That wooden swirl gives a lot of character to violins/fiddles.
One could vary the design, increase the depth, change circumference radius (a bit), among other things.
The idea is to typically carve the scroll and shape it like a volute, or rolled up spiral.
It is a decorative piece that attests one’s skill and craftsmanship.
What is the inspiration for it? Perhaps nature?
We discussed about the Golden Ratio and Fibonacci in an early post.
Swirling away
You can follow the simple design or do something else:
Anatomy
Also called violin headstock, ie, the upper part of the violin/fiddle’s neck, where the scroll and the pegbox lie.
Here are the parts of a violin/fiddle scroll:
Then, makers flute the scroll and back of the scroll and also create distinguished chamfers (2mm between layers).
There are other parts of the headstock worth mentioning:
These parts are often used to assign provenance/maker.
One could even ‘blacken the chamfers’ as well:
Clock of the scroll
There has been discussions about this at Maestronet (where I scooped the next image, aamof):
Unfortunately, I couldn’t find more information about this in the Internets (as of now).
Back of the scroll designs
One could create an elaborated back for the scroll. This one by Instagram user erolictuzer.
Or this example:
Or this one (by Neil Kristóf Értz):
And this beauty here:
What about an open back?
Eye designs
The eye (bee sting?) can have different designs, flat or embossed, as these examples show.
Or the head of the scroll representing something else:
Or these variations in the head of the scroll:
Or even withhold information:
Also:
Crazy stuff
There are some hard to explain ones as well…
These nature inspired designs (?):
Even this one (Jholman Castaneda):
Or this one:
Some carved heads watching your fiddle playing skills at all times:
Epilogue
Create a scroll is one marvellous activity in violin/fiddle making.
This topic is non-exhaustive, for sure, as there are certainly much more things to discuss about this.
I hope you have enjoyed this journey!