“Woodcarving is the journey more than the destination,” which means it is the process of doing the carving project that gives the greatest enjoyment rather than the finished carving as the destination. During this journey there are tried and true signposts that give direction to the process of the journey. The two carving projects that are the backdrop focus of this discussion are two Indians, “Whittle-Carved” using knives to shape and detail Butternut wood blocks eight inches tall, two and three quarter inch thick and three and half inch wide.

The Wood Bee Carver is primarily a knife carver whose motto has been, “Would be carvers would be carvers if they would carve wood.” Inherent in this motto is that carving, like most of what a person pursues is learned and developed by the “doing” and the more one does the more a person learns and improves.  As a knife carver the references to this explanation of “Journey” will be about using knives in the carving process and primarily blades with a curved cutting edge.  The signposts are adaptable to carving using traditional carving tools and the common carving knife with a straight cutting edge.

The simplest definition for wood carving is: “Wood carving is a process of using a sharp cutting tool to shape of piece of wood by rounding square corners and flattening round surfaces in a continuing process of allowing creative imagination to guide the skill of the carver to shape the wood into a creative subject of art in an ever growing experience of learning by doing.”

The first signpost says, “The hardest part of any project is getting started and once begun the creative juices flow.”  Or it might say, “Just do it,” which gives direction to once beginning to do it the process will lead down the path of creativity and imagination becoming reality in the doing. It is in the doing that lessons are learned in unexpected nudging to try something in the process that will add to the overall result.  It is in the doing that each project becomes a “practice to make progress” while “learning by doing.” Thus, the signpost says, “Get started, just do it and be free to try to be surprised.” 

The second signpost says. “If it can be imagined it can be,” as a way of trusting imagination to be the silent tutor of lessons to be learned in partnership with the skill of doing.  When we were children our imagination through play could “see” more than what we saw in reality. As we grew up we were encouraged to put away childish things and not trust imagination as much. The journey of wood carving allows us to trust and encourage our imagination to be active and grow in the process of “doing it” to join with growing skills guided by creative observations to imagine the carving project before as well as while it is being carved.  Imagination gives us permission to change a design, experiment with a new shaping cut and to see with an artistic eye beauty being formed as the carving is in process.  “Feed Imagination” by the study of the subject of the carving project through observation of a realist subject, study of photos and art work of subject, study antimony, proportional observation of various poses and see the parts and sections of the whole form as coming together like pieces of a jig saw puzzle.

The third signpost says, “Carving is agony and ecstasy but ecstasy always follow agony.”  Almost in every carving journey there comes a feeling that the carving will end up a mess, that it does not look right, nothing can be done to salvage this carving and I do not know what I am doing.  That is a feeling of the “agony” stage but the signpost say “ecstasy” will come.  Quietly the signpost says, “Take breath, a rest and come back to the project later to see it from a rested perspective.”  During this rest break, creative imagination kicks in to give a fresh insight to see in the “try again” a solution will occur in the doing to lead to an ecstasy of the project being better that previously thought.  Start again, study the subject again, look at it from a distance rather than close up and even look at it upside down and sideways, to see what was missed by looking too close up.  It is never a wasted effort to have a pause, to rethink and make adjustment because all of that is also a part of the process.  Even if in the end it does not turn out as hoped and imagined, it still was beneficial as serving as practice for the next carving project.

The fourth sign post says, “Form follows function and detail follows form,” which means that function is the basic idea of the carving project which has a basic form that is established first as the foundation in which the details fit into the form.  Ninety percent of the carving process is to carve the project to its basic form and the remaining ten percent is carving in the details.  In a metaphor of icing a cake, the baked cake is the basic form, and the icing is the finishing toping of the cake. To put icing on a half-baked cake would spoil the entire cake.  The same holds true for a carving project. Carve the basic form of the project first and then finish by carving in the detail into the basic form.  Carve the basic form begins with shaping the top of the head covering first to it approximate size and then carving the basic form of the head as going up into the head covering so that the fit will be natural.  Once the hat and head are established then the body proportions are carved to basic form.

The fifth signpost says, “The Rule of Three for Facial Proportions and Body Proportions is a good guide for keeping carving project in proportional perspective.”  Dividing the carving project into three equal proportions is an easy way to visualize the overall subject to keep it in proper perspective so that it all looks about correct.  The three divisions for facial proportions are Hairline to Eye Brow; Eye Brow to Bottom of Nose; Bottom of Nose to Bottom of Chin.  Body proportions are Shoulder to Waist; Waist to Middle of Knees; Middle of Knees to Bottom of Feet.  Knowing the divisions helps with visual recognition to see in parts fitting within the whole.  It helps to draw minimal guidelines of the various parts to guide the opening up of the block of wood during the SHAPE UP stage of carving the basic form. These guidelines are not the pattern but are rather indications of the major landmarks of the form to be Shaped Up.

The sixth signpost says. “Design by carving,” which means as removing wood with the carving knife within the proportional sections to makes slices that are shaping towards the overall mental picture of the basic form.  Often, as this process continues the contour of the slicing cut will suggest a progressive refinement moving towards the imagined image and may even suggest another direction of the slicing cut to enhance the overall shape. “Design by Carving” is not removing of waste wood in a rapid fashion with a “flat plane” appearance, but it is “Shaping Up” toward the Basic Form.  As the Basic Form begins to take shape as waste wood is removed then the Basic Form may dictate a design as the shape is coming into focus.  Instead of flat surfaces and straight lines, there is a concentrated attempt to do the Shape Up with curvy flares of excess wood awaiting to be used for making suggestive movement of lines and surfaces that resemble the curvature of the letter “S” in the road sign “SLOW CURVES AHEAD” so that when the final refinement moving towards carving the details a design will have been allowed for to be developed.  Within the “Design by Carving” is another signpost that reminds the carver, “One cut is not a cut to end all cut but is followed by additional cuts to remind the shaping process.”

The seventh signpost says: “Slice with the cutting edge,” ~  the cutting edge of the knife blade is made up of minute teeth comparable to the teeth on a hand saw.  It is the teeth of the cutting edge that separates the wood fibers as the blade is sliced through the wood in either a push or pull stroke. Forcing the cutting edge downward into the wood with a wedge forced cut breaks the wood fibers rather than separating the fibers. The analogy is slicing a tomato into slices uses a slicing action but forcing the knife blade downward across the tomato will only squash the tomato making a juicy mess.  “Slice with the cutting edge,” is the most efficient way to carve with a knife.

The eighth signpost says: “A blade with a curved cutting-edge slices most effectively.”  A variety of blade profiles and shapes can enhance the carving experience of exploring how a variety of blade shapes can enhance the carving experience.  In this manner the variety of knives adds to the journey as the music of the slice through the wood sings a soothing tune.  This means that keeping the knives sharp, in tune, in shape and in functional effectiveness will add joy of the journey to each slicing cut.  At the heart of the journey it is the action of the cutting edge of the knife slicing through the wood to expose the design of an immerging vision of creative beauty in the simple act of a whittle.  A slice that follows the path of the cutting edge in both the push and pull stroke create a clean surface while removing the chips. With a slice and roll action there can be a scooping of a valley, a rounding of a hill and a wave on the surface that adds a sense a movement and flair to the design.

The ninth signpost says: “Challenge is a teacher of unknown lessons,” as a motivator to try to do and in the doing there is a discovery that it can be done making what was done a learned lesson to be repeated as a growth in skill.  Sometimes the Challenge will be transferred to imagination to allow for creativity to solve the mystery to put the solution into action as a learned response.  The lesson learned by working within the challenge becomes that heartwarming pat of the back of an insight of a learned trait that adds to the arsenal of carving skill.

The tenth signpost says: “Practice is to make progress,” in that each carving project is practice for the next carving project.  Practice is basically “learning by doing and the more one does the better one does.”  Said another way, “Keep carving and carving will keep you carving.”

In the gallery below with notations will show progressive developments in the stages of the Shape Up process of carving the basic form of the journey leading up to the final detail finishing cuts.  The Indian, Dark Fox will be presented first and Running Turtle will conclude the presentation.  Keep in mind that these photos are random selections of progressive steps without a continuous sequence of step by step requiring the viewer to “read between the lines” (so to speak) of the spaces between sequences of development by using imagination to see the “in between.”

Visually study each of the above photos to follow the development of the Shape Up of the Basic Form of the head/face and then the body form and then return to the top of this posting to see the finished detail of Dark Fox with knives used in the carving process.

Visually study each of the above photos to follow the development of the Shape Up of the Basic Form of the head/face and then the body form and then return to the top of this posting to see the finished detail of Running Turtle with knives used in the carving process.

To view the finished carvings click on GALLERY.