My first caricature and a few questions.

[Veen]

First of all thanks to Gene and Lynn and everyone here. Without you all I may now be carving today!
Here is a photo of my first caricature I just finished him. He's also my first time painting a carving. He's about 3 inches tall and made of 2 pieces of 3/4 inch basswood glues together.
#1.Question is.. I ran the grain up and down on him but I am gluing up a larger one now that will take about 4 pieces of 3/4" so is it best to carve with the edges of the boards on the arms(sides) or on the face (front and back). If I am putting a cap or hat on top too would that make a difference???
#2 Whats the best way to make buttons. I carved these in and when I put the paint on they kind of blead a bit?
#3 How do you make eyeglasses ??
Mike

[jmischel]

I can't answer your questions, Mike, but I sure do like your little caricature. Great job.

[sludgeguy]

Great first caricature Mike!

Your first question is grain direction.
If possible make the grain of the wood follow along the thinest most fragile part of the carving ie. arms, hands, legs... you will probably, if the cap has a bill, want the grain running across the hat to make the bill sturdier.

Making buttons, I use a curved gouge to do it. to stop bleeding when painting, carve a bit deeper around the outside of the button. A trench if you will.

Lynn on making glasses...
"I made the glasses by first making the rims from pounded 18 gauge wire bent to shape and silver soldered. Then, laying them upside down on a piece of wax paper I filled each lens with clear epoxy. Once it as good and set I used my belt sander to sand the surface smooth. The lens is still a little too cloudy so that will take some more figuring to get it the way I want it. I don't really want it completely clear sort of inbetween what it is now and clear if that's understandable."
(from his blog)

Thanks,
Doug

[scooter]

Another button method:

Carve the end of a [button-sized] dowel to look like a button. Domed, flat, however you like it. Now drill a hole in your carving, same size as the dowel, where the button is going. Cut the dowel, creating a plug, and tap it into the drilled hole, making sure to leave some of the button above the surface of the carving (a schmeer of glue might be in order). You can avoid bleeding by painting the end of the dowel first.

S~

[Gulf Coast Handyman]

Very nice Mike !

Dave

[Lynn O. Doughty]

Buttons. Forget about carving them. Always remember when doing details that the scale of the figure determines the amount of detail you can add. Buttons on a figure 8 to 10 inches tall would be so small that they really wouldn't stand out on their own. In such cases I save the buttons for th paint table. Using a toothpik I make a small dot with black paint. Once dry I come back with the color of the button on a clean toothpik and place another dot on top of the black one covering everything but thin outer border of black. The black will seperate the button from the background and make it appear to stand out. And, as you're using straight, thick paint there will be no bleeding.

[Mark Dellinger]

Mike,
Very nice first carving and first paint job. The only suggestion that I have is something that I have done lately after studying many of the posts here on the forum. Go back and do this same carving again only try to apply some of the suggestions that were given and compare the difference between the two.
It is amazing how these little suggestions make big differences on your out come.

Thanks for sharing your first carving, hope to see more...

Safe Carving and God Bless,

Mark

[therandallknight]

I agree the paint looks great

I use a paper clip and bend it in to glasses

[Mark Dellinger]

Mike,
One thing I forgot to mention on buttons. I was reminded later of when I was out at my carving bench. I will use a small nail set to make small buttons, but still use the tooth pick or paper clip to paint them.

Mark

[Veen]

Thanks for the encouragement and great tips everyone.