Confused...........

[Stormbringer]

as to where one places your patterns regarding side and front view when attempting caricature carving.

Unfortunately, the internet is the only resource that I have to learn this craft. So please bear with me on this.

What I have been trying to do is put the front and one side view on adjoining faces of the block. My question is how does one visualize or relate the carving procedure? I have been trying to get one side (front usually) to be close to conforming to the pattern with carving. But, then I get some what confused as to where one goes from there.

I have tried a few methods of trying to extrapolate the front to the side but it doesn't seem to come together for me. Once you start to round the front features the side tracing is removed as well.

Thanks for any help people.
Ron

[Dan S]

I'm no the best at this but I'll try. You will probably get better answers so take this for what it's worth.
I don't know if you are bandsawing your blank. If you can, it simplifies things a great deal. If you don't have access to a bandsaw you will need to use a coping saw or something similar to rough out your blank. Be sure to keep your cuts square or it will distort you project. You can use gouges and knives to do this but it is much harder.
Once the roughout out is complete take you marker or pensil and beging sketching in some of the details you cut out. Not too much this early on. look for areas where you need to remove large chunks of wood. The band sawn profile will leave you wood where you need it but also a lot where you don't. Be sure to indicate what way the head is facing. I usually use an arrow on the top of the head for reference.
Once you have blocked in the major features begin refining the shape. Work on the carving as a whole. Do not finish one part and move on. Continue refining the shape until the carving is complete.
This explanation may be too simple but I hope it helps. This is the part of carving that stresses me the most. I always worry about cutting off the wood right where I need it most. My friend has a more relaxed approach. He just says "it's time to adjust the pattern".
Here are a few other tips.
Study your reference material. Be sure you know every detail of the carving before you start.
Gather extra reference material. It helps.
See if you can get a family mamber to pose for you in the same position as the carving you want to do. Take photos from all angles. Children can usually be bribed to do this. Wax or clay models can also help.
When you are unsure of where to go, step away from the carving for a day or so. Study your material and what you have done. When you are comfortable again resume carving.
Lastly don't try to carve something beyond your abilities. I have a whole stack of ieas that I'm not quite up to yet.

Dan

[K. Ellenburg]

Maybe this will help.
Transfer your side view of your pattern first, not actually on the side of the wood but on the largest side running with the grain,cut this out first. Try to make long continuous cuts instead of a lot of small ones. When you have the side profile cut out, take the pieces you have just cut out and tape them back together so it looks like the block of wood before you started cutting. Then transfer your front profile on the side that hasn't been cut. Cut this out, and you should have a pretty close cut out that matches your pattern. Try to orientate the bottom of the pattern front and side profiles to the bottom of the block of wood you are cutting, this will line everything up as long as the block you are starting with is square.
Hope this helps instead of confusing you more lol.
Kevin

[doris]

maybe the pattern use is not the right approach for you, stormbringer. many use patterns, but it is not the best choice for all, even if you have cut out both sides correctly, the resulting piece of wood looks stll very confusing to many, and as you say, you carve constantly the sidetracing away ... so, here is a suggestion what you can try, and see if it works better for you than the patternsmethod :

first, mark on one side of your block where the centerline of face goes, running through the nose, and mark a spot where about you think the nosetip will go (if you are unsure, you can put the front pattern on the wood, and you see where you need mark that :-) )... now put fotos of the head you want carve in front of you, at least front, and both sideviews, but better you have also view from bottom and top... now take your block of wood, and compare it with the fotos...what do you see ? your block is square, the head is something round, more like an eggshape,which bulges out a little where the nose is ....so, start carving that "eggshape" you see, keeping in mind that the line you drew is where the nose goes, never carve the spot you marked as nose tip though... start cutting away lots of wood from the corners of the block, round it off strongly,,,just try get the general shape, ignore smaller bumps and valleys...to see the general shape easier, if you wear glasses like me, you can take the glasses off and look, now all is very blurry you see only vaguely the big shapes. this is what you want carve at this stage...a similar method is squinting the eyes to see only blurry... ok, now after some carving you have a similar eggshape like the head on the foto. now next, you try to refine this shape. you want carve the nose...look on the fotos ... do you see how much it sticks out ? the general shape is like a wedge, right ? redraw the centerline through the marked spot (which you did not carve away;-)) and mark now where the top of nose is, again, you can hold the pattern over your carving and match the marked spot with the nosetip, and you see where to mark now where the top of nose goes... so try carve that wedge for the nose now,,,, to get this on your carving carve grooves beside the nose, be brave, carve the grooves deep...see how the nose comes out of your eggshape ?, see how you now start to see where your head is in the wood ? now smooth in the grooves with the cheekarea... now, that you see where the nose goes, you can also judge where the mouth goes :-) ... so, carve this next. look on the fotos how the mouthshape is, this will help you greatly... and so on...

as said, this is a different approach, but well worth one try at least.

[aulddiy]

Previous mails have given you choices here's an other.
Take a piece of cardboard, slightly bigger than the block of wood.
Draw squares, about 1/2" on both the cardboard and the wood. Trace the pattern on the cardboard. Full on and silhouette. Rather than drawing the pattern on to the wood use the cut outs as a reference. Works for me.

[Lynn O. Doughty]

Take a trip to my blog and you'll see several caricature figures, drawn from patterns, which show their progress from block to finished carving.

[susieq]

once you have put either the side or front view on the wood....make sure that when you put the other view on.....you have the front of the pattern co ordinated with the side of the pattern. In other words...the side pattern should be facing the the same direction as the front view. It is possible, if you aren't paying attention, to have the side view facing the rear of the block of wood, away from the front...LOL....a newbie goof up for sure. (yes, I admit it, speaking from personal early experience here)

I see that quite a few of the other carvers tape the wood block back together after cutting one view so that they can transfer the other view on and cut it. I use the tinest drop of wood glue to stick the cut pieces back on...let it set up for a half hour and then transfer and cut the other view out. Then a couple wacks with a hammer will knock the glued bits off of your blank and you are ready to go. Just the tinest drop of glue though....that stuff holds real good and if you use too much, you will never get it loose.

ps....I made it sound like I transfer the other view after cutting out the first...that is incorrect. I transfer both views onto the block of wood before I do any cutting. Cut one view, glue it back, cut the other veiw, tap it with a hammer to break loose the glued bits and start carving.

[Sam]

Stormbringer,

Take a look at this site - it illustrates in a similar way to what Doris is saying
Projects

In addition, take a look at your wood block - on the top or bottom - check the grain lines(growth rings) and plan your character so that the main detail is into the end of the lines (as best as possible) - not into the side of a line. When carving detail into the sides of lines most often the detail (nose,eye,hand) will chip off very easily. See drawing (not my best drawing but hope it helps.).

[Gulf Coast Handyman]

I also do what Susieq does, a friend of mine uses glue sticks (did not work for me). Sam that is a good info. you posted !

Dave

[Stormbringer]

Thank you very much sam, susieq, Lynn, aulddiy, doris, K., and Dan.

I think first off I will try the method doris suggested. This seems to be more my style of doing things. Seeing how normally I'm kind of a guy that does not do things according to plan. At least according to my bride of 31 years.

I sure can see the merit in what you all have suggested. So if plan A doesn't succeed, then it's on to plan B. Heck, it took me a long time to learn most things so why should carving be any different.

Thanks again!!