reintroduction of teaching sticks

[D'Marie]

Hi, Linda, Love the characters, but I, too, want to learn how to do children and female faces. Janet Cordell is the only teacher I've gotten to meet so far(I'm a newbie at carving). Janet's faces are beautiful and yet, she can carve a horse with the best of them. Perhaps you could go to one of her sessions. I'm sure you would enjoy the time with her.

[D'Marie]

Wow... the sites have been so helpful, as have each of your suggestions! Thanks for all your help. Is it true that one has to make 500 of something to be really good?

496 blocks of wood on the wall, 496 blocks, take one down, carve it around... 495 blocks of wood on the wall...

Merry Christmas!!

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

500? I don't think so, some come on here and almost immediately are doing beautiful work, depends all on the individual and how much effort is put into learning....and carving naturally lol

[Thomp]

i doubt it would take 500 to learn how to carve something, unless you was hard to learn from repetition,

sorry i been quite busy with ornaments here of late.
to answer the question about folks carving women, there are a few here,

check jim oh posts for free beer lady's night, she ain't pretty but worth the look if for nothing more than the chuckles of what some folks will do for free beer...

[Pablo]

Linda, I may be mistaken, but it seems to me that I had seen a "how to" article in WCI sometime back regarding making teaching sticks. I'll have to check into my stack. Great idea though. I'm new to this myself, and any help is great to get.

pablo

[arbarnhart]

I had a thought; literally a twist on the idea (pun intended)...

Why not use a 2x2 and go in a spiral pattern? This would allow a lot more steps on a single stick. For example, lets say you need 3" of height for each step example. You carve step 1, then carve step 2 on the next corner 3/4" down, step 3 on the next corner another 3/4" (1.5" from the top) down, step 4 next corner another 3/4" down (2.25" from the top). When you get to step 5, it will be positioned right under step 1. Round and round it goes and the spiral makes it obvious in what direction. You would probably need to number them or drill a tiny hole at the top for a movable pin to help keep track of what step you are on.

Obviously there are limitations as to what the design being carved is and the stick would be subject to more wear on carved surfaces, but it would keep the sticks short and avoid those "then a miracle occurs" steps you get when you can't provide enough detail.

Pablo - as far as the "how to", if you just followed a tutorial and switched to a new spot for every photo (or two or three, depending on how detailed they are) that would pretty much be it. The big rule would be not to do two cuts that intersect and are best done in a particular order (usually just because you have better reference points) in the same single step.

[Thomp]

Andy,

i really wasn't ignoring your post here, but was contemplating what to say here, during my recent absence, and hope i can express some ideas....

I dont think there is a proper way to do a study stick as no concrete rules, heck look at other examples from great carvers such as Enlow and others with their eye and lip sticks and pattern hair balls,

i would think working in a spiral might be a great way to allow your self the necessary steps on larger figures. as long as the steps were clearly marked..

the first one i did here was that cabby looking dude, and when i come across it i still wonder for a second what it is because i put in to many steps it gets confusing.

then again we may be missing the best point of the project, being it affords you the practice you wouldn't get doing any other type project..
these sticks are hard to make the first few times..no joke!

[Ike Ickes]

Hi All, I was most interested in this article as I got my start by using study sticks. 15 yrs. ago I lucky enough to get several Enlows study sticks. They're rather small but (the faces and such) but I use a large eye glass so it doesn't make much difference. Anyway when I started carving again I decided maybe I should get some better study sticks... so after a lot of searching I finally found and ordered some sticks made by a young man named Skylar Johnson, he publishes through Alpineviews Publishing. Now mind you his stuff is very good it's just that there isn't very much of it when compared to Enlows study sticks. Anyway I want to address a couple of folks on what they had to say:

Thomp, your suggestion that the carving sticks be re-introducted is an excellent one. A lot of folks myself included live far from any teaching source and the time and money involved to get to one is out of the question.

Arbarnhart: I like your idea of using a 2 x 2 and doing the carving in a spiral fashion that is something worth consideration. Why not mount it on a small lazy susan or something like that.

Of course, after some consideration I started looking thru some of the old issues of this wonderful magazine of ours and in the Summer 2008, issue 43 there is a wonderful litttle article by Tom Hindes, called the 5 - minute Wizard. If a person used his method and expanded it a bit it wouldn't take a whole lot to make a study stick. It wouldn't be an Enlow but????? . Something else comes to mind maybe the wonderful folks of this great magazine could somehow get the rights to Enlows study sticks and come up with a way to get them reproduced. And sell them thru Fox Chapel or this mag. or maybe both. Yeah I know that alot of folks feel that study sticks are rather worthless and all they lead to are copies of the study stick itself. But you what in all the years I have been trying to make an exact copy of Enlows stuff and I still can't come close.

In his book Cowtown Carving Stephen H. Prescott (Fox Chapel by the way) mentions some great reference books for character carving. Learn to carve Faces and Expressions by Harold L. Enlow, Carving heads, hats and hair, by Cluade W. Bolton and Jack Hamm's, Cartooning the head and figure..Oh, and lets not forget Cowtown Carving by Mr. Prescott himself. He also has a short section on developing a 2 x 2 x 12 in. study stick. I hope this may help someone come up with some great ideas. Ya knows us ole' folks needs all tha help we cans gets. Ike Ickes

[D'Marie]

It would be nice to find teaching sticks of realistic faces.

[Thomp]

great post ike,

i keep an eye on this thread hoping it will take off but so far its just smoldering,

im in the same situation as you about having to travel a 100 mile distance to find a teacher or club of wood carving, i wonder if im the only wood carver in the state sometimes, and i dont drive anymore..
my hopes to get a woodcarving club together but couldn't find the folks interest.

i like the method of a beginner learning from study sticks because it also teaches sequence of carving steps,
as in you cant start on the mouth first, as it wont fit under the nose right. or you might not have carved the mouth deep enough into the block for a proper nose to fit without re-carving the mouth deeper... there is a sequence..

yes A great person, tom h.'s carving / teaching efforts have helped me to look at carving differently and he's been great in telling me how to carve eyes, his santa stick i received was very good to learn from with little discussion needed, thanks again tom,
i still keep him pestered almost daily...