The Wood Bee Carver has practiced his motto “Would be carvers would be carvers if they would carve wood,” as a way of living out the journey of woodcarving both as a personal pursuit and as an encouragement to others. The basic meaning of this motto is “we learn by doing and the more we carve the better we carve and there is always more to learn on the journey.”
When it is said, “you got egg on your face” it means something so obvious that it cannot be hidden. On the other hand, when a wood carver says, “see the face on the egg,” it is obvious that a face has been carved into a wooden egg. (click on photos to enlarge.) Read the rest of this entry »
One of the exercises in the “A-B-C’s of Face Carving” is to begin with a half inch thick by two and half inch by an inch and half rectangle block of basswood. A grid is drawn to divide into three proportions vertically and horizontally to learn about the Rule of Three proportions. Next the corners of this rectangle are whittled away to begin shaping an oval depicting the half of a hen egg shape. On the face of the oval a vertical center line is drawn which is followed with a horizontal line at the top of the middle third proportion representing the eyebrow bone structure. At the bottom of the middle third proportion a V line is drawn to represent the flair of the nose nostrils. (As illustrated in the top illustration in the photo above.) Read the rest of this entry »
Carving on the Edge is to imply that the cutting edge of the carving knife blade is what separates the wood fibers while removing a chip. The cutting edge, when magnified will reveal minute cutting teeth much like a hand saw. It is these cutting teeth that create the cutting action when the knife is used in a slicing action. The slicing cut is to follow the path of the cutting edge through the wood so that as many of the cutting teeth are utilized. In conjunction with the cutting edge teeth, the bevel on the side of the blade be it skinny or fat, provides the angle at which the cutting edge enters the wood. So it is both the slicing action and the angle of the cutting edge that work together to create a clean cut. Read the rest of this entry »
Gnome Wizard was carved out of an inch and half square by three inch tall block of basswood. The Gnome Wizard is carved with a twist of the body, with head tilted up and a flowing beard and mustache. Such a pose presents an interesting sense of motion while the viewer’s eyes travel the twists and turns of the flowing lines. Such a piece presents a challenge of skill by figuring out what wood needs to be removed to create such a sense of movement. This project also teaches the necessary benefit of carving to basic form before ever attempting to carve any details. Such a process allows creative imagination to help form the design during the carving process that gives a special kind of freedom of creativity. Read the rest of this entry »
Perhaps one of the most challenging processes of carving the human face is the carving of eyes. The secret is to PRACTICE carving eyes over and over again to find the method that works best. Read the rest of this entry »
Carving an ear in the Whittle-Carving style of carving only with a knife is presented here using notch cuts and a three cut triangular cut procedure. Such cuts are ways to open up an area of wood for additional shaping and refining with detail carving. Read the rest of this entry »
A Go By Study of faces can help any carver to “see” and imagine what is in a face in order to carve faces in wood. The first photograph above shows a head carved to basic form. The middle photograph shows descriptions of the major cuts at the landmarks of the face at the eye, the juncture of the nostril, smile line and upper dental curve and the mouth mound. These cuts make good foundations for carving in the details of the eyes, mouth, teeth, nose and ears as seen in the finished carved head and face in the third photograph. The Second row of photographs are of three views comparing the two head. Read the rest of this entry »