The March Of The Penguins Is On!

If you scroll back to my post on November 21st about how to carve "Simple Simon" the penguin, this is an update upon my own progress to carve a small army of penguins. Of course Christmas presents are heavy on my mind and this little fellow is going to be the star of this years celebration.

So far I'm up to 10 little penguins with two completely painted and finished. I have found that this carving project is just perfect for making some great little presents if you haven't yet started on your own present list for this year.  If you haven't started then may I suggest Simple Simon.

By observing the picture to the left then you can see how convenient this penguin is to produce. I cut several 1" X 1" pieces of basswood at approximately 6" long so that I could carve two birds  from one piece of wood. This way I had a good "handle" to grip while I carved one penguin at a time, then when both were finished I cut them in half with the bandsaw leaving a thin stand for each.

I carried several of the basswood blocks around with me in the cargo pockets of my pants so along with my handy Carvin' Jack knife I could work on them whenever I had a few free minutes. Now that I'm to the painting process I'm thinking about starting a another smaller flock of "baby" penguins that can be following Simon around on the ice. Now wouldn't that make the cutest gift!?!

How To Carve "Simple Simon" The Penguin- Part 1 (of 3)

This is part 1 (of 3) of "How To Carve Simple Simon The Penguin" video. This is a great project for the aspiring woodcarver who would like to try their hand at an entry-level "in-the-round" carving. Here you will be able to improve your hand/eye coordination with a 3-D project but not so complicated that you have to be trained as an architectural engineer to understand.

In the video I'm using a piece of southern basswood that measures approximately 1" X 1" and the penguin portion of my block is 2-3/4" long. I'm carving with the "Carvin' Jack" made by Flexcut because it's a complete carving set that I could conveniently attach to my belt as I enjoyed walking deep into the woods where I filmed the video. This simple carving project was the subject of a wonderful thread on the Woodcarving Illustrated Message Board where folks generously offered their own versions of the penguin. This video is the final result of how I carve this project in my own personal style. If you carve this project several times I guarantee you that you too will begin to develop your own unique style in creating a penguin that you will be proud of. They make great gifts too so that is only another reason (or excuse) to carve several of them and you'll be gaining more valuable carving skills while also producing some gifts that folks will love.

Image by mark van de wouw via Flickr

I've been using the step-by-step carving models for this little penguin in my woodshop carving program with great success. I've discovered that my 14-16 year old students find the visual steps easy to follow and they really like the bright black & white finishing colors with the red bowtie. This penguin is a real cutie and has been kid tested to be sure!

As always, never-ever compromise your safety. When carving always wear a glove on the non-carving hand and be sure that it's made from a high quality cut resistant material such as Kevlar. If your project isnt clamped or held secure on a table with a vise then be sure to use a lap board to protect your legs. (A piece of 1/2" ply board will work.) Above all be patient and never-ever force your knife. Learn to be safe and carve your project one thin slice at a time until you achieve the correct depth. If you've never had any carving experience then I would strongly suggest that you seek personal instruction from a professional carver and/or study carving manuals such as the Boy Scout Woodcarving merit badge booklet.

Be safe and have fun!

(Parts 2 and 3 will follow shortly.)

How To Carve A Simple Woodspirit Face: Part 1

I had a lot of fun putting this woodspirit instructional video together yesterday afternoon and I probably spent about 20-25 minutes shooting all the clips. After reviewing them I was amazed that I seemed to be satisfied and that I'd captured most of what I had wanted to say in the least amount of time possible, so I proceeded to "mesh" them all together into two videos that made some kind of sense. YouTube only allows a 10 minute maximum limit so I had to split them into two videos. After uploading the first one I found a flaw in the part 2 video so I'm currently making a correction and will try to get it uploaded later today.

This woodspirit is a great first carving project for the beginning woodcarver and can be considered as an entry-level into faces. I've been using this simple and basic woodspirit face for many years as a teaching tool for helping the students in my woodshop class learn the elements of carving their own. I've been continiously amazed at how so many of my students actually grasp the concept of carving faces as they have produced some wonderful creations of their own over the years. It just takes a lot of practice and a strong desire to "get there".

After presenting some basic information on the different types of cuts most students can use one of my woodspirit learning sticks and do a fairly good job. If you decide to give it a try don't expect to have a masterpiece on the first few attempts. When I first started carving faces in wood I wasn't satisfied until about my 30th one!

Carving faces takes a lot of time, patience, and practice. Study peoples faces while you are at work, at home, or at play and try to understand how all the parts fit together. As I mentioned in the video first carve the nose and the eyes, then base everything else around that and you will be well on your way.

The woodspirit produced in this video was carved from a 1" X 1" piece of basswood. Perhaps in another video I will demonstrate how I carve a woodspirit with more detail such as raised eyebrows, eyes, teeth, tongues, and a variety of emotion and facial expressions. However it is
very important that you first become comfortable with carving this very basic face then you should challenge yourself to the next level. Learning how to finish the face with stain or paint washes is another skill to achieve that is equal by comparison to learning to carve.

In the video I used the "Carvin' Jack" knife made by Flexcut and I just can't say enough good things about it. I'm also planning to do a full review video on it in the near future so please stay tuned.

As always, never-ever compromise your safety. When carving always wear a glove on the non-carving hand and be sure that it's made from a high quality cut resistant material such as Kevlar. If your project isn't clamped or held secure on a table with a vise then be sure to use a lap board to protect your legs. (A piece of 1/2" ply board will work.) Above all be patient and never-ever force your knife. Learn to be safe and carve your project one thin slice at a time until you achieve the correct depth. If you've never had any carving experience then I would strongly suggest that you seek personal instruction from a professional carver and/or study carving manuals such as the Boy Scout Woodcarving merit badge booklet.

Be safe and have fun!

Carving a Hippy Walking Stick

I still have quite a few carvings that I haven't had time for posting but I'm getting them up as fast as time allows. The video above is about a hippy walking stick that I carved a month ago for our annual fundraiser auction and fierce bidding to the very last seconds brought in $65.00 from the new owner.

I've carved tons of woodspirit and Indian walking sticks over the years but suddenly this idea to

Image via Wikipedia

carve a hippy walking stick hit me and what a lot of fun that it ended up becoming! The further the carving went along the more hilarious that it seemed to get as you can see from the colored bead necklace and the love beads that I added to the wrist strap.


Other than the idea to carve a "hippy" this is one of those projects that sort of invented itself and my carving hands just happened to be there for the ride. :) I used a nice red maple stick that I'd been curing for about 8 months and it was a pure pleasure to carve. Usually I opt to remove the bark from maple but it showed every sign of being very firmly attached so I left it on although when doing so I always lightly sand it with 220 grit, steel wool, then I rub in a very thin coating of polyurethane and shine it up "wet" until it leaves the bark with a very desirable flat luster of a shine. The new owner of the stick expressed the utmost satisfaction from how I'd applied the finish and wondered how I did it.


I finished the hippy with thinned acrylic paints that were carefully layered with Krylon acrylic
sealer. I'll be making more of these in the future!