Carving from a magazine plan

[STAR]

One of the things that attracted me to carving was the Cowboy Bottle stoppers. I knew it would present some challengers and boy, I was not mistaken. The other Three carvings, well maybe not the first, the leprechaun, because i had no idea of what I was doing came out ok for me in my own style.

The cowboy was the first I had attempted trying to imitate the caricature style. What a disaster. I knew I would have problems so I just tried to work through them the best I could.

But, because I really had no guide or plans there was a fair bit of guesswork which to me was like been led across the street by a blind man.

My question is. I tried to copy the Cowboy Bottlestopper in Woodcarving Illustrated Holiday 2010 Issue 53 cowboy.

Now the plan it had may have been ok for somebody who has done one and could work out how to finish the project, but for a new guy I had to fly the white flag. I have just purchased, but not received the book Bottlestoppers by Young .

I wonder do some of these plans in magazines hold a bit back and if so, what would be a good starting point. I have looked at Videos and gained some help but unfortunately I do not think I am a visual person.

Pete

[SlowMover]

Unfortunatly, your experience may not be all that uncommon. I realize it is difficult to include or illustrate all the steps involved in a carving, but some articles are much worse than others in this regard. I suggest you rely on books and videos for actual instruction, and even then you will find omissions of key areas in a lot of books. The trick is to get books from different authors and meld the instrution and styles together to arrive at a complete figure.
I really think you need to look at the magazine articles as idea sources rather than instruction. The magazines have to appeal to all levels of skill and all styles of carvers. They can't continually go over and over the basics and still keep the experienced carver reading and buying the magazine. After all, you are only a beginner once, but you are an experienced carver forever if you stick with it, so they are skewed more towards advanced and intermediate level projects and discussion.
I must admit, I occasionally get irritated at the articles in ALL the major carving magazines when the page or so of text is reduced to the following level in regards to carving instruction: rough out the block, then shape the basic areas, refine the details, and finish with paint and varnish. I swear I have read articles that offered exactally that much true information and no more. In a lot of cases, you would really get more help and inspiration from doing away with all the words and including a few extra pictures, or bigger pictures with more detail. Occasionally a really good article comes along, but they are rare.

Keep buying good books, watch all the free instruction you can (go to OutWest Blogspot) and practice until it 'clicks'. The very best way to learn is to join a club and sit next to carvers whose work you like and ask questions and WATCH them carve.
hang in there and it will eventually "click" and get easier.

[steve brown]

Visit YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. then type in (allengoodman69) and watch his videos. I think they are pretty darn good.
Steve Brown Woodcarving

[Steve Reed]

Pete, I don't think they intentionally hold anything back. Rather, they might assume you know how to get to a certain point. Even when following step-by-step instructions, there are gaps that you have to "guess" at, or experience takes over and you think, oh ok. . .
I think ordering the book is a great way to go, and watch some of the you tube videos. You'll get there my friend. . . patience grasshopper!

[kdispoto]

When in doubt about a step ask the question here at the forum.

[STAR]

Originally Posted by kdispoto

When in doubt about a step ask the question here at the forum.

----------------------

ok Ken.. Where do I start?


Pete

[STAR]

Well my book , Bottlestoppers turned up. And I have almost completed my first bottlestopper an Oak keg.

I think the cowboy I tried was too advanced for me because I only have to paint the keg and its finished all in about two hours.

The book had far more information in it and I have even figured out how to do it faster. I am really pleased with that book and will now recheck a previous one I just got called Cowboy faces Book two by Claude Bolton.

Pete

[kdispoto]

I started out doing simple Santas using sample ornaments as a guide.

[BobD]

We do not hold things back when we publish an article. There are a number of factors that help us decide how much space to devote to any one article. Since we only publish four magazines a year, we've got to try to appeal to a large number of our subscribers through the course of the year. That fact leads us to approach articles in different ways.

For articles designed specifically for beginners, such as the TomH's 15-Minute Santa, we try to show as many steps as possible to get the process across. The Cowboy Bottlestopper we intended for a more intermediate carver who has some experience working from a pattern instead of following a step-by-step progress.

We've got an article from Mark Gargac on carving a cowboy bottlestopper in a future issue.

The other issue we sometimes run into is the fact that our authors are carvers, not photographers. We can't always get a photo that shows exactly what we want to show, so we sometimes have to cover the information using words. And anyone who has spent any time on this board knows that words don't alway mean the same thing to everyone.

We do our best to provide a variety of information in the magazine so it appeals to all of our subscribers, beginners through experts.

Best Regards,
Bob Duncan
Technical Editor

[Mitchell]

There's a reason "practice" is given as advice for new carvers. It takes time to learn how to use the tool(s) and how the wood reacts to them. This is difficult to put into written form - best learned by trial and error. It's not easy and different people learn at different speeds.

Many beginners give up because they expect to make what they see others do with out much time spent learning the two things mentioned above.

One tip that I try to give - don't be afraid or disappointed to make a mistake or mess up a carving - instead use that experience for learning and making progress on the next one. If you keep that positive attitude you WILL get better.

I started carving 30 years ago - and 'quit' quite a few times due to not making progress in my skills. It wasn't until I 'accepted' making a bad carving that I started to enjoy it - and improve. Eventually my mistakes led to my better carvings.

The magazine articles are condensed. Bob explained it well.
Books have more info and more photos.
Videos are good because you get a better idea and feel of what the carver is doing as it's continuous - opposed to skipped steps in still pictures.
The instructors/authors can't select the level of carver that purchase their material. A harder subject may take multiple tries to come close to the 'original'.

Keep practicing and carve safe!