[ISpringer]

Well, to start, I'm not exactly a beginer but...

I decide to register and de-lurk because I have a problem. I tend to work past my abilities when carving. I try for results that are just too much for me. Oftentimes I can go back a year or so later to a carving I couldn't complete and finish successfully, but not always. It is very frustrating to me to have a carving 90% complete, that I just cannot finish. Sometimes it is the details I can't get to gel in my head, or sometimes I just can't get the look I want.

Some of the problem may well be my subject matter. I tend to do classically styled pieces in the round. Nudes for the most part, but a few busts as well. Symmetry is very important for the pieces, but balance is required as well. The work must be accented as well to bring out details that would not be apparent otherwise in wood.

I like to use harder woods for my work. I shy away from basswood, as I have never been happy with it. By choice I use myrtle, box elder and peach wood. I have used walnut on occasion, but I find the grain too dark and it obscures the details.

Any suggestions would be helpful.

[Mottles]

Big Hello and welcome to WCI
I really can't help you as I'm very very new to carving one piece completed. What I have learned is keep practing, ask for help here in these forums. The folks here are so terrific with their expertise. So you have done the right thing by delurking and asking for suggests.
Kathy

[AlArchie]

Springer, we're ALL in over our heads with every new subject we start. I'm currently dead-*** stalled on a full sized puffin, and that will just have to wait till inspiration hits me betwixt the eyes. I also have a bold relief going of the old Soo Line #950 decapod engine and tender. That one has been on the bench staring at me for over a year, but last week somthing clicked and I started in on it again. It SEEMS to be coming along pretty well, but this is a pretty detailed piece with wheells, pipes, bells, whistles,rope, chains, ladders tracks, ties, etc, so I don't anticipate this being done anywhere inthew near future.

I guess what I'm trying to say is "Step back, once in a while, and let the thing gel in your head before you start whacking away at it."

Being in over your head is the challenge, not the problem! Those rocks in the path can be stumbling blocks or stepping stones......I like to think of them as stepping stones, and sometimes a rock beside the path to sit on and rest a while.

Al

[Thor]

I can SO relate to what you wrote ISpringer. I try projects beyond my skill level and expect it to look like the thing in my head. The problem is that the thing in my head is finished, and the inbetween stages aren't clear. Whenever I learn even something little, it can be applied to everything I carve from then on. This message board has been a lot of help, and also, grabbing a friend of mine every now and then and Making him show me something. He's a master carver, and doesn't even know how much he knows, so I have to remind him that learning is different than already knowing.
It sounds like you already have a lot of experience, but reading books, watching this list, watching videos of master carvers, and trying new things even if it is out of your comfort zone are all steps to getting better. I'm not one who can help you, but I can sure relate to frustration at your own short comings.
Let us see images of your work.
Thor

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

My neighbor is an outstanding carver and does mostly natural finish in hardwood......his secret is to layout and work upsidedown with the piece, or turn it over if stumped, you get a new perspective and sometimes see exactly what is wrong...it works...try it!

[carver6]

Many times when stumped on a feature of a carving I'm working on that just doesn't look right, I'll place the carving somewhere in the house that will be in plain sight everytime I pass that way. After a few days something will click and I'll see or figure out just what I need to do to achieve the look I want. Guess everyone has a different way, but that works for me. Good luck.
Garon (Carver6)

[Mitchell]

I think that you should view your early attempts as a learning experience..... Don't get hung up with thinking that every carving HAS to be great. Even the experts practice. Professional artists have sketch books to practice on ideas and to tune them into masterpieces.

I realize that it may seem wasteful to start a carving that is projected for the trash pile, but it can be a positive - especially if you learn something from it.

I often start a carving with the sole goal of using it for reference only - and am sometimes surpised with a piece that "works".

[Lightningbolt]

I love the quagmire that you've so honestly presented. Like others here, I too have often bit off more than I could chew at the moment... but I personally look at that as part of the process or "stretching the brain" out of it's comfort zone and into new territory and THAT is always a good thing.

I have several partially completed carvings hanging around the shop that date back for more than a decade that I just "got lost" in finishing and as time passes it's amazing how many that I have picked back up and then completed to my satisfaction. I'm also amazed at how much subtle intelligence that our meager human brains absorb over time that we're not even aware is taking place... but I'm convinced that this process is always going on IF you are constantly stretching your ability beyond the "comfort zone" and that is territory that too few of us are willing to enter because after all, humans are by their very nature creatures of habit so naturally we are going to do the things that make us most comfortable, over and over each day and very rarely going into that other zone which makes us better.

I say to take these daily opportunities to stretch your brain beyond the comfort zone in all things (especially carving) and over time I believe that anyone can be amazed at their progress. Sometimes that carving will sit there unfinished for decades, and that's OK, but at some undetermined point the time will be right to pick it up again and to apply new knowledge. Sometimes in today's fast paced culture many of us want results that are too "instant" and it is also my belief that occupations in such fields as artistry are part of a process that requires great patience in learning & "arriving" and that process is uniquely individual to each artist. I can only say that it is sometime a struggle for each of us to get in touch with our own learning process, but it's indeed a struggle worth while.

To bite off more than you can chew can sometimes be a great thing and part of the process that makes you better. Journey on my friend

[ISpringer]

Thanks for all the advice, it does help me in a lot of ways. I tend to be rather anti-social anyway, and the past few years have brought it out in me.

As for practice, books and videos; I agree that they are very necessary to learning to carve what you see in your head. I recently bought a book by Ian Norbury (same first name as I, how could I not?) and have been working on carving female faces in Basswood. I am on my second iteration of the same carving and will possibly do a third. I keep the early attempts of all pieces on hand to use as guides.

The comfort zone is a nice place to stay in when I am having difficulties in other areas. I like to grab a piece of cast off, and just start in on it. The results tend to be sloppier than a planned out piece, but help me in visualizing the problem. I also like to work on things that may be technically very challenging, but within my skill-set. Checkering of a gun-stock comes to mind.

Most of my finished works have found homes (grin) but I'll take a few pics once I borrow a digital camera.

It feels like I've hit a plateau, as in running. There is this hump that I just cannot get past. So in the words of my first sergeant I guess I'll just "Soldier on, soldier".

[Donna_T]

Ispringer,
I agree with the suggestions of putting the carving aside where you can look at it from different angles for awhile. I sometimes do that also...I just can't decide what needs to be done next to get to the point I want the carving to be. I also take my thumbs and cover different parts of a carving to see what it would look like if I took a bit more wood off a particular spot.

Then too, sometimes I just do a bit more research and look for pictures of the subject I'm carving--pictures of the subject from different angles with different looks. Almost always when I'm starting to carve something new, I start gathering photos and pictures by going through magazines, surfing the web, etc. In the case of trying to carve a realistic human, I watch people. I remember trying to figure out how to make a pair of suspenders on a fat bellied Santa--unsure of whether they followed the contour of the belly or stood away from his chest. I was sitting in church and a fat bellied fella was sitting across the aisle and he had his thumbs hooked in his suspenders, just like I wanted my Santa to look. It was a "Eureka" moment, and I suddenly knew just how I would finish my santa.

So, taking your time to determine what needs to be done next isn't bad. And making mistakes seems to be the way we learn best.

Donna T