THREE VERSION FACE STUDY STICK tutorial is located under “BEE HIVE” as a pdf document which can be viewed and printed. This instructional aid presents three versions of carving a practice face on one stick. At the top of a square stick a ball is carved out of a square area to teach the roundness of a head and its ability to rotate as a ball joint up and down, side to side and tilted at an angle. The second version uses the corner of the stick to teach that the face fits into a ninety degree angle . The third version at the bottom of the stick teaches the narrowing of the width of the face as being two thirds wide while being three thirds long. In each version of the practice faces the Rule of Three of Facial Proportions is utilized to carve in the basic form of the angles and planes of the face.
This Face Study Stick teaching carving to basic form. A Facial Detail Carving tutorial is located in another pdf document in “BEE HIVE” under the title “FACE EYE STUDY” which can also be viewed and printed. As with any practice carving project, the more one carves the more one learns while carving. “The more one carves the better one carves,” is experienced as one carves, so carve as often as possible remembering that every carving pr0ject is simply a practice piece until finished.
Stay Sharp and BEE CARVEFUL.
Seeing the A – B – C shapes in a human face is a good way to look at all faces to study. Once the image of reference points of the A – B – C of a human face is embedded in the carver’s creative sub conscious, then the carver can see the face with both an inner eye and natural eye. If the carver can see the face in the mind then the carver can carve the face in wood. Study the face of the carving by John Burke and look for the A – B – C shapes in the face. Look for the shape of a letter A. Then look for a separate shape of the letter B turned clockwise one turn so that the straight part of the B is at the top and the rounded part of the B is at the bottom. Then look for the shape of the letter C , either frontwards or backwards. Read the rest of this entry »
“Whittle Folk Spuds” – an article written by Don Mertz, is in the current Sring 2011 issue of Carving Magazine http://www.carvingmagazine.com/issues/current.shtml This “how-to” instructional article offers a step by step verbal description accompanied by appropriate photographs. The article in Carving Magazine is in more detail that a previous posting entitled “SPUDS ” https://woodbeecarver.com/?p=4554 Also in the same issue, my good woodcarving friend Mark Akers has a tutorial on carving a Civil War Soldier as in the photograph below.
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BEE ALL YOU CAN BEE ~ The Bumble Bee can not fly, at least that was the determination of aerodynamic engineers who concluded that the Bumble Bee’s wings are too small and weak and its body too large and heavy to be able to fly.
BUT no one told the Bumble Bee and it flies.
Be all you can be by always thinking, ” I can if I try for I am to be all I can be.”
The WOOD BEE CARVER sez, “Would be carvers would be carvers it they would carve wood.”
~~~~~BEE ALL YOU CAN BEE!~~~~~
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Michael Keller of White Eagle Sutdio in Washington State is my internet carving friend. We have never met other than through internet connection and yet it seems like we have been life-long friends who grew up together. He is an accomplished carver as well as an artist with words whenever he writes about his carvingpassion.
A CARVEFUL good time can be found by visiting http://whiteeaglestudios.wordpress.com/ from which one can link up to his web site which contains a gallery of his carvings.
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Don will teach at Woodcraft of Dayton on Saturday, February 19, 2011 from 9 am to 5pm. Don teaches a completely different style of carving which he calls Whittle-Folk Carving. In this class you will learn his A-B-C’s of face carving using a 1 ½” x 3” block of basswood. The figure will be a larger version of the shelf squatter. Also, using a basswood hen egg, bottle stopper heads or bobble heads are other choice of projects for this one day class. Once you complete this project, you will understand the principles of whittling in folk art style. Don has some tutorials on his web page www.woodbeecarver.com that will help you prepare for this class. There are also some “Cool Links” for your further study. Don is an accomplished carver and an excellent teacher so this class promises to be a wonderful learning experience and a fun way to spend a Saturday. This is a beginner skill level class. Bring a carving glove and a small whittling knife. Cost is $70.00. You can sign up by e-mail at: dayton-retail@woodcraft.com or call Woodcraft at (937) 438-1282
EGG NOGGINS are heads and faces carved out of a basswood hen egg to be used as a bottle stopper, a bobble head, mounted on a base or free standing on its bottom (as in the first photogrpah on the left.) The variety of faces to be carved is under the freedom of imagination and the experimentation of the carver. Egg Noggins are excellent for the practice of carving faces since the head and face is basically round and egg shaped. Basswood hen eggs cost an average of one dollar each from woodcarving vendors through their catalog or at woodcarving shows as well as Woodcraft stores. Also use only basswood hen eggs as some eggs are made from harder wood making for difficulty in the carving process. Read the rest of this entry »
THINK INSIDE THE BLOCK can be taken one of two ways. One is to “think inside the block HEAD,” as in using one’s head in the carving process. One can not carve what one does not see inside their head, inside imagination and inside creative dreaming. The other “think inside the block,” is to look deep into a block of wood with imagination to see the carving to be set free during the carving process.
That which is in one’s “Block Head” is all of one’s carving experiences and desire to carve an idea that awaits to be set free. Each carver builds upon what one has already experienced while at the same time allowing the carving process to lead into new experiences of creativity. But that will never happen unless the carver puts the carving tool into the block of wood to begin the process of removing excess wood to set free the carving inside the block. Read the rest of this entry »
Seeing the A – B – C shapes in a human face is a good way to look at all faces to study. Once the image of reference points of the A – B – C of a human face is embedded in the carver’s creative sub conscious, then the carver can see the face with both an inner eye and natural eye. If the carver can see the face in the mind then the carver can carve the face in wood. Study the face of the carving by John Burke and look for the A – B – C shapes in the face. Look for the shape of a letter A. Then look for a separate shape of the letter B turned clockwise one turn so that the straight part of the B is at the top and the rounded part of the B is at the bottom. Then look for the shape of the letter C , either frontwards or backwards. Read the rest of this entry »
