History of wood carving
From the remotest ages the decoration of wood has been a foremost art. The tendency of human nature has always been to ornament every article in use. The North American Indian carves his wooden fish-hook or his pipe stem just as the Polynesian works patterns on his paddle. The native of Guyana decorates his cavassa grater with a well-conceived scheme of incised scrolls, while the native of Loango Bay distorts his spoon with a design of perhaps figures standing up in full relief carrying a hammock.
Figure-work seems to have been universal. To carve a figure in wood may be not only more difficult but also less satisfactory than sculpting with marble, owing to the tendency of wood to crack, to be damaged by insects, or to suffer from changes in the atmosphere. The texture of the material, too, often proves challenging to the expression of features, especially in the classic type of youthful face. On the other hand, magnificent examples exist of the more rugged features of age: the beetling brows, the furrows and lines neutralizing the defects of the grain of the wood. In ancient work the surface may not have been of such consequence, for figures as a rule being painted for protection and especially color.
20 - 30 Period of time periods last year, the life and the culture of Lanna person have development different from originally lifestyle. Modern life and tourism industry that grow up to go up quickly bring about utensil production and modern furniture and doing souvenir which do that greatly affect to wood carving modified by ever have doing is in a temple comes to the production in industry system cause wood carves products modified. Wood sculptors seek very difficult. However in among modifies of the social a sculptor is like originally of Lanna still enough have descender. The cause that the work carves the wood of Chiangmai is that is acquainted with more the elsewhere. Because, in Chiangmai still have a sculptor like originally stay and Chiangmai still stay near resource place have teakwood.
It is not always realized at the present day to what extent color has even from the most ancient times been used to enhance the effect of wood-carving and sculpture. The modern Colour prejudice against gold and other tints is perhaps due to the fact that painted work has been vulgarized. The arrangement of a proper and harmonious scheme of colour is not the work of the house painter, but of the specially trained artist.
Of late years carving has gone out of fashion. The work is necessarily slow and requires substantial skill, making the works expensive. Other and cheaper methods of decoration have driven carving from its former place. Machine work has much to answer for, and the endeavor to popularize the craft by means of the village class has not always achieved its own end. The gradual disappearance of the individual artist, elbowed out as he has been, by the contractor, is fatal to the continuance of an art which can never flourish when done at so much a yard.
