Provide your feedback on the main site (besides the patterns).
User avatar
By BigScience
#81349
Hey Patchmaster! Just wondering how you choose to categorize difficulty of a carve on a pattern. :roll: Was curious about that today. For example what differentiates veteran and maniac, etc. THanks!
#81465
The difficulty ratings are tricky to determine, because every design is so different and every carver's methods and skills vary. So these difficulties levels are subjective and meant only to be a very general guideline.

Basically, I start by counting how many cut out pieces the design has. Of course, this can't be the only factor. A design might have only one hole, but if it has a jagged edge that would still equal a lot of different cuts, turning the blade each time. So after counting the holes, I then calculate the complexity of those shapes. Then I also factor in how many tiny detail bits it has. And it can also be ranked higher in difficulty if there are thin lines that become delicate. All of this works into one jumbled algorithm, which is stored partly in my brain. :)

For the longest time I didn't want to put any difficulty ratings on the patterns, because I believe anyone can carve any of them. So I was worried that the ratings would make people afraid to try. "Oh, that's a veteran level, I could never do it!" But, you can! If you have working eyes and hands, even a MANIAC pattern can be handled by almost anybody. Just go slow and follow the lines.

Ultimately I added those difficulty ranks because people constantly asked for it. And a funny thing - I was afraid that the ranks would discourage people but interestingly... I found that people were actually scared to try the patterns WITHOUT the difficulty rating. An experienced carver will try just about anything. It's the fresh meat that needs to have their hand held at the start.

By letting them know, "This is a good BEGINNER pattern" they are given a good entry point and the confidence to at least attempt it. And once they see how easy and fun it is, they're hooked and move right on up to the higher level patterns.