Egg Noggins are carved out of basswood hen eggs to depict a caricature face. This photo journey are of recent “Noggins” carved for instructional purposes of the A-B-C’s of Face Carving. Each is finished with Howard Feed N Wax to bring the carved wood surface to life.
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Everybody loves a clown be it someone who is “in clown”, someone who is clowning around to bring a little humor to life, a circus clown, a picture or art work depicting a clown or simply the subject for a wood carving. The photographic essay of recent carvings of clowns is presented in this posting as a bit of humor as well as examples of “Clowning Around” with woodcarving. Read the rest of this entry »
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A carved knife blade cover is attractive and offers protection while at the same time is a curiosity piece for fellow carvers who would also like to make their own blade cover. Read the rest of this entry »
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Carving faces is one of the most important features of carving a likeness of a human. The face is the central focal point of any carving in the likeness of a human be it realistic or caricature. Carving a bust is ninety percent face and ten percent the chest area of a bust. It is the head covering and the clothing outfit that determines the character of the bust while almost any face could go with any of the outfits. Thus learning to carve faces is essential to carving a full figure as well as a bust, a bottle stopper or a shelf squatter. Read the rest of this entry »
Shelf Squatters are faces carved out of a inch and half square by three inch tall block of basswood with an area cut out of the back to allow for the block to sit on a shelf. This little photo display of the most recent versions of Shelf Squatters is for viewing with out any descripive explanation.
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My good friend Don Stephenson is a remarkable artist whose creative mind keeps coming up with unique carving ideas. He is so prolific with his artistic creations that I have nick named him the “IDEA MONSTER.” Recently he drew a pirate in the shape of an egg as an idea for carving a wooden egg. There was nothing for me to do other than carve a pirate first in a goose egg and then in a hen egg. The photographs that follow in this pictorial essay are the results of this journey on the high seas of carving adventure.
The next four photographs use the original drawing by Don Stephenson as a backdrop for the front and back view of the goose egg pirate and then both the goose egg pirate and hen egg pirate.
Cy Clone was carved a few weeks ago along with two partially carved examples for comparison purposes. Since that initial carving journey it became a challenge to “clone” Cy into additional figures of different sizes than the original six inch tall. In the photograph Cy is on the left while in the middle is Cy carved to basic form and the Cy on the right has been stained with one color of raw sienna artist oil paint and boiled linseed oil. The monochrome of one color is another way to present a carving with the understanding that “texture is color” as well. The colored Cy on the left and the monochromed Cy on the right each stand on their own while offering a different aesthetic approach to the same carving theme. The additional “clones” of Cy will all be monochromed in one color with their difference being their size. Read the rest of this entry »
What a fictional and mythical character like Gandalf of “Lord of the Rings” looks like can only be determined by the imagination of interpretation. There can be a verbal description that dresses up the readers imagination of an image. An artist can draw and paint an artistic interpretation as well as a cartoonist can give another visual description. An actor playing the part of a character certainly puts a flesh and blood interpretation with an audible and visual signature on the look and sound of the character. A wood carver can offer another creative interpretation as the action of the cutting tool sculpts another interpretation. Read the rest of this entry »