[Blake Lunsford]

I've been working on carving some Spirit faces for practice! Here are a few examples! Let me know what you think!

Blake

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

how about going into the top of the lip with a gouge to make an open mouth appearance, the way it is ...it looks like he has his tongue sticking out ....otherwise,,, got a good start on some woodspirits!

[Blake Lunsford]

Thanks for the suggestion! The way I was carving them, the top lip with the mustache was supposed to come down almost over top of his bottom lip. I probably need to trim the bottom lip down from sticking out so far. I will work on that and see what I can do!

Blake

[Mark N. Akers]

Blake:
You have got a good start on a woodspirit.Looks real good,will make neat card holders.

[GILLY]

They look good to me, well done.

[Irishman]

I must get my hands on some basswood. I've been using regular logs for some time and I like to try another grain of wood. You could probably put several more faces on your blocks and have the option to mix and match. Great work so far. I posted one of my finished females but didn't get any feedback...perhaps she's not as pretty as I thought! Maybe a female spirit on the back for variety. Just a thought. Not to high jack your thread but here's my latest female. She'd probably look better on basswood.
Patrick

[Kenny_S]

Blake,
They look great. Round the top where the hair meets the forhead to give a more natural look instead of a shelf look.
I like them .

[Colin_Partridge]

Blake I like the expressions on the spirits you have your own style and that it good. I agree the hair should flow into the forehead also may I suggest that you take more wood away from the outside of the face and the moustache to give it more depth but these are only suggestions it is your carving.
Colin

[Anthony Filetti]

Blake,
That's some good stuff ya got there.

You asked for it so here's my advice:

The carvings lack some depth. It is common to see beginning carvings where the carver tends to pick at the wood rather than carve deep lines (its a fear thing), the deeper cuts create shadows that enhance the appearance of a carving. Also, a lot of instructors have carvers start carving a face on the corner of a block of wood where the nose is centered on the corner line, that is great since the angle from ear-to-nose-to-ear is approximately 90 degrees, but if subsequent cuts are not made deeper into the wood the carving appears "flat" and that is a problem a lot of carvers face. In your carving the forehead appears rounded as the steps most people use to create a woodspirit have us cut a plane from the top of the eyeline to the hairline, where I think you could enhance your carvings is from the nose down, more rounding is needed. If by chance you get to see a copy of Marv Kaisersatt's book he carves 3 major planes below the nose that are just contained within the boundaries of the smile line. This should help bring out some more character in your carvings.
This being said, they are all great designs and I like the wrinkles around the eyes. I would just experiment with deeper cuts. If you have a chance to carve with an instructor watch them, they carve without hesitation and do not fear cutting deeply into the wood. We just need a little intestinal fortitude to break that barrier ourselves.

Blake please do not be offended by my remarks as they are only intended to help you enhance you're already imense talent.

[Blake Lunsford]

Wow Tony! How could I ever be offended by that! I definitely value your opinion and welcome your suggestions. I've looked at those three carvings many times and definitely agree with what you are saying. They do need some depth and I think that will make them come alive.

I will definitely look for Marv's book and study that in detail. The only formal class I have taken was with the master carver at Dollywood which was a few years back, so I am trying to carve them based off of memory.

Thanks again to you all for taking the time to send your suggestions and comments! I really do appreciate it and I hope that you will be able to notice a distinct difference in carvings to come.

Blake