A “Go By” is a term applied to the use of a carved object, partially carved object, a photograph or a drawing that is studied and looked at during the carving process to guide the carver. It is an instructional aid and a visual guide to help see what is being carved. The key word is “see” with the mental eye to get a fix on how a carving that is being carved will begin to look as the wood is being shaped. Yoga Berra in noted for his Yoga-isms like “you can observe a lot by watching.” A Go By helps the carver to see if the carver will observe and imagine what cuts were used to carve the Go By to its present form. This “observation to see” is not a quick process but does require a thoughtful and methodical visual analyzing of the parts and sum total of a Go By. Read the rest of this entry »
The WOOD BEE CARVER is primarily a knife carver who has developed a style of carving called “Whittle-Carving” to imply carving using only a knife. The most efficient use of a carving knife is to utilize a slicing cut as often as possible. A slicing cut is similar to slicing bread, slicing steak or the action of the guillotine’s skewed blade slicing as it slides down the track of the guillotine. The cutting edge of a knife is made up of very small cutting teeth similar to teeth on a hand saw and it is these teeth when used in the slicing action that separates the wood fibers for a clean cut. Using the knife blade with a wedge cut crushes fibers before the edge cuts the fibers resulting in a fuzzy and cloudy surface. A slicing cut creates a clean and slick surface. The scimitar blade shape with its curved cutting edge slices in both the push and pull stroke. It can also make slicing cuts upside down and sideways as well as right side up. The concave shape of the back of the scimitar blade allows for reaching into tight areas where another blade shape would be impaired. Read the rest of this entry »
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Next to carving eyes and next to carving the human face, carving hands can be a challenge to carvers. Hiding hands in a pocket is the easy way out and the quickest way to produce a boring carving. Like any other carving project, carving hands is a matter of first taking a good look at hands, studying hands and then practice carving hands on a scrap piece of wood. These “scrapper” lessons are beneficial in the long run. Read the rest of this entry »
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First things first are always important in the carving process. Carving a good foundation of the basic form first allows the details to be carved in their proper places. These four photographs show “carved to form” caricatures ready for detail carving to take place. The first two photographs show a block of basswood having the top corners rounded into a dowel shape to receive the hat and head of the caricature as well as the back of the arms and shoulder area sliced forward on the back side of the block. Each block is standing profile with a “carved to form” caricature for comparison. The next two photographs show four “carved to form” caricatures to be studied as a short tutorial in “form ready for detail.” The lesson of this “Short Tutorial” is that there are no short cuts to carving the details. First the form and then the detail.
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Rick Jensen is a good carving friend who is known among carving circles for his expertise in carving and teaching how to carve whimsical houses out of cottonwood bark. He teaches all around the nation and has authored a book entitled “Carving Tree Bark.” He is a popular teacher who has influenced untold number of students who go on to create their own unique designs of tree bark houses. His fun loving personality, good sense of humor and generosity of spirit endears him to all who call him friend and beloved carver. When I asked him if I could use his image for an instructional posting he more than graciously agreed which is just like his passion for encouraging carvers to experience the joy and satisfaction of carving. He is sometimes known by his nick name of “Bark Boy” but even more he is known as a respected carver, teacher, judge and all around nice guy. In studying his face in the photograph one will notice a strong face with character and a smile of friendly welcome. Read the rest of this entry »
Artist author and instructor Andrew Loomis influenced several generations of budding artists and his work still is influential. The plate to the left is one of his illustrations of facial planes to help in viewing the basic shape of the human face. If one is to become comfortable with carving faces in wood, one needs to be able to see the human face in various ways to fix an image in the mind. It is part of what I mean when I say, “Think inside the Block,” (the Block Head as well as the Block of wood) as being able to see in the mind first the basic shape of the human face. It is the mental image that guides the carving hands and tool to shape the wood into a human face. By using a study of facial planes both visually and carving facial planes the carver will be able to carve to shape a face that looks natural and pleasing. Read the rest of this entry »
