EGG NOGGINS  are heads and faces carved out of a basswood hen egg to be used as a bottle stopper, a bobble head, mounted on a base or free standing on its bottom (as in the first photogrpah on the left.)   The variety of faces to be carved is under the freedom of imagination and the experimentation of the carver.  Egg Noggins are excellent for the practice of carving faces since the head and face is basically round and egg shaped.  Basswood hen eggs cost  an average of one dollar each from woodcarving vendors through their catalog or at woodcarving shows as well as Woodcraft stores. Also use only basswood hen eggs as some eggs are made from harder wood making for difficulty in the carving process.   

  The first two photogrpahs  show the progressive steps in carving an Indian and a Chinaman using the same beginning steps.  In the first egg to the left in each photograph the tuft of hair has been carved to form and guide lines drawn for vertical  center line along with the eyebrow  line , winged nose nostrils and bottom of chin. These guidelines follow the Rule of Three for facial proportions.   In the second egg to the left the planes of the forehead have been sliced at appropriate angle.  These planes are numbered in the sequence of being sliced with number 1 being the first cut, number 2 is the cut on either side of the first cut and number 3 is the cut on either side of number two.  Later the ridges of these planes will be rounded in the final shaping of the face.

In the third egg in the first two photographs  notch cuts at eyebrow and nostrils make way for additional planes of the face to be  established to begin to give defination to the face.  The egg noggin on the right  is the finished carved face and head.   Studying each egg in progressive  steps very slowly using imagination to mentally carve from one step to the other one can envision how to begin carving Egg Noggins.

The third photograph shows the back of the heads of the Chinaman on the left followed by its partially carved counter part.  Notice the tuft of hair treatment in each is  to show a variation of detail.  The next egg is the back of the Indian partially carved  and the completed carving of the Indian to the right.  The finished Indian shows the roach head dress or Mohawk continuing into a long braid of hair.

The first thing established or carved on each Egg Noggin is the head covering, be it hair, hat, feather head dress or a bald head.  Once the head covering is established then the rest of the face can be carved to form using the Rule of Three of Facial Proportions.  Once everything about the basic form has been carved with a good foundation for the detail, then the details can be carved.  Carving to basic form is like baking a cake and carving in the details is to put icing on the cake.  Trying to icing the cake when it is half baked  ruins the cake just as carving the detail too soon before the proper form is established cause the carving not to look as it should.  All this is learned by carving over and over again faces and more faces until the faces begin to look like faces intended in the carver’s imagination.

The gallery below will show a variety of faces with four views to slowly study each feature in an imaginary carving session of the mind to imagine how each was carved.  Egg Noggins are fun projects that take on a personality of their own.

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