Practice stick woodspirit

[Irish]

Finding myself with a little free time yesterday I pulled out one of my basswood 1" x 1" x 12" practice sticks that I use for woodspirit cane toppers.

I happened across an older practice stick that I had put aside ... I really butchered the eye brows on that one but the stick still had a fair portion of uncarved wood.

As a newbie carver, way back when, I remember how difficult it seemed to get the nose established with enough depth to really bring it forward and still have enough wood behind the nose to set the eyes deeply enough.

Many of my first woodspirit toppers had very straight noses that never seemed to come up and away from the face at all. With all the prelim work I had done by the time I got the eye depth set I had less than half the width of the stick left. It always seemed to me that I ended up with a very very small face on my stick.

Well, yesterday I wanted a nice big dramatic nose and a big face that draws attention to the spirit. So I cut a chunk from my butchered stick that was about 3/4" deep by 1" tall by 3/4" wide. I left the planed side of the chunk alone for my glueing surface then carved the piece into the general shape of my desired nose.

My rough nose was proud (larger) than what I actually wanted for my face. That extra gave me lots of room to carve the nose into the facial areas as the eye sockets and cheeks.

I used yellow wood glue on the back of my rough shaped nose and glued it to the position on my new practice stick. I used tape to hold it into position while the glue set up.

Then ... I had a lot of fun carving. I worked my woodspirit face just as I normally would.

I have another one ready to go so you can see the first steps.

Susan

[Irish]

OK ... So I was delighted enough with the nose that I added a few pop-out leaves and a small split broken branch inside of a knot hole exactly the same way. The leaves on the back of the spirit are positioned so that they become "Elf ears" when viewed from the front.

After I had the carving completed I grabbed my wood burner to clean up the fuzz bunnies, crisp some joint lines and add the texturing for the wood bark.

He became a woodspirit with a huge nose coming out of a wood branch with bark with a honeysuckle vine and leaves curling around the branch.

He's ready for painting.

Funny though !?! I kept thinking about Woody Allen as I carved this one ?

Susan

[Mottles]

Super, practice stick Susan, I always love it when you find spare time, as we all benefit from it.
I remember too, when I first began attempting to care in the round and in specific woodspirits. This type of study stick would have been so helpful. After much trial and error I finally am getting the hang of it. tee hee
Thanks, for doing this study stick--your the best!
Kathy

[Irish]

Hi Kathy! Thank you for posting here!

I so wish that I still had some of my very first woodspirit sticks. Looking back I know how rough they were ... still fairly square edged, long flat noses and eyes, I'm not sure that what I carved could have been called eyes.

Yet, the second one was four times better and third there was actually a face. By around my sixth I had a hint of expression.

If I had them I would post them in order to let beginner's see how quickly you catch onto carving.

Susan

[Jammy]

all I can say is WOW... that's some awesome carving there!! SO many things I want to try carving, I have to pace myself or I'll have 100 projects laying around!

[Mottles]

Originally Posted by Irish

Hi Kathy! Thank you for posting here!

I so wish that I still had some of my very first woodspirit sticks. Looking back I know how rough they were ... still fairly square edged, long flat noses and eyes, I'm not sure that what I carved could have been called eyes.

Yet, the second one was four times better and third there was actually a face. By around my sixth I had a hint of expression.

If I had them I would post them in order to let beginner's see how quickly you catch onto carving.

Susan

Susan, I went back to a 2005 thread I can share with the folks here. Man, I've come a long way sense then. So folks, we all start out a newbie's and mine were pretty rough too. One Block Two Wood Spirits We all have to pay our dues to learn how to be a good carver. It's like the more you carve the more you learn. Find your carving passion and practice, practice, practice. Believe me, you will improve with each carving to do. I'm going into my 4th year of carving and I feel my carving ability has come a long way. We have a really good Tutorial Forum on this site where you can pick-up good carving skills.
So, don't be discouraged, be encouraged by the very carvers you admire.
Hugs,
Kathy

[Merle Rice]

Hi Susan what UNIQUE IDEA, I like it. Always like to see your thoughts posted here and give us different ways to improve our carving. Thank you,it's appreciated. Merle

[Mottles]

Hi all, in case you might be interested, I have woodspirit WIP in this thread Black Cottonwood Bark Spirit that might be helpful.
I in no way have all the answer's to carving a woodspirit only what I have learned from other carver's and much practice.
Kathy

[Irish]

Thank you Kathy.

Anyone that has an links that would like to add, please do so!

If you have an early carving and then one done some time later you would like to please feel free to do that too!

I have a little chance to carve last night ... right now he looks like "Snidly Whiplash" ... I'll try to add a photo later.

Susan

[Iowa Carver]

That is so cool, not just the face but all the other carving and burning on it that just brings the whole thing together. A work of art!

Corey