Learning to carve

:What is the best way to improve my carving skills? I don't have a special carving type except I do like to carve humming birds.
confusedcarver

Confused,
The remedy is an easy one PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE, and more practice. I find what ever I do in this world that I approach it with a positive attitude. Attitude determines sucess if you approach everything with the attitude that you are going to give it everything you possibly can I am certain you will be sucessful. It is only a piece of wood and so what if you make a mistake start again you wont make the same mistake the next time. Dont throw the mistake away throw it up on the shelf and go back to it later you will be suprised what you can do with it when you look at it again. Dont try to fix that mistake right away because it will be in the back of your mind the whole time and you will just get frustrated and maybe never carve again. I had a carving like that I picked out of the burn pile and carved it again two months later. I had 20 carvings sitting there when a lady came to buy one. Guess what she just loved the mistake and purchased it. She never knew it had been in the burn pile.
Good luck with you carving adventure always remember if your stuck ask us here and we will try and guide you in the right direction. Now dont ask me about humming birds my carvings are just a little bigger. But there are some humming bird carvers here that I am sure will help you
Colin

[Nancy-G]

I was just starting to write PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE and Colin beat me to it.
Carve a humming bird, study it from all angles and look for the mistakes. Find a carver you respect and ask him/her to point out the errors. (It's very easy to find somebody to tell you how gorgeous a carving is but that's not much help). Carve another humming bird then carve another one. Collect all the reference material you can find. Look on goggle.com for humming bird images. Check your local library for bird books and magazines. You can't carve a bird unless you know what one looks like !! Study, study, study. And have fun. Carving is a joy. Welcome to the club.

[BasketballJones]

Man I get frustrated all the time, so here are a few things I do as I know nothing about everything and always make carving mistakes.

When frustrated, put the carving down for a few minutes, clear the head. I guarantee when you look at it again the problem won't appear the same.

I use a utility knife to score when not sure about a stroke. It gives you a different look than the pencil line. If you don't like the way it looks, sand it away. You haven't wasted any wood.

Keep glue around so if you cut off his head you can put it back on. Okay that was a joke but a little dab of glue on a bad stroke isn't visible.

Enjoy researching magazines, websites, pictures etc. and of course practice, practice,...............

[icarve2003]

I agree with the others, just keep practicing. Every carving I do gets a little bit better than the last one. Look at what you don't like on each carving and try to improve it on the next one.

I've been at it about 7 years and I'm just at the stage where I think my carvings might be good enough to sell.

Although remember, you are your own biggist critic. Others don't seem to see the parts you don't like :

Chris

???Personally I stay confused all the time. If I wasn't confused in everything I do, I would be even more confused.
Like the others said practice, carve, whittle some more. I have had people tell me that some of my stuff looks good and but some of them. My close friends and family tells me everything I do is great. It is when someone else likes it that I think it is OK. Like Chris said you are your worst critic. I know I am. I found a local carving club and joined. I carve mostly wood spirits in sticks. I had someone want to buy a stick that I was not yet ready to sell. I only had it with me so as to get the right size tip. That night I went to the club meeting. I had seen a couple of things that I did not like but the other carvers saw some other things I did not see. Well I fixed the stick that night and finished stainiong anfd polly it and sold it to the person who had wanted it a couple of days earlier. They could not tell I had done anything to the stick different from when he had seen it a couple of days before except stain and polly it.
The general public will not usually see the faults in your work. You will see them and perhaps other carvers will see them but the average person will not see them.
With each piece you carve you will get better. I consider my self to be a fair carver or craftsman. Some carvers will spend 100's of hours on the same piece trying to get it absoluetly perfect. That is fine if you plan on keeping it for yourself. If you plan on selling it, you could not get enough out of it in most cases to pay you minimum wages if you spent that kind of time on a piece. So carve what you are happy with. Over time you will getto where you know when enough is enough, and those pieces will sell for you if you are interested in selling them.

[BasketballJones]

I compare woodworking/carving to golf. I've been playing golf for 25 years. The more I play the more my game improves. Like carving I enjoy reading, studying others, making adjustments and applying it to my skill level. Shooting a decent round is like completing a good carving. Harder projects are like tougher courses. I change knives and gouges as frequently as I change my driver and putters. I don't play as good as Tiger but I can enjoy the game as much as he can. Same goes here. 8)

Alot of good advice going around from folks who's been there.
Me , I have been carving a long , long time and I am still learning each and every time I pick up a peice of wood or a carving tool.
When I first started carving , I wanted to be the master of carving wood spirits right of the bat and my first spirit was
more like a sick monkey with brain damage. They started getting better as time went on by the way.
I was having problems with the eyes and nose so I pretty much knew where to start practicing in order to hone my skills.
I would spend my spare time carving eyes and noses in scrap peices of wood until I got better results. My wife would holler at me every now and then to come and get my nose off the coffee table or to pick my eyes up off of the floor.
I had a lot of help from alot of fellow carvers and found that most carvers will show you everything they know. Be patient and dont be afraid to ask others for help or advice.
Happy Carving!!!!!

Hey Whittlebit
I agree with you about not being afraid to ask. I found a local carving club. The people are a diversified age group, young to old. Carving skills also range. They do not mind sharing their knowledge.

[Callynne]

Welcome Confused, I totally agree with everyone else, practice, you will get better with each piece!!
You know, I talk with friends and family about this message board, when I say about telling how I do or did something they say...'should you be giving your secrets away?' It makes me have to smile, guess only carvers understand other carvers, we really do like to share our knowledge. My experience has been that other carvers will share anything they can to help out a fellow carver and having had that done for me...well, what the heck is secret on my part?!!
Keep practicing Confused, ask us anything, some one will more than likely have the answer you're looking for. Always happens for me! Callynne