Can you use wood filler to re-carve?

[Tommy Taylor]

My first face and I want to try the eyes again.Afraid I started carving them before studying them.
Has anyone tried using wood filler to try to re-carve something?
I feel like it might have to be painted afterwards instead of stained,at least a little even though it's a stainable wood filler.

[Robson Valley]

I'd do another one, or several pairs of eyes for practice.
Some version of Murphy's Law claims that you will botch the plastering job if only because you really care about it.

The center point of a Forstener bit leaves a little dent in soft wood which is very hard to get rid of, especially when I don't want to carve the relief plane any deeper. I dab a little filler in each hole and sand. The irregular depth of the drilling and the carving seems to hide it quite well. Of course, painted over, POOF! disappears like Houdini.

[Tommy Taylor]

Thanks Robson.I can feel the truth ring out in your Murphy's law statement and I also have been looking closely to see how I might be able to salvage it by going deeper into the wood with the face since there is plenty of depth to work with.

Well that is until I reach the other side.HeHe.

[Bob Younger]

Here is my 2 cents, leave it and go on to the next one. At some point you called this done so let it be done. You've heard of study sticks, well call this the start of your learning sticks. When you do the next one though, make sure you pull this one out to remind you what you don't want to do. By the way, that's a great first attempt, can't wait to see the second

[telecarver]

You can use a forstner bit to drill out the eyes and then use a a matching plug cutter to cut wood plugs to glue in the eye holes.

[Tommy Taylor]

Thank you for the comments.I just couldn't help seeing what I could do with it.I might add a little filler and tweek it some but it seems to be working.

[Tommy Taylor]

Not going to be as hard as the wood and in hind sight maybe had I tried Durhams rock hard water putty it would have been but oh well.Used an old broken dental tool to carve with since you can't use a Dremmel and I'll have to think about what to use on it for durability.

[Hooked on Carving]

There is an epoxy called Quikwood you can use. It gets hard enough and is carveable. I've used it on relief carvings. The color is a little bit off when used on basswood but not much.

[Tommy Taylor]

Appreciate that Hooked.I'll check on that epoxy.I can see how developing skills at repairing can be very handy.

[mobjack68]

No way to tell how big the piece is from the pic...no point of reference for scale, and it appears you have put a lot of work into the carving.

Is there any way to reduce the levels of the forehead/brow/eye sockets to get back to wood good enough to rework the eyes???
I would be tempted to cut the eyes down first, get back to good wood, then cut down the forehead/brow to be proportional to the eyesockets. Rework the bridge of the nose for a smooth appearance...etc...etc
That may cause the face to be looking a little more skyward than straight ahead, and you may not have enough wood, front to back, to keep a desirable round head shape???
just a thought....