HALF PINT carving figures refers to the use of a half inch equals a foot scale to keep a carving in perspective with the average heights of a male figure as being six feet.
Red Beard Pirate is the latest version of a carving project that I have carved several times. A pirate is a carver’s dream of a carving project because of the variety of anomalies of design compared with a regular figure.
A PHOTO MEMORY ~ Photographs capture a memory being made to become a memory remembered. A photo taken by Rick Bissonnette at the Miami Valley Woodcarving Show in 2019 is such a memory. At the end of 2019 I retired from teaching woodcarving and participating in woodcarving shows. The photo shows my wife Frances and me standing behind our display table with many of Wood Bee Carver style of carvings on display. I still carve for personal pleasure along with commissioned carvings as well as publishing in my carving journal blog www.woodbeecarver.com ~ Thanks to Rick for giving me this photo to be a benchmark memory representative of my woodcarving journey.
PROGRESSIVE STEPS of a carving subject are a visual aid to visualize the development from the opening cuts through steps towards a completed carving. The examples used in this tutorial also contain the proportional divisions as a guide for laying out the major landmarks of the subject. With each Progressive Step illustration, the viewer is to study the progression of development to imagine what cuts were necessary to accomplish each step. While being a helpful reference tool, the greater function of the Progressive Steps illustration is to help the carver to develop the ability to see a carving develop in one’s imagination. Studying a Progressive Steps illustrations, the viewer realizes that one has to read between the lines, so to speak, when following each step and allow imagination to fill in the blanks in between each step. While these illustrations are of three inch tall figures, the same concept would apply to any size coupled with imagination.
The iconic image of an aviator is a Fly Boy wearing a leather helmet with goggles, a leather jacket with sheep skin lining and the proverbial scarf blowing in the wind. This aviator was Whittle-Carved out of a six inch by inch and half square block of basswood using only knives to shape the wood.
The Kneeling Magi completes the trilogy of the three wise men carvings. The previous two were standing nine inches tall while the kneeling wise man is six inches tall.
The Madonna and Child JOY carving is one face of a four sided ornament Whittle-Carved in the four inch by two inch by three inch Butternut block of wood.
The Face Study photos above represents one of the instructional exercises that the Wood Bee Carver used in classes before retiring from teaching. The first two photos are of detailed faces completed after retiring and the third photo is of study faces in the various stages of development. The photo below shows the Progressive Steps for carving a Face Study.
One of the exercises used in teaching the Rule of Three of Facial Proportions and how to open up a block of wood with the primary landmarks of a face uses the progressive steps face study depicted in the photo above. Each step is demonstrated by the instructor while the students carve each demonstrated step. The demonstrations cover the basic steps of 1 through 5 in the photo above with additional demonstrations by instructor of a variety of the mouth with or without teeth. The finished detailing as depicted in step 6 is done by each student at a later time. The instructor’s demo face studies accumulate following each class which are finished with detailed carving at a later time to complete each face.
Previous blog entries on these Study Faces may be viewed by clicking on each of the three links below.
