Bobble Head Santa was the subject of a posting on November 28, 2010 which was the beginning of a fun project.  The four photographs above are of a second Bobble Head Santa.  Every carving project is a learning experience in that while one is carving, one is also learning innovations one can make in carving a second  similar project.  Thus there is great value in repeating a project subject over and over again to learn from each one.  No two will be exactly alike since the creative process is continuously making revisions and subtle changes to enhance the over all appearance.  The procedure used for carving a Santa Bobble Head can be duplicated  for any other theme as is illustrated in the second bobble head that follows.

The bobble head pictured above is a caricature of a grand daughter who is an artist.  The head was carved out of a basswood hen egg in a style of exaggerated realism while the body is very much a caricature.  The spring for the neck was made by twisting gauge 19 stainless steel wire around a spike nail.  It is the spring that gives the bobble to the head.

  Carving female faces is a challenge to keep the features as soft as possible.  Often I have said that there is no such thing as an “ugly” woman so carving the female face as a caricature is so much more difficult than carving a male caricature face because “ugly” on a man is not offensive since men have rugged and hard lines to their facial features. 

 I am indebted to Janet Denton Cordell and her sister Adina Denton Huckins for teaching me a little about carving female features in a couple of classes they taught.  One thing I learned is that there is a lot to be learned about carving female features and I am no expert, only a student in training.  Taking classes is helpful as is reading instructional books but nothing takes the place as carving the subject over and over again because “the more one carves the better one carves.” 

The two photographs at the left show the practice female face carved out of basswood hen egg.  It served as a learning journey that allowed for innovatioons and subtle changes in carving the second head and face that became the bobble head project.  As stated earlier and often, each carving project is a learning project which is a continuation of the meaning of my carving philosophy that states: “Would be carvers would be carvers if they would carve wood.”   The only way we learn is by doing and I am still learning, always a “would be” who loves the journey each carving provides.