26
Jun
DESIGN BY CARVING
A six-inch-tall by inch and half square base caricature of a hillbilly with jug at his side is the subject of this description of “Design by Carving.”
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Carving a hat brim can be a little tricky when it comes to its thickness in that it needs to look thin and still maintain its strength while being carved thin. A common approach is to carve the brim as thin as possible while leaving the outer edge having a flat surface that magnifies it appearance as being too thick. The trick is the chamfer the edge by slicing the top and bottom corners of the flat surface edge into a knife edge appearance. The hat brim will maintain it strength in thickness while the edge will be narrow giving the appearance of a thin brim.
Study the illustration photo that shows a hat brim in the process of being carved to shape. The area illustrated in the “B” section shows a flat surface reflective of the thickness of the brim. Illustration “A” shows the brim chamfered into a knife edge giving the appearance of a thin brim. Illustration “C” shows the brim thinned at its edge almost with a knife edge chamfer, only a little thicker to give a rustic and ragged edge to the brim. “A” is the YES, “C” is a MAYBE while the “B” is a NO because the flat edge is not artistically appealing making the hat brim way too thick in appearance.
The photo below will show examples of knife edged hats brims in their finished stage.
Tennis Any One” is a caricature carving introduced by with a vanity license plate slogan. The carving stands six inches tall on an inch and half base (the size of the basswood block from which it was Whittle-Carved using only knives to carve.)
17
Jun
A-B-C,s of Face Study
The A-B-C’s of face study for carving and other art endeavors is to be observant of the A-B-C’s on the human face. Study the random photo of four faces to see the A in the face on the side and bottom area under the nose. Look for the sideways B area of the eye brows and the eyes (glasses frame that area.) Look for the C curves of the ears, tip of nose, nostrils, chin, corners of the mouth and the cheek bone. Now you know the A-B-C”s of face study. Yogi Berra said, “You can observe a lots just by watching.” BEE OBSERVANT. For more, visit A-B-C,s Face Study
Dark Fox and Running Turtle, as Native Americans whittle-carved in Butternut wood are presented in this photographic gallery. Dark Fox is holding a spear while Running Turtle is holding a medicine staff and is wearing a blanket/robe like a shell covers a turtle. A picture is worth a thousand words and this gallery will speak for itself through these photographic image Read the rest of this entry »
Dark Fox with a Spear and Running Turtle with a Medicine staff are eight-inch-tall carvings in Butternut wood carved in the Whittle-Carving style of using only knives in the carving process. The photographic journey will present the progressive development of the Whittle-Carving of each Native American figure with brief descriptive notations of the process.
“Woodcarving is the journey more than the destination,” which means it is the process of doing the carving project that gives the greatest enjoyment rather than the finished carving as the destination. During this journey there are tried and true signposts that give direction to the process of the journey. The two carving projects that are the backdrop focus of this discussion are two Indians, “Whittle-Carved” using knives to shape and detail Butternut wood blocks eight inches tall, two and three quarter inch thick and three and half inch wide.
Miniature Shelf Squatters are carved out of an inch and half by inch square block of basswood in the Whittle-Carving style of carving only with a knife. The first Shelf Squatters were carved twenty five years ago and for several years were one of the carving projects used in woodcarving seminars and part of carving shows display table. As a novelty carving project, it served as a simple carving project for the practice of a variety of faces beginning with a square cornered block.