[doris]

hello,, here is lady, maybe some of you recall having seen her as wip. i hope you like how i finished her ... she is almost 18cm high, carved from linden, made a very thin color in pale orange to give wood a warmer shade, oiled with tung oil, and then waxed with brown bri-wax.

i have made her some eyebrows, not sure how well you can see those on foto. i not wanted bushy ones, and these are very thin... i was disappointed the eyebrows almost vanished when i put color on. even though color was almost just only water. i put eyebrows by using a very fine file, and just draw like with pencil. i think it was more pressing in the mark than cutting. it looked perfect before finish, now not so well ... does anyone have suggestion how to make soft thin eyebrows ? when i carve the hairs it always looks too pronounced... i looked carvings of old masters, how they do, and i see bushy ones, or colored. Michelangelo seems either carved bushy ones, or made a small ridge without the hairs of eybrow carved. it looks great on marble, i tried to do this here too, but looks not too convincing, i am afraid... if someone knows good reference where i can look to see how to do it, would be great, for next carving ...

for ron. i carved eyes first on separate piece of wood, several times to learn how to make the cuts. she has her eyes almost closed. i want try to describe lady for you. the carving is a bust, but not allround, but only the front of head til the ears, and down til where her neck ends, and an indication of how shoulders would start. she wears her hair tied back, so her ears are visible, with the end of her hair braided and curled around in a circle on top of her head. also she has a ribbon in her hair to fix the hairdo, and for decoration. she is to put on wall.

[Joy]

Very clean, elegant carving, Doris. The lack of eyebrows doesn't detract from the carving. Perhaps the Ian Norbury book on carving the female face would help with the eyebrows. I haven't seen it so I'm not sure what he does.

[Lynn O. Doughty]

That really looks great. Your details are soft and subtle so I'd be real careful about adding too much to one area. I'd just use a small gouge to indicate the flow of the eyebrow with out any clearly defined lines.

[Blinky Bill]

Doris,
First let me say....that's a wonderful carving! and thank you for sharing. Secondly, I don't feel qualified to comment here, but for what it's worth, I think that because as you say

"i put eyebrows by using a very fine file, and just draw like with pencil. i think it was more pressing in the mark than cutting. it looked perfect before finish"

I believe that the moisture of the finish has swollen the wood back to its original state.......and perhaps an idea that I read about in a forgotten carving book might be of use in the future...the author suggested that taking a portion of a hacksaw blade and grinding the wavy sections down flat so that edge on, the blade is straight. This is then dragged firmly across the wood like combing hair and leaving many fine grooves in the wood..the author claimed to use this method to give the look of hair/fur to small carved animals. I thank you again for sharing your work with us..
John

[doris]

hi thank you all for looking and commenting. very appreciated :-) ... yes, john, now you say it, i can understand what happened, the water in the paint made swollen the wood back... i want experiment with the method you describe, but as lynn pointed out, subtlelity is the key. maybe is even better, the eyebrows disappeared, dont know. i liked them though when they were just visible before the finish...

[gene messer]

A really nice piece Doris ... Good facial features ...

[Alice in Wonderland]

Thanks for sharing Doris, I would not touch it again either it looks perfect (in my eyes) I knew a Farmers wife in Neuwarp Pommern who looked exactly like your "Lady" She lookes earthy.
Alice

[wood-whittler]

doris,


good facial features and great work.

bart

[doris]

hi thanks everybody !! alice, i am very pleased you note the rural element in my carving :-) yes, earthy is good. i was afraid a little it was lost... somehow, i find it very difficult to keep things once i got them, when i work further to refine the carving... yes, thanks again, and i not will touch her,,,.. i think, if i would, she now would only loose... maybe i try idea i had with her on a new carving once more, to get it clearer...

[Doug Ridley]

Doris, I think you have done an outstanding on this carving.Now-- I am probably the odd man out here and I realize many carvers don't like sanded carvings (and also don't like to sand) but to me a female face of a young woman should be smooth. I would sand the face only.-- My $.02 worth- now everybody can unload on me. (cringe)
Doug