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

Among the endless vast world of plants on Earth, only birch has 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, rot-resistant material, a unique natural formation.

These properties put birch bark among the materials vital for humans. They drove black tar from birch bark, made light boats, roofs for huts,

they wove bast shoes and waders, jackets and caps, bottles and inkwells, horns and pipes that caressed the ear.

Liquid substances were stored in specially made containers and boxes - milk, sour cream, cedar oil, various animal fats, honey, salted fish and much more.

Birch bark containers are like a thermos: sour cream does not turn sour in them, fish does not freeze in winter, and does not spoil in hot weather.

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 allow moisture to pass through.

Bags, clothes, shoes, etc. were made from specially processed birch bark.
which are not inferior in quality to leather products.
In ancient times in Rus', 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, which brought to us pictures of life in 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 spring, on bright sunny days, snow-white
the bark reflects the scorching rays of the luminary. In autumn birch bark “cloak”
protects the trunk from moisture, putrefactive microbes,
in winter - from bitter frosts.

Craftsmen from many provinces were engaged in the production of products from birch bark. Slotted birch bark was used to decorate artistic products.

Each major center for the production of birch bark products developed its own methods of decorating things, which often used patterns and ornaments depicting birds and plants.

The master makes all kinds of products from birch bark with the finest carvings and embossing; in combination they are harmonious. By 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 feels warm to the touch, because it has great positive energy.

Very often we hear from women who work on a computer for a long time that a birch bark rim relieves fatigue and often normalizes blood pressure.

Each product is unique.

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

Slotted carving on birch bark. Master Class

Many people who start working with birch bark wonder: how to make slotted carvings

First, we will need a blunt knife and a feather knife as the main knives. These are the basic knives and the ones we will use most often. Professional craftsmen usually use only a pen knife.

We will also need a set of chisels for wood carving

Since I previously studied wood carving at Tatyanka, I have this set of chisels.

We also need an awl. The main thing in working with birch bark is that the awl does not scratch it, so take yourself a couple to work with birch bark and blunt/round it a little.

For slotted carving we need first-class, high-quality birch bark. Using a jamb knife, you need to remove all the growths and delaminate the birch bark, removing the white layer. As we remember, birch bark is compressed layers of the thinnest outer bark, so delamination will be easy.

Let's start work

The first thing we need to do is prepare the drawing that we will cut out. To do this, it is quite enough to print out the required design on a printer, attach it to the birch bark and, with an awl (that’s why you need a rounded awl), carefully outline the design, without pressing too hard on the design, so that the outline remains on the birch bark.

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

Birch bark has antiseptic properties, which allows you to store food in birch bark containers for a long time. In addition to utilitarian objects, in the peasant hut there were toys made of birch bark - wicker balls, rattles (sharkunkas), “birch bark” figurines. Simple musical instruments - horns and pipes - were also made from birch bark. Birch bark ribbon was wrapped around pots, glass bottles, and the handles of tools.

Birch bark trades, once widespread throughout the country, have been preserved in the northern and northeastern regions of the European part of Russia, in the Volga region and Siberia. Bodies from elm bark are made only in the Bryansk region (Maloye Polpino). Unfortunately, at present the craft is not so widespread, and the bodies are made only by individual craftsmen.

If you have been in the forest, then, most likely, at least once you have seen a rotten birch stump. If you kick it, it will crumble into dust, but birch bark will remain strong. Birch bark is durable and does not rot, and people have long understood this. In 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 water-resistant shoes, cover birch bark boats, and make tues that kept their contents cold even in the heat. One of the historical sources was the well-known birch bark letters, which brought to us examples of ancient Russian writing. Birch was used as paper due to its elasticity.
Products made from birch bark used in everyday life were often decorated with incised patterns. The city where birch bark carving was done more than in any other place was Veliky Ustyug.
Birch bark is easy to process; even using simple tools, you can perform various decorative works.

The most important tool when creating slotted birch bark is a cutter. We also need punches (Hand tools for punching small holes in various materials) - they are made from sheet steel rolled into 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 wooden handles and their outer sides must be sharpened.
Hammers and a blunt awl will also be useful in your work. The more different tools you have, the more interesting the drawing will be.

Birch bark harvesting should be planned for the end of May/beginning of June; it is at this time of year that birch bark has a particularly beautiful shade and is easily removed. Remove birch bark only from already fallen trees!

The outer white layer should be cleaned with sandpaper and the remaining bark should be removed from the front (inner) side.
Fresh birch bark stratifies easily, but dried birch bark will need to be steamed with hot water and separated into layers using a knife.
To make the birch bark straight, place it between two planks and press down with a weight.

To process birch bark you will need a board (preferably linden or aspen). The birch bark is attached to such a board using push pins, and a sheet of thin paper with a pattern applied to it is fixed on top, then the drawing must be outlined along the contour with a hard pencil so that the imprint of the pattern is visible on the product, later you can trace it with an awl and directly on the birch bark .

Complex parts of the design must be cut out with a cutter, and punches are well suited for small, frequently repeated elements. In order to make the pattern even more interesting, chases are used and lightly tapped with a hammer so that a depression or bulge appears in the birch bark. Be careful, if you are not sure that you will get exactly a recess and not a through hole, it is better to practice chasing on a test piece of birch bark. Embossing and punches are used to simplify identical elements for a product. An 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 pressure. If during work it loses color and freshness, it should be wiped with oil (sunflower or linseed) using a soft sponge or rag.
The finished product can be used to decorate a pencil case, bookmark, pencil holder, glasses case and many different items that we encounter in everyday life.

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

Tools

First, we will need a blunt knife and a feather knife as the main knives. These are the basic knives and the ones we will use most often. Professional craftsmen usually use only a pen knife.

We will also need a set of chisels for wood carving

Since I previously studied wood carving at Tatyanka, I have this set of chisels.

We also need an awl. The main thing in working with birch bark is that the awl does not scratch it, so take yourself a couple to work with birch bark and blunt/round it a little.

For slotted carving we need first-class, high-quality birch bark. Using a jamb knife, you need to remove all the growths and delaminate the birch bark, removing the white layer. As we remember, birch bark is compressed layers of the thinnest outer bark, so delamination will be easy.

Let's start work

The first thing we need to do is prepare the drawing that we will cut out. To do this, it is quite enough to print out the required design on a printer, attach it to the birch bark and, with an awl (that’s why you need a rounded awl), carefully outline the design, without pressing too hard on the design, so that the outline remains on the birch bark.

To emboss birch bark, you can use many different devices, but to get the 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, only because 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 drawing is drawn using a metal ruler; this is a proven way to make a straight line.

After that, take a little rest.

In order to glue our design onto the object to be decorated, we take PVA glue, a dish sponge, and apply the glue with small, light movements, the glue is applied both to the object and to the birch bark, remember, you don’t need a lot of glue, otherwise it will leak out of the ornament. and then all this will have a rather unpresentable appearance.

Good luck to YOU ​​in your endeavors!

But, enough about the sad...

Let's better talk about a very interesting and rare craft - about slotted birch bark.

Essay: "Touching Birch Bark"

The Shemoksa River, a tributary of the Northern Dvina, slowly flows past birch groves and spruce copses through green water meadows. The sun's glare shimmers on the calm water, and the tall grasses above the sleepy pools are reflected in it. Looking into these deep mirror pools are the strong huts of the villages, darkened by time, with carved ridges on the roofs and lace trim on the windows. From time immemorial, local residents have mastered carpentry and carpentry skills. But their ability to carve decorative ornaments from birch bark brought them particular fame. Shemogod carvers, mastering the cutting technique perfectly, created the finest lace from birch bark.

Why did this artistic craft arise precisely on the banks of the Shemoksa River? Researchers of northern folk crafts do not give an exact answer. But we can say with confidence that the proximity of Veliky Ustyug was of great importance for the origin and development of shemadic carving.

Veliky Ustyug, located on a wide trading river, has since ancient times attracted the attention of foreign merchants as a convenient transshipment and trading point. From here goods went to Moscow and the White Sea, to Siberia and to distant China. Already in 1618, the British and Dutch lived in Veliky Ustyug and founded their trading offices on the Sukhona. The best craftsmen and artists came to this ancient city to decorate churches and cathedrals. Enamel, filigree and embossing, the production of glazed tiles, “broken iron” and silver niello work – “northern niello” – developed here.

“Crossed iron”, which is still found in the ancient buildings of Veliky Ustyug, has an ornament very similar to the patterns of ancient Shemogod carvings. This gives reason to think that in very distant years an unknown master, perhaps by chance, wanted to try his art on another material that was in abundance at hand, namely birch bark. The experience turned out to be successful. And birch bark lace began to be used as a decorative material, mainly for lining boxes.

Veliky Ustyug has long been famous for its box production. Local boxes, lined with “frost on tin,” found excellent sales throughout Russia and in eastern countries. They were made mainly in Shemoks, and covered with “frost” in Veliky Ustyug, where craftsmen lived who knew how to cover tin with a pattern similar to those that appear on windows in winter due to frost. This is where the name “frost on tin” comes from.

Naturally, birch bark carving began where the material was at hand. In the village of Kurovo-Navolok, surrounded by birch forests, the first carver began working. Hence, from the name of the river Shemoksa, the name of the Shemogod carving was established.

You can unmistakably name the name of the first master. It was Veprev. For a long time, only his descendants were engaged in birch bark carving. After the revolution, the Shemogodsky promartel consisted of ninety carvers and they all bore the same surname - Veprevs.

It should be noted that before the revolution, Shemogod boxes were better known in Paris and New York than in St. Petersburg and Moscow. Parisian women kept gloves in Shemogod boxes, Americans kept cigars and tobacco. At the World Exhibition in Paris in 1900, the handmade birch bark products of Shemogod master Ivan Afanasyevich Veprev were awarded a diploma and medal with honors. And at the All-Russian exhibition in Moscow he received a gold medal. The fame of Ivan Afanasyevich Veprev was inherited by his son Alexander Ivanovich Veprev and students Nikolai Vasilyevich and Serafima Veprev.

There was a time when the Shemogodians, in order to make the boxes more elegant, placed foil under the birch bark lace. She imparted lightness and transparency to the products, as if enlivening the bouquet pattern with the glow of an undying fire. But at the same time, the foil gave the product a toy-like appearance and reduced the cost of artistic carving. Perhaps that is why the best Shemogod masters did not follow this path. Ivan Afanasyevich Veprev generally avoided using foil, preferring a simple dark matte background for his carvings, which made the birch bark lace acquire greater artistic expressiveness and nobility.

In the early 60s, the Shemogod artel was merged with a local furniture factory. And then birch bark products were completely withdrawn from production: they say they were not in wide demand. It seemed that folk art, which had been developing for a long time, was about to die...

This is what one of the oldest craftswomen of Shemogodskaya carving, Alexandra Egorovna Markova, told me, a plump, round-faced woman with a quick rounded dialect characteristic of northerners. Alexandra Egorovna learned the craft during the war years from Anna Alekseevna Ryadovikova, who at one time adopted the skill from the Veprevs.

During the war, little carving was done; they mainly decorated school pencil cases,” said Alexandra Egorovna. - And after the war there were fewer masters, and life changed. Many have completely abandoned the craft.

Markova got married, moved to Veliky Ustyug, and worked in a kindergarten for a long time. But the skill was not forgotten. It just so happens that due to various life circumstances, a master can part with the craft he learned in his youth. But memory keeps in its storerooms the techniques of drawing, carving, and many other little secrets. And the hand does not forget the skills it once acquired.

This happened with Alexandra Egorovna. In her free time, she was drawn to carving, and she used up a long-standing supply of birch bark to make cups, mugs, and boxes. I made them for myself and gave them to friends and folk art lovers. Gradually, her skill was noticed, and orders appeared for exhibitions, museums, and private collections. At the end of the 60s, Markova began working in Kuzin, where a Shemogod carving workshop was opened at a mechanical plant, and soon she was invited to set up the production of boxes at the Veliky Ustyug factory of art brushes. The fishery, which had died out, began to gradually revive.

The tart smell of wood and birch bark filled the room, evoking a picture of a hot summer day, when sun-pierced, birch trees full of sap smell especially pungent and spicy. They are gently knocking on wood (hammers - at the far end of the workshop they are assembling boxes. At tables placed along the windows, girls are working intently. In front of each craftswoman is a stack of birch bark strips-ribbons. On one side they are matte, velvety, white and pink, on the other - shiny, dark yellow. Barely noticeable convex “needles” do not spoil the polished surface of the tape. This is the main material for birch bark lace. Here is a simple tool: a blunt awl, a compass, a ruler, a short sharp knife blade on a long wooden handle and a smooth beech board the size of a notebook page.

The range of modern Shemogod products mainly comes down to boxes of different sizes and shapes,” Markova explained. - We place the main carving pattern on the side of the box. It dictates to the carver the ornament of the pattern, which must be included in the border frame. This gives the ornament a strict completeness.

Alexandra Egorovna places one of the birch bark strips on the board, takes an awl and gently touches the center of the strip with it. A winding line appears under her hand - the main stem. And now the first trefoil grows on it, the second, the third... Smooth, rounded stems with branches diverging to the sides gradually entwine the surface of the birch bark tape, revealing the outline of the future pattern.

The craftswoman does not have a ready-made sample in front of her. She does not sketch or copy, but creates an ornament that she remembers all her life.

Shemogod carving has historically developed three types of ornaments,” Alexandra Egorovna explains without interrupting her work, “plant, we also call it a “bouquet,” geometric and genre. Our favorite is “bouquet”.

Having marked out the border with a ruler and scattered the stamens in the flowers and the veins in the leaves, the craftswoman puts down the awl and picks up the chisel. She deftly and grippingly holds the long handle of the knife. The cutter precisely touches places known only to the craftswoman, takes out the birch bark in tiny pieces, gradually turning the birch bark into intricate lace.

Here, under the quick and confident hand of the craftswoman, the leaves of some fantastic plant appear, resembling either a viburnum or wild grapes, which suddenly turn into a dodder stem. I try to trace the lush branching of the stem, and even more unexpectedly it ends in flowers that look like cornflowers. I peer at the carvings of the girls working nearby and recognize snowdrops, bluebells, and ferns. And in all of them, the floral ornament is distinguished by the harmonious development of the composition, the correct layout and the symmetry of the repetitions of individual elements of the flower.

For every craftswoman, the main motif is a wavy shoot with full, round, repeating curls. Among these curls, the craftswoman, using every centimeter of free space, places rosettes, clusters, and similar fruits in the intricate foliage. The wavy, curled shoot has many variants, but all of them are distinguished by the correctness of the complex pattern, the clear, free outline of the leaves and flowers.

Each girl has her own handwriting,” explains Alexandra Egorovna. - Galina Vologdina likes to cut these fresh mallows, and these lush sunflowers are made by Lyuda Bazhenova - you will immediately recognize her hand, you will not confuse it with any other.

Marvelous birch bark lace is growing right before our eyes. The craftswomen carve confidently and quickly, keeping the drawing in mind. There are many little secrets in their work. It is important to hold the knife correctly, at a certain angle, so that the cut is inclined. Then the texture of the birch bark will decorate the design, and in order for the cut to be equally even, you need to develop a certain amount of pressure. The most difficult part of the job is the wiring. A craftswoman needs a good eye so that there is balance in the drawing, so that nothing falls out and does not overload it.

Valentina Usacheva and Lyudmila Melekhina prefer to cut geometric patterns. They carve lids in which the main ornamental role is played by a richly dissected circle. The decoration is built around this central motif. Triangles, rhombuses, circles radiate from the center of the circle.

The circle entered the Shemogod carving as an ancient pagan symbol of the sun. Over time, it changed into a rosette with numerous variations and became a favorite motif of Shemogod carvings. Various types of boxes, such as the oval teapot, forced carvers to look for new forms of the circle. Thus was born the ellipse, which opened up new ways for craftswomen to create ornaments.

It is generally accepted that the old Shemogod craftsmen mainly cut trefoils with a finishing border, but some particularly talented carvers also engaged in genre, silhouette designs, decorating the boxes with images of hunting scenes, Maslenitsa, introducing figures of people, birds, deer, and horses into them. A characteristic feature of this carving was the rare ability to fit the intended image into a designated area of ​​birch bark and stylistically combine it with the overall carving pattern.

The profile depiction of birds and animals by Shemogod artists is always very expressive. One of the best Shemogod craftsmen, Nikolai Vasilyevich Veprev, loved to decorate boxes with plot ornaments.

Nowadays, birch bark boxes with narrative carvings are collected mainly for exhibitions. Craftswoman Tatyana Vyazova created a panorama of Veliky Ustyug on birch bark; Markova’s fairy tales are widely known.

Birch bark, you know, she also has character,” Alexandra Egorovna continues her story. - It’s easy to cut on a soft one, but more difficult on a hard and layered one: the edges lift up, the purity of the background and subtlety will no longer be there. That is why the procurement of raw materials is not the last thing. Every year, at the beginning of June, having received permission from the forester, we all go to the forest together. We choose birch trees no older than fifteen years, always in a mixed forest. The snow-white bark, smelling of birch sap, is easily removed. Just cut the trunk a little from top to bottom and you’re done. The trees do not deteriorate and continue to grow. Then we dry the birch bark in the shade, press it, sand it, and smooth it. Only after this we cut out blanks of the required sizes for boxes, cabinets, mirror frames...

I wanted to follow to the end how a birch bark box is made. When the lace is ready for her, the craftswoman cuts out a “lock” at the ends of the ribbon and, carefully coating it with glue, attaches it to a birch bark background darkened with stain. Then he trims the inside, also made of birch bark, and, having connected all three layers together, stretches them onto sulagi, as wooden blanks are called here. Dry it a little, then fold the edges, then dry it again. When the birch bark takes the form of a box, the sulags are removed and the bottom and lid are inserted in their place, having previously sanded and varnished them. All that remains is to glue a lace birch bark circle onto the lid - and the box is ready.

In the workshop, on smoothly planed wooden shelves, folders with sketches, boxes of different colors and sizes, birch bark boxes, wooden crafts, souvenir bast shoes, wicker snuff boxes are stored...

I take from the shelf a light fawn chest that is warm to the touch, tightly covered with cream birch bark lace. I peer into the lid of the box and see the coachman urging on the horses, and the troika is rushing, rushing, swirling the snow dust...

E. Frolova

I also have a Colorful Book,

It contains information about all the surviving crafts of our region, brief but very colorful. This is how Beresta is presented.

I would like to believe that Shemogod carving will not disappear as a craft, and new works by masters will delight us for a long, long time..

Good luck and creative inspiration to everyone!!!

Fine carving. Slotted holes in the form of circles, ovals, half-holes, diamonds, in combination with various colored linings, formed an ornament characteristic of each region and region.

The word “ornament” comes from the Latin ornamentum - “decoration”. It is a pattern consisting of rhythmically ordered elements. Ornamental patterns are often built on the principles of symmetry, and motifs and images are subject to stylization and generalization.

The decorative beginning of the ornament is combined with the semantic one. Already in the Paleolithic and Neolithic eras, man created the first geometric ornament, consisting of zigzags, crosses, circles and straight lines. These drawings reflected the entire world around man: sky, earth, water, universe. Subsequently, animal and plant ornaments appeared, in which stylized patterns, creating a kind of letter (pictogram), passed on from generation to generation the story of the life of our ancestors.

The difference in natural conditions led to the fact that each nation created its own ornamental language. But following the canon of national ornament, the masters included elements in the patterns that convey the originality and flavor of their area. For example, people living in the northern, wooded regions of Russia preferred to use Christmas trees in their ornaments, and residents of the Far North preferred to use deer, the Kyrgyz and Kazakhs preferred to use ram horns, and the peoples of the Caucasus preferred to use bunches of grapes and various fruits.

Not only pattern, but also color has always played an important role in the ornament. For example, among the Chinese, red means south, black means north, green means east, white means west, yellow means center. And among the Kyrgyz, blue is the sky, red is fire, yellow is the desert. Entire messages can be encrypted in ornaments. An example of such a unique letter is the ornament described in the work of G. W. Longfellow based on Indian folk tales - “The Song of Hiawatha”:

...He took the paints out of the bag,
He took out all the colors
And on a smooth birch bark
I made a lot of secret signs,
_________
The white circle was a sign of life,
The black circle was a sign of death;
_________
He drew for the earth
Paint a straight line,
For heaven - an arc above her,
For sunrise - point on the left,
For sunset - the point on the right,
And for half a day - at the top.
________
The trail towards the wigwam
Was the emblem of the invitation,
A sign of a friendly feast...
(Translation by I. Bunin)

Russian ornament is characterized by an exceptional richness of geometric and floral forms, which is reflected not only in folk embroidery and traditional wood carving, but also in carving and painting on birch bark.

Perhaps the most remarkable is the slotted, or perforated, carving on birch bark, which is still found in the Russian North. Western Siberian craftsmen decorated the boxes with images of deer antlers and birds carved from birch bark. The ornaments of the northern peoples of Russia are interesting. The drawings in this article show a variety of patterns. You can repeat the entire product or use only the ornament.

The beauty and artistic value of a birch bark product depend largely on the technique of execution, in which skill plays a large role (for example, a sharp movement of the hand during carving).

Before carving, the birch bark must be thoroughly cleaned on both sides and cut to a thickness of 2 mm. Tools used for carving include a cutter knife (available at office supply stores and comes with a hidden blade) and a small, dull and ground awl. To mark the design, you need a ruler, a square, a compass, transfer or copy paper, a well-sharpened medium-hard pencil and an eraser. It is convenient to use pre-prepared templates for repeating images of the ornament.

Carving is usually done on a smooth, cleanly planed board.
The prepared birch bark is cut out according to the product templates and a design is applied to the workpieces. First, the border is cut, and then the central part of the design. Large parts of the design must be cut out according to the mark, and small parts, with a certain skill, can be cut by eye. After the entire design is cut out, its main parts are engraved with an awl and a small slot.

To develop certain carving skills, you need to start with simple tasks and simple drawings. To do this, on strips of birch bark prepared for carving, several parallel lines are drawn with an awl at a distance of 10 mm from each other. Simple shapes are cut out inside these strips, first slits 2-3 mm long and 0.3-0.5 mm wide, and then half-holes, diamonds, “pies” and so on, gradually complicating the design.
Figures 92-94 show variants of products made using the technique of slotted birch bark with a colored lining and a combination of slotting with appliqué (or birch bark intarsia).

If a lining is made of foil or colored paper under the birch bark, then it is first glued to the lining, and then glued to the base.