, and then all the birch bark around the trunk is removed by hand. If there are thick branches on the trunk, then the birch bark is removed with frequent (small) plates, which can be used on small products.

Birch bark for fine, artistic products must be stored especially carefully. This requires a cool, dry, darkened area. Birch bark folded in damp rooms is covered with mold, which is why dark and whitish spots appear on it. After 4-5 days, the color of the birch bark deteriorates from the sun's rays, it becomes reddish. From prolonged lying in the light, the birch bark becomes completely white. All changes in the color of birch bark are accompanied by a deterioration in its strength, flexibility, and extensibility.

For storage, fold the birch bark into bundles and place them between two boards, pressing them on top with a load so that the birch bark does not curl.

The technique of carving on birch bark is not particularly complicated. Carving tools are simple and can be made at home. For work, you will need the following: a cutter knife; splint (blunt and polished); ruler, square and compass for marking the picture; a backing board on which the thread is made.

The main tool for carving on birch bark is a knife. This is the same knife that we used when making wooden sets using the marquetry technique, decorating boxes.

Manufacturing of birch bark products consists of: a) preparatory operations; b) the process of cutting the ornament; c) installation, in which a birch bark strip with a ready-made slotted ornament is connected to the surface of any product.

Preparatory operations are in the stratification of birch bark, in cutting it into strips, plates, blanks, in the removal of the outer layer and exfoliated pieces, in the marking of the ornament pattern.

Birch bark removed from wood can be quite thick, and for carving work, thinner plates (0.5-0.8 mm) are needed, which can be cut without much effort. To get birch bark of the required thickness; it is stratified. Immediately after being removed from the tree (until it has dried out), the birch bark is relatively easy to exfoliate. And dried birch bark must first be steamed in hot water for 3-4 hours and only then stratified. In this case, use a wooden knife. In places where one layer sticks to another, it is convenient for them to separate the layers without fear of damaging them.

The inner side of the birch bark is called the front side, and the ornament is cut on it. The outer white layer is cleaned with sandpaper.

A blank corresponding to the shape and size of the objects that want to be decorated with a slotted thread is placed for cutting on a backing board. On it, the main divisions of the pattern are applied with a schill along a ruler: edges, central field. Then the plant pattern of the central field is applied. To do this, the easiest way is to take tracing paper with a drawing drawn in advance, put it on the workpiece and transfer the drawing onto the birch bark with a hard pencil or awl. If it turns out to be not noticeable enough, you can additionally circle it with a blunt awl, removing the tracing paper.

Ornament cutting process... To acquire the skills of carving on birch bark, simple exercises should be done, first performing simple drawings.

To do this, on birch bark scraps that are unsuitable for quality products, several parallel lines are drawn with an awl at a short distance from each other. These strips are used to cut such simple elements as diamonds, triangles, ovals, which are most often used in the edges (1, 2). Then you should move on to a simple floral ornament (3, 4, 5). The most common element of plant ornament is a trefoil framed by a semicircular stem. To successfully cut a floral ornament, you need to learn how to perform this element in isolation or in a simplified floral ornament. Only after the primary carving skills have been developed and the hand gains some confidence, can one start cutting any finished composition. After the pattern is completed, its main motives are finished with a "drawing" and a small cut: small cuts on the berries, leaves are drawn with an awl, imitating the pattern of plant veins.

All this gives the drawing great liveliness, expressiveness and completeness.

Mounting... A birch bark strip with a cut out ornament is traditionally glued into smooth recesses on the walls of the decorated object. This complication of the technology for decorating products is explained by the need to protect soft and over time fragile material from breakage. The surface of the recess or the entire product is pre-tinted, which gives a beautiful combination of the cut birch bark pattern and the background of the product. For the same purpose, you can use colored foil: first it is glued onto a birch bark strip with a cut ornament, and then it is glued into a recess on the product. The work is covered with varnish (except for recesses), and the carved birch bark is not varnished, it must retain its natural color.

Hello dear.
Last time we recalled "frost on tin" from Veliky Ustyug: well, today we will talk about beautiful carving on birch bark from about the same area :-) Products by the master of Shemogodskaya volost, Velikoustyug district of the Vologda province of Russia were often called wooden lace beautifully. Shemogodskaya cut birch bark is perhaps the most famous birch bark trade in Russia. He is also famous abroad. The trade got its name from the Shemoksa River, which flows into the Northern Dvina below Veliky Ustyug.

The first mention of Shemogod birch bark things as a commodity is found on the pages of the travel diary of retired seconds-major Pyotr Chelishchev, who visited Veliky Ustyug in 1791.

They began to engage in carving on birch bark where material was at hand. In the village of Kurovo-Navolok, surrounded by birch forests, the first carver, the famous Veprev, began to work.
For a long time, only his descendants were engaged in carving on birch bark here. Here the craft itself arose.

The peasants of the village of Kurovo-Navolok back in the 18th century. learned the art of cutting and embossing on birch bark, and in the second floor. XIX century. this craft was already practiced by peasants in 14 villages of Shemogodsky volost.

Ornaments of Shemogodsk carvers, called "birch bark lace", were used in the manufacture of caskets, boxes, tea-cases, pencil cases, toes, dishes, plates, and cigarette cases.
The early monuments are dominated by subject compositions. Scenes from noble life, humorous moralizing pictures, fairy-tale creatures, everyday peasant activities were depicted on birch bark boxes, tavlinkas, chests framed with floral ornament. The names of many talented craftsmen are associated with the history of the craft.

The development of the ornamental art of carved birch bark at different times was influenced by bone carving, perforated iron, northern black, carving and painting on wood. However, having experienced various influences, Shemogodskaya birch bark has remained original and unique. Common roots of the decorative style of the 16th - 18th centuries can be traced in carving and painting on wood, in ornaments of nielloed and carved silver, carved bones, wall paintings, heels and embroidery.
Carved birch bark is akin to perforated iron, but even more so - perforated tin. Metal openwork on the royal doors, dated by H.H. Sobolev 1748, from the gateway Vladimir Church of the Archangel Michael Monastery in Veliky Ustyug serves as a vivid example of this. The same technique is found in the Ustyug “terem” chests, bound with patterned-perforated iron, often with a background of colored paper covered with mica.

The closeness of birch bark patterns to ornamental motifs of chased and engraved metal frames and basma that adorn the Ustyug icons of the 16th - 17th centuries is especially evident.

Shemogod carving was distinguished by a traditional plant motif: a thin branch, together with foliage, smoothly curving, filled the entire carving field with patterned lace. On their tips are round rosettes, berries, shamrocks. Often, the craftsmen introduced geometric patterns from circles, rhombuses - "gingerbread", ovals, and segments into plant ornaments. The composition was built according to the principle of clear symmetry. The drawing was completed with a border of leaves, triangles, wavy lines, mesh. Works with plot compositions stand out.

Typical patterns of cut Shemogod birch bark - images of animals, people, birds, vegetation - are engraved with a blunt awl on birch bark sheets and cut through with the background discarded with a sharp knife. Sometimes foil or colored paper is placed under the openwork, and the carving is combined with embossing. The slotted birch bark is glued in strips onto the surface of utilitarian and decorative wooden products - in special recesses - dishes, frames, boxes. Sometimes such products are made of two layers of birch bark - tues.

Craftsmen also use other techniques, placing, for example, an ornamental image of birds among a lush plant pattern. The wide use of this image in many types of folk art - embroidery, lace, carving and wood painting - testifies to the long tradition of this figure, apparently designed to serve as a talisman.

Fortunately, after the fall of the Empire, art was not lost. In 1918, handicraftsmen united in cooperative artels. The local authorities of the region organized centralized orders, collective procurement of raw materials and sales of finished products. Women began to play an important role in the production of birch bark products.

In 1935, after all the masters of birch bark carving were united into one artel at the Shemogodsky Furniture Factory, an active search for a new style, new ornamental and subject forms began.
The basis of the composition of the Shemogod patterns of the 1940s. makes up a stem - a "runner", from which smaller shoots gently diverge in different directions, the so-called "covenants", crowned with oval leaves with thin frequent notches, as well as two-leaved and trefoils, small rosettes "seeds" resembling a multi-petalled flower; a similar element, only larger, we observe in the second half of the Shemogod ornament. XIX century.
In the post-war period, the Shemogod ornament, while maintaining its general traditional character, becomes noticeably more complicated.

In 1972, the Vologda Department of Local Industry decided to create a team of birch bark carvers at the Veliky Ustyug factory of artistic brushes.
Thus began a new stage in the history of the craft - its true revival.
In 1981, an experimental factory "Velikoustyugskie patterns" was opened in the city. Which works, fortunately, to this day
The range of currently manufactured products includes more than 200 items: boxes, baskets, cupboards, cup holders, boxes, sets of souvenir cutting boards, decorative plates, trays, cigarette holders, writing sets, etc.

Since ancient times, birch bark (birch bark) has been used to make necessary household items, including dishes. Products are stored in such dishes for a long time, since birch bark does not transmit heat and light and contains a large amount of tannins. These material properties are used in our time. Velikoustyugskiye Uzory supplies its products to enterprises that pack Vologda butter, mushrooms, berries, etc. into birch bark tues. According to the developments of Moscow firms, birch bark packaging for gift sets is being produced, the production of writing sets for classrooms and offices has been mastered.
There is a small museum at the factory. If you are in Veliky Ustyug, be sure to visit!
Have a nice time of the day.