HALF PINT PIRATE
HALF PINT carving figures refers to the use of a half inch equals a foot scale to keep a carving in perspective with the average heights of a male figure as being six feet.
The Pirate First Mate is carved in the Half Pint size of three inches tall with a one inch square base. The First Mate is wearing a bandana head wrap rather than the officer’s hat even though he is wearing an officer’s coat captured as a spoil of a sea battle.
HALF PINT carving figures refers to the use of a half inch equals a foot scale to keep a carving in perspective with the average heights of a male figure as being six feet.
Red Beard Pirate is the latest version of a carving project that I have carved several times. A pirate is a carver’s dream of a carving project because of the variety of anomalies of design compared with a regular figure.
PROGRESSIVE STEPS of a carving subject are a visual aid to visualize the development from the opening cuts through steps towards a completed carving. The examples used in this tutorial also contain the proportional divisions as a guide for laying out the major landmarks of the subject. With each Progressive Step illustration, the viewer is to study the progression of development to imagine what cuts were necessary to accomplish each step. While being a helpful reference tool, the greater function of the Progressive Steps illustration is to help the carver to develop the ability to see a carving develop in one’s imagination. Studying a Progressive Steps illustrations, the viewer realizes that one has to read between the lines, so to speak, when following each step and allow imagination to fill in the blanks in between each step. While these illustrations are of three inch tall figures, the same concept would apply to any size coupled with imagination.
The iconic image of an aviator is a Fly Boy wearing a leather helmet with goggles, a leather jacket with sheep skin lining and the proverbial scarf blowing in the wind. This aviator was Whittle-Carved out of a six inch by inch and half square block of basswood using only knives to shape the wood.
The Kneeling Magi completes the trilogy of the three wise men carvings. The previous two were standing nine inches tall while the kneeling wise man is six inches tall.
The “Destination” of the journey of carving a mountain man is the finished carving that is displayed in this beginning photographic gallery. After this first photo display the “Journey” portion of the mountain man project will be explained in written explanations and photos of the progressive carving steps towards to finished mountain man.
“Ancestry Gothic” is a recent commission carving project of an interpretative likeness of the maternal grandparents of a high school friend (class of ‘59) using only a couple photographs as a guide along with verbal memories of long, long ago.