Today I finally had a good opportunity to finish carving ole Bill and now all that I have left is the painting and finishing job. Just when I thought that I had exhaused every new idea something new always seems to pop up with each new carving and "Bill" was no exception. His hair is carved with it combed straight back over his head and I don't know why I've never thought of trying this before because it was amazingly simple... really easy!
From the top of the forehead I just carved in a "wave" outward then straight back into the wood. I really like this look and know that it will now become a regular hair style with my face carving. Heck, maybe I'll just go ahead and carve Elvis himself since after all, I think that I did see him running in the woods last week. :) I also decided to put a cigar in his mouth so he's looking like a classic blue collar guy to me. I should have him finished soon.
Great carving Dave. I have watched your Youtube video in regards to the simple woodspirit carving which I found very interesting and informative, I have just about mastered that, how do you carve the eyes and teeth etc ? Oh by the way do you use a Flexcut Scorp tool for the detailing of the hair and beards? having real problems with this area at the moment but i am using a bent v gouge it's not really working.
ReplyDeleteRegards
Paul
Grad that you're making progress carving the woodspirit face Paul! When I first starting carving it took me carving about 30 faces before I began to be satisfied with my work so just keep at it. Keep trying new things and don't be afraid to step out of your current comfort zone to get to the next level.
ReplyDeleteAfter mastering the basic woodspirit face, learning to carve the eyes, mouth, and teeth would be the next logical step and that will certainly take you to the next level. In a nutshell, carving the eyes begins first with gouging out the eye wells then use a stop-cut to outline two "football" shape eyes. After that I lightly use a simple push cut with my blade at about a 45 degree angle to shave off the inside edges of that football shape. Hope that makes sense but I'll try to do a video about how I do it in the near future.
Yes, I used the "V" scorping tool on my Flexcut Carvin' Jack for making most of the hair and beard in this posting. However it wouldn't reach into the tight spot between the top of his hair and the surrounding wood so I had to use my Flexcut micro V-tool for that but any small v-tool would have done the job.
Thanks for the kind words and hopefully I can find time at some point to show exactly how I do the eyes and other detailing. Keep on carving!