My First (Official) Wood Spirit

[MackTheKnife]

This is the first wood spirit I've let see the light of day. I call him Wind-in-his-hair. I've done some other practice pieces, but I wasn't happy with the flatness of the faces. So I adapted a Marv Kaisersatt technique. I got a 1-1/4" birch dowel about six inches long and divided the top in quarters. I extended the lines down the sides of the dowel and carved a 90 degree facet on what became the front of the dowel. I like the result a lot better than what I was getting before.

All comments are welcome.

Bob

[CarverFromNoWhere]

Great work Bob Thumbs Up he is excellent especially for your first wood spirit, that nose is awesome. Will you finish him?
Carl

[Tom-H]

Bob, It looks good to me! All the cuts are well defined and clean. The profile of the nose is excellent. But isn't birch just a tad hard to carve?

Tom H

[MackTheKnife]

Thanks, Carl and Tom.

Carl, I'm going to finish him with my hot shoe polish finish and buff.

Tom, I really like the way birch carves. It isn't much harder than basswood, but it does splinter a little more easily.

Bob

[Mottles]

Good job! Bob and I like the finish looks great.
Kathy

[CarverFromNoWhere]

That exactly what I was thinking about his cuts Tom, very clean and well placed. I carve in Birch all the time and love it, it is perfect for anything that will be used with food, strong tightly grained takes excellent detail it is a little hard but worth that extra effort.
Carl

[Iowa Carver]

BOb, that is a great one! Nice job, and I would not have thought about carving birch! Good idea, it's a very clean carving as well!

Corey

[Coffeeman]

Bob,

Lets not keep these fine little carvings in the dark no more, great job on the spirit.....your going to just love carving one in cottowood bark one of these days for sure.

Bill

[MackTheKnife]

Thanks everyone.

Bill, I think I'm going to post pictures of the practice stick I did. I've got four different faces on it. Two of the faces are done the traditional way starting with the curved face of the dowel, and the other two are done with Kaisersatt's technique. You can really see the difference.

Corey, I really like birch. Next to basswood it's my favorite wood.

Thanks, Kathy.

Carl and Tom, for some reason I find it really easy to get clean cuts in birch.

Bob

[tucker1931]

Bob, with your talent at carving I'm surprised to hear this is your first spirit, and a fine spirit it is. I'm sure now that you've started them we will see many more from you.
Cliff