A relief sculpture is a marvelous piece of art to witness.
The detailing and expressive image evokes admiration and reverence when used in religion.
The revered image appears lifelike adding the special holistic element when confronting spiritual needs.
If looked closely the relief sculpture is a reverse of the process of sculpting.
In sculpting, the image is carved to give a 3D likeness.
In relief sculpture the background or field is removed so that the image is raised from a flat surface. Typically, a relief sculpture is more a 2D or 2.5 D image.
Advantages of Relief Sculpture
Wood, stone, metal and plastics are materials of choice for engraving or carving relief sculpture.
Relief sculptures came into existence, as sculptors had to meet the spiritual needs of people.
In times of crisis, manmade or otherwise people have no other option other than to turn to Lords of the Universe and use prayer to mitigate suffering.
Asia particularly Southeast Asia has people following Buddhism.
Lord Buddha is a talisman of peace and people pray to Buddha several times during the day.
Buddha relief carving has been in vogue for hundreds of years to satisfy the demand. Master relief carvers used wood and sometimes stone to carve out the images. The work is handmade and takes a long time.
However, a relief sculpture does not carve the rear of the substrate.
This technique allows strength in the relief sculpture as opposed to regular sculptures particularly become weak in areas that do not have structural integr
ity.
The types of relief carving like Bas-relief, Deep- relief and Pierced relief are the different types of relief carving.
High relief sculptures have a greater than 50% depth whereas bas-relief and low relief have the depth cut very shallow.
Apart from single image reliefs there have been cases of multiple images depicting a scene in older architectural relief sculptures.
CNC Routers Universal Application
MDF Venkanna Swamy Relief Sculpture Engraving CNC Router China
With the advent of CNC Router machines, the work of relief carving has undergone metamorphosis.
In no time the image of Buddha became popular as carving pictures and the demand has shot up.
The precision is flawless. The tool path of the CNC Router is actually a method called intaglio (reverse process of carving).
The OMNI 1325 ATC (automatic tool changer) Router machine is a versatile router that is capable of handling any kind of engraving.
The CNC Router is truly universal. In Asia, the carving of Buddha and lotus flower is as universal as much as carving the image of Lord Venkateshwara in India.
Recently the clock tower atop Abraj Al-Bait Towers (Makkah Royal Clock Tower Hotel) billed as the largest clock face in the world has CNC Router technology in the fabrication of letters and crescent spire.
The precision in the engineering of the tower construction as well as other details like lettering and clock hands required the accuracy that only a CNC machine could deliver.