EYE
EYE STUDY is on the front side of the stick and the EAR STUDY in on the back side of the stick. The face at the top of the EYE study show the result of carving in the two eyes in a face with the added illustration of the face carved in detail with a bent pipe carved in the corner of the mouth using only a knife to make these cuts.The progressive Eye development is making a three cut triangular chip cuts along with angled notch cuts with the eye at the top carved with detail shaping of the wood.
On the back of the Eye Study stick, the Ear is progressively developed by making two notch cuts that resemble the shape of the number “7” and then the corners are sliced off to begin the rounding-shaping of the ear as it developes its detailed shaping by rounding the corners and scooping out the inside portion of the ear with the tragus of the beginning the two notch cuts in the shape of the letter “V” on its side and then a notch cut to form a “Y” shape in the inner portion of the ear. The head/face at the top of the Ear Study is carved to its basic form to illustration that a good foundation is carved first and then the detail cuts with bring the face to life.
FACE STUDY STICK ~ whittle carved with knives with four faces on each stick ~ one inch wide and and inch and half tall. Each face carved using the Rule of Three for Facial Proportions = Hairline to Eye Brow; Eye Brow to Nose Bottom; Nose Bottom to Chin Bottom in one third divisions. The width of the face is equal to two, one third proportional comparison or two thirds wide and three thirds length proportionally.
The light colored face study stick in the middle illustrated carving the head and face to Basic Form first and progressing towards finishing with Detail carving. The top two are carved to Basic Form with the third face receiving detail carving of the mouth with pipe in the corner of the mouth. The bottom face has received detailed carving of the eyes, mouth and cigar in the corner of the mouth. More detail carving will be required on the bottom face to become like the completed four Face Study sticks on each side of the Basic Form study stiock.
“Carved Teeth Study” ~ “A picture is worth a thousand words” and Yogi Berra said,”you can learn a lot by watching,” so study the Carved Teeth Study with eyes to tell the story,
The two photos above are presented for comparative study with the goal to “see to study and study to see.”
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Here is a Carving Tip from an old carver with over fifty years of “learning by doing” as the Wood Bee Carver. Carving is a journey that is filled with “practice to make progress” experiences from which a carver can “learn a thing or two.”
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Carving a hat brim can be a little tricky when it comes to its thickness in that it needs to look thin and still maintain its strength while being carved thin. A common approach is to carve the brim as thin as possible while leaving the outer edge having a flat surface that magnifies it appearance as being too thick. The trick is the chamfer the edge by slicing the top and bottom corners of the flat surface edge into a knife edge appearance. The hat brim will maintain it strength in thickness while the edge will be narrow giving the appearance of a thin brim.
Study the illustration photo that shows a hat brim in the process of being carved to shape. The area illustrated in the “B” section shows a flat surface reflective of the thickness of the brim. Illustration “A” shows the brim chamfered into a knife edge giving the appearance of a thin brim. Illustration “C” shows the brim thinned at its edge almost with a knife edge chamfer, only a little thicker to give a rustic and ragged edge to the brim. “A” is the YES, “C” is a MAYBE while the “B” is a NO because the flat edge is not artistically appealing making the hat brim way too thick in appearance.
The photo below will show examples of knife edged hats brims in their finished stage.
The Uncle Sam Five carving project is a commission of five different poses of the character Uncle Sam. Each one begins with a six and half inch tall by inch and half square block of basswood. The SHAPE UP process begins with the guiding concept of the Rule of Three for facial proportions and body proportions. The Wood Bee Carver has used the Rule of Three proportional guide since 1995 for carving and for instructions purposes for figures of various sizes since it is a “proportional” measurement of visual divisions of using eyes rather than a measuring rule.
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