[Irishman]

This four and half foot piece of birch will hopefully resemble a wizard at some point. The hat is giving me some trouble so I posted a profile of my carving on the computer and did some cropping to see how I could get his hat to look more wizardy. You can see the before and after profile in the pictures - I have a lot more wood to take from the hat. Any other suggestions are welcome. It's too bad the camera can't pick up the hair weaving in his beard as that took me some time with my parting tool. I'll try and post the finished product when I can.
Patrick

[Tom H]

Patrick, Looks like a wizard to me. Well done! Do you achieve that smooth finish, at this stage, with a knife, chisel, or sanding? Tom H

[squbrigg]

Patrick.... I was looking at your carving before I read the message and was saying to myself...."Patrick,.... you need to change that hat some!"

May I suggest, the folds seem too regular, too even, and the sides should be pulled down more. When looking at the hat full face forward, the left side and right sides should come down sharper towards the ears, and more irregular. Perhaps taking a look at someone wearing a big touque would help, or google up a wizard might find you something to model on. The top of the hat needs to be smaller too, the hat stretched out would be like a pyramid or witches hat, right? Just think of a deflated witches hat!

Your wizards face, as always, is perfect!!!! Geez, I wish I could do eyes like that! But you have to work on that hat some.

Bob

[Irishman]

Tom - the finish is done with various gouges...I rarely sand my carvings. I keep everything "raw" as I put it...with a little oil to bring out the features.

Bob - yes the hat is pretty pathetic hehehe. Showed my daughter...my best critic...and she said, "why is there a bee hive on his head"
Well, I took out my carving disc and grinder to move the process along a little quicker and here are the results. An improvement but a ways to go yet. Thanks for the constructive feedback Bob. Its always easy to praise but we can only improve with some helpful tips now and again.
One picture came out not too bad of the beard I painstakingly parted.
Patrick

[Mark N. Akers]

Great job on the wizard Patrick.