Red Beard the Pirate is a carving project that serves as a model for another instructional journey in carving a six inch tall figure out of an inch and half square block of wood. A pirate subject provides several carving adventures in carving the various individual parts of the overall design.  The finished carving of Red Beard in the opening photographs above serve as a visual tutorial of the various design features that are part of the overall plan while carving the individual parts.  (click on photos to enlarge) Read the rest of this entry »

Carving another Gandalf wizard is an exercise of caving a previous project attempting to apply subtle innovations into a new version. Read the rest of this entry »

Old Salt is a caricature study of the old man of the sea.  Three figures are used as a study in carving three different poses of a similar figure with slight variations.  One Old Salt has his hands behind him while the two others have a thumb on one hand in the waist band of trousers using different hands.  One is smoking a pipe. (click on photo to enlarge.) Read the rest of this entry »

One of the exercises in the “A-B-C’s of Face Carving” is to do the progressive exercise described in A PLANE FACE using an inch square by an inch and half basswood block. The photo above shows the progressive steps to carve a face using this exercise. 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 »

The WOOD BEE CARVER often says, “The more you carve the better you carve,” and in that vein suggests that once a carving project is completed there is great value in carving it again and again.  The reason being that since each carving is a learning journey; each carving subject repeated will allow the carver’s creative sub conscious to improve on the previous carving. Read the rest of this entry »