If you are visiting The Mint, why not come into the Caroline
Simpson Library & Research Collection to see the latest array of
temporary and semi-permanent displays? Chip-carving is a
woodcarving technique in which geometric patterns are incised
into timber surfaces in low relief by means of chisels, gouges
and parting tools. On display is a wonderful example of this
craft - a demountable occasional table, produced in Melbourne
around 1902 by English-trained emigrant carpenter George
Stevenson Liggins (1874–1907). Chip-carving also became a
fashionable hobby for the middle classes in Australia,
particularly among women, during the Arts and Crafts movement
(1880s–1930s). As an addition to the many handcrafts used by
women to decorate interiors, chip-carving was suited to the home
environment as it required few tools and created little mess.
Common late-19th- and early-20th-century examples of chip-
carving are small decorative objects such as picture frames,
panels in pieces of furniture and small boxes produced