[Toffeeliz]

For my second carving I'd gotten a block of cedar and started to do a squirrel from a tutorial in Woodcarving 101.....I'd known it was going to be a challenger as soon as I stood in my newly set-up lkittle workshed, and so began a warm-up piece as such - the legless frog.

It's in Brazillian Mahogony (free from college!) and the front is a pain in the beep to carve into. I chipped my chisel on getting the inside under his head out, and it's still not deep enough. I'm wondering still whether to do the front of the legs or not - i think they make a nice base. It;s just i can;t fit them on the sides.

I ocerestimated the width of the back pieces, and the same happened on the head. I think he'll look very odd and quite asymmetrical when finished, but its been nice to do the detailing on the head and eye. I've onl;y worked loosely with the Chinese frog ornament, and I think this wasn;t well planned out enough, but I;m trying to make my best out of it - the bottom just splits to death too - it'll have a flat base :| crits and comments much appreciated!

[sharon cottrell]

Pretty cool so far! Bet the mahogony is nice. I love to carve hard woods, I can get better detail with it.(usually).Makes you get muscles! So what if the frog doesn't have legs.It'll be you own interpretation. Radiation?LOL

[A Willburger]

Hi Toffeeliz,
good second carving. A good rule to follow is to rough out the entire carving before making deep cuts; in eyes especially. If you feel later on if you need the head smaller you will have trouble. Use a pencil to draw eyes and mouth. You should make the cuts for the eyes much later on. The same rule if your carving a human face if you cut out the eyeball and lids early and you find one eye is a deeper that the other or if one eye is a little further form the nose than the other your in trouble. But if you wait till the carving is almost complete to make those cuts then you have less chance of making a mistake.

Andy

[Ron T]

Hello Toffeeliz,

I think you're doing a great job. We all go through the same difficulties. I have trouble "seeing" the figure I'm carving in the wood and sometimes stare at the wood and just keep it sitting in front of me for weeks while I wait for inspiration. Your way is much better. The more you carve the more, and the faster, you learn.

Keep up the good work.

[Treever]

I think you have plenty of room to work the rear legs in. I see them tight to the body and defined by the crease that would outline the thigh/kee/shin from the body. As for the fronts...the feet would be thin, so you could have room to work it down and thus more room for that chin area.

Like Sharon said, it's your interpretation...make it yours and we will believe it!

[Toffeeliz]

Originally Posted by sharon cottrell

Pretty cool so far! Bet the mahogony is nice. I love to carve hard woods, I can get better detail with it.(usually).Makes you get muscles! So what if the frog doesn't have legs.It'll be you own interpretation. Radiation?LOL

LOL! Yeah., detail has been fantastic with this wood, I can get a nice line on it and I'm thinking of making thin stripes and such on the back in lieu of those nobbly bits - I haven't got a punch stamp or whatever it is to the hot water netsuke thing lol.
I think it's a little too hard at times though; I've chipped a wee bit off of two of my favourite chisels =_=

Originally Posted by A Willburger

Hi Toffeeliz,
good second carving. A good rule to follow is to rough out the entire carving before making deep cuts; in eyes especially. If you feel later on if you need the head smaller you will have trouble. Use a pencil to draw eyes and mouth. You should make the cuts for the eyes much later on. The same rule if your carving a human face if you cut out the eyeball and lids early and you find one eye is a deeper that the other or if one eye is a little further form the nose than the other your in trouble. But if you wait till the carving is almost complete to make those cuts then you have less chance of making a mistake.

Andy

ahhh good advice! i think i was a little overeager in this one to get into the eyes - I used the tops part of his head to measure where the back lines were i think. And then one eye went and chipped! at least it's good practice!

Originally Posted by Ron T

Hello Toffeeliz,

I think you're doing a great job. We all go through the same difficulties. I have trouble "seeing" the figure I'm carving in the wood and sometimes stare at the wood and just keep it sitting in front of me for weeks while I wait for inspiration. Your way is much better. The more you carve the more, and the faster, you learn.

Keep up the good work.

No piece of wood is safe from me. If iot's sat in front of me, chances are I'll have found a sharpish implement in 5 minutes and have started making it;s sides thinner and randomly cutting it lol. The desks at college are ripped to shreds from my craft knife and they aren't even wood
As for seeing the figure, haveing the reference model was hekpful, but it still means translating it into the wood. Now stop staring at the wood and get to work!

Originally Posted by Treever

I think you have plenty of room to work the rear legs in. I see them tight to the body and defined by the crease that would outline the thigh/kee/shin from the body. As for the fronts...the feet would be thin, so you could have room to work it down and thus more room for that chin area.

Like Sharon said, it's your interpretation...make it yours and we will believe it!

I guess I could make the back end a lot thinner and do as you have just said, it would emphasive the width of the frog/toad in middle as well! it's just gonna be really tricky heheh...

[doris]

wow, that is an interesting project :-) and you are off with a good start. yes, as andy said, try work on general forms as long until you really feel all is there where it should be. detail falls into place then easily. and is it not most fun to have all the fun part in the end :-) ... as for the chipping the chisels, i have carved once a very hard piece oak, and first chipped my chisels too, but then i just made smaller cuts, and never chipped again. i think it is, since with smaller cuts you not tend to force the chisel further than it can cut...keep going, i look forward to when you have finished this one...o, btw, what is "woodcarving 101" ?

[Toffeeliz]

issue 101 of woodcarving lol

you;d never expect metal to be so delicate either haha

[doris]

lol---i thought its a secret number ... thanks :-)