Snake beginner carving

[jmischel]

The second lesson, I guess, in my beginner's wood carving class had us carving a snake from cedar. The primary point of the lesson is to teach us how to handle changing grain direction. For that, this snake carving is a very good project.

As some of you know, I'm not a total beginner. But being completely self-taught for the last year has left some interesting holes in my knowledge. The snake was a good exercise, but I found the instructor's discussion of other topics (tools and tool selection, sanding, wood selection, and a few others) to be much more useful than the grain direction practice. Not that I'm an expert at it or anything.

I had resisted taking classes because I'd been disappointed with classes in other fields. But this beginner's carving class is proving quite valuable. Not only am I filling in my knowledge, but I get to peruse the instructor's collection of carvings (the class is at his house) to get pattern ideas and to see how he did different things.

If a member of your club offers beginner classes, I highly recommend taking him/her up on the offer.

The snake is cedar, about 8 inches long and one inch wide at the base. I sanded it to 1200 grit and am leaving it natural. Don't want to cover up that wonderful cedar aroma.

[LisaS]

I like your snake very much -very stylized, almost abstract.
Did you do that all with a knife?
Did you start from a square block or was it a rough out?

[jmischel]

Thanks, Lisa. Yes, it's a highly stylized snake. I started with a rectangular block of wood and did all of the carving with just a knife.

I'm planning do more of them out of different woods, but I'll do a bandsaw cutout for them. For two reasons: 1) no need to waste all that good wood when I could get more little snakes from it; 2) I don't want to work so hard at removing waste wood from a piece of mesquite or oak or walnut...

[Curtscarving]

Superb job those little eyes get ya.
Curt

[Dicky]

Good job Jim. The shape is really enhanced by the grain pattern. I'd have to leave it natural as well.

[jmischel]

Thanks, Dicky. And Curt. You know, I debated quite a while about whether I should paint a face on this little guy. I think the little eyes were the right thing to do. My painting skills aren't all that, and I certainly wasn't going to try carving eyes!

[Tom Ellis]

Nice job Jim, There are definitely a lot of grain changes on that one, and staying natural really shows off the cedar.

Tom

[Dicky]

I did a snake stick and following David Stehly's advice used birds eyes. Turned out pretty well.

[carver33]

Nice job Jim. I don't often say this about snakes, but he's a cute little fella.

[pallin]

Nice snake carving, Jim. Here is one I did as a Scout neckerchief slide many years ago:

Snake 001.jpg