In the past when I would make appplied carvings I would have trouble removing them from the substrate. I have used various techniques to secure the carvings to the substrate including double stick tape, hide glue etc but have found that any method I used that held the pieces securely would invariably result in my cracking the carvings when I removed them from the substrate. Recently however I tried something that worked spectacularly well.
I used hide glue and used a piece of brown paper bag between the substrate and piece to be carved. I clamped the pieces to assure good adhesion. In order to seperate them after carving I placed them in a microwave oven. I ran it long enough to get the wood hot, but not too hot to touch (sort of like hot toast). I figured the heat would soften the glue and allow easy removal; but the results were even better. The microwave boiled all the water out of the hide glue, the glue was dry and brittle, and the carving popped right off the underlying substrate and paper. The bottom surface of the carved piece was as clean as a whistle.
The only problem was I couldn't find an 18th century microwave oven.
Howard Steier
I used hide glue and used a piece of brown paper bag between the substrate and piece to be carved. I clamped the pieces to assure good adhesion. In order to seperate them after carving I placed them in a microwave oven. I ran it long enough to get the wood hot, but not too hot to touch (sort of like hot toast). I figured the heat would soften the glue and allow easy removal; but the results were even better. The microwave boiled all the water out of the hide glue, the glue was dry and brittle, and the carving popped right off the underlying substrate and paper. The bottom surface of the carved piece was as clean as a whistle.
The only problem was I couldn't find an 18th century microwave oven.
Howard Steier