HabanaesculturaHabanaesculturaDíaz Piñero

Tutorials · Beginner · Coming soon

Abstract Form with Faceted Relief

📘 This tutorial will become part of the workshop handbook. The complete illustrated step-by-step will be available soon.
~2 hTime
BeginnerLevel
Foam or softwoodMaterial
V-gouge · U-gougeTools

A repeated geometric pattern that, once multiplied, stops reading as geometry and becomes sculptural texture. It's the perfect exercise for understanding that form isn't in the tool, but in the space you leave for it.

This piece can be carved in high-density rigid polyurethane foam (to practice the form without fear of mistakes) or directly in wood, for the final piece. Recommended wood: basswood or white pine — soft and with discreet grain, ideal so the repeated pattern reads clean without the grain competing with the facets.

From the Shop: V-gouge, U-gouge, and sandpaper. See tools →

What you'll need

Before you start: always carve away from your body and clamp the panel down — with a repeated pattern it's easy to lose focus right around cut number twenty.

Step by step

Initial block with the outline of the abstract form with faceted reliefphoto coming soon
1

Initial block

Start with a rectangular block of wood or high-density foam. Draw the front outline of the abstract form with faceted relief on all four faces of the block, and mark a center line on each.

Cutting the finished front profilephoto coming soon
2

Cutting the front profile

Remove the excess material following the outline you drew. The piece is still flat, like a cut-out silhouette, but you can already recognize the overall shape.

Stages 3 through 10 are in the Habanaescultura book — currently in the works, with tracing patterns, renders of each piece, and the technical sheet for all 21 projects in the route. In the meantime, this preview shows you how the process starts.

Don't have the tools?

The V-gouge, the U-gouge, and sandpaper are the only three tools this project needs.

See in the Shop

Want to keep going? The complete process for this piece — and the other 13 — will be in the book. While it's finished, pick another tutorial from the route, or write to us to be notified as soon as it's out.