[feb]

I don't know why but for the life of me I can't carve the nose on Mark Gorgac's olde world santa orniment I tried about thirty times on a practice board and i even went back an looked at the indian he did in an earlier edition i'm having trouble on the nostrols I'll take any suggestions. thanks Feb

[Callynne]

Hey Feb, there's a posting on noses over in the Tutiorial Section, you might find what you're looking for over there.

Noses may be vastly different but they all have the same things in common, nostrils, bridge, tip, etc....it's just how you shape those things.

You said you're having trouble with the nostrils. Here's a simple explaination on how I do mine. First I carve a 'triangle shape' for the nose, draw a straight line, in pencil, down the triangle, that will help keep things in balance. Next I angle each side of the bottom of the triangle up slightly, a very slight V shape to the bottom of the nose. This will give the nostrils a slight lift, you don't want your nose straight across the bottom.

Depending on whether the nose is a 'young nose' or and 'old nose' determines how the tip goes, young, angle the tip upwards, old, reverse so the tip 'droops' downward.

For the nostils outside edge, just use a gouge that is the size and shape you want the nostrils to be. Press straight down into the outside, bottom edge of the triangle on each side, this will give you a perfect curved shape for the outside edge.

Thin the nose till the size you want, be sure to have the pencil line the highest point, everything else flows back from there. For the nostril openings, pencil in the size and shape, that makes it easier to see if the nose is exactly how you want it. I like to use a......hmmmmm, guess it's a nail punch. It's a very sharp one, like the point of a thick needle, to make the openings, then I use my Micro carver with a small ball or point to open them up further. If you don't use power carving, use a small gouge or tip of a detail knife, that's what I used before I started using a Micro carver.

Hope I haven't made this too confusing. Let me know if I can be of any further help, good luck! Deborah

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[Irishman]

Deborah covered everything very well.
Just remember to keep the nose on the face...in otherwords, when your shaping the nostril with the gouge leave yourself the ability to keep setting the nostrils deeper if you need to until you start detailing the nose. Also maintain the wood on both sides of the bridge until near the end. As I carve out the eye socket, I slowly remove some of the wood on the side of the nose (upper portion) being careful not to thin out the nose too much.

To get the bottom part of the nostrils...another popular trait of Mark's carvings, use your gouge to make a stop cut downwards and use the gouge again at an angle to remove the wood.

One of the tips Mark G gives in his tutorial is to gouge out a line from the side of the nostril, in towards the nose, then stop at the inside of the eye. As you shape the cheeks and eye socket, you will probably regouge that line again but not too deep.

And don't forget the skin fold on the side of the nostrils (for male carvings mostly). Don't shave that down too much. The line that is gouged on either side of the nose is on the outside of that skin fold which ages the carving and sometimes gives it a grin look.

You don't have far to go Feb as your carvings have a pretty good nose from what I could see.

Patrick

[feb]

Thanks Patrick, I guess i just need practice practice practice Feb