Carving a bushy mustache

[Irishman]

I had received an email from one of our members on line asking if I could do a tutorial on hair. I assumed this means whiskers so I have a short tutorial on how I approach my woodspirit mustaches. Only tools needed is a parting (V) tool and a detail knife. I also use a small veiner now and again. Here are some threads with illustrations and a short description. Hope it helps the beginners as this is by no means a tutorial for those seasoned carvers. Hope it helps.
Patrick

See next thread.

[Irishman]

Thread 1

First get the mustache (ms) roughed out. Then mark in your lines where you will be making deep cuts with the parting tool. I usually take one section at a time...trying to keep the hairs irregular, and rolling into the deep cut.

[Irishman]

Thread 2

Continue doing each section keeping the hairs slightly angled in towards the nose. This ms is turned up in the corners so I needed to part the hairs in the same direction. Once the sections are complete, use the veiner or detail tool to get into the tight spots. Once complete, use the detail knive to make deeper cuts into various section of the hair to give depth.

[Irishman]

Thread 3

One tip my instructor gave me is to point the parting tool at a steep angle when making the curve around the ms. This gives more depth to the ms. It's probably where I remove the most wood on the mustache when parting the hair. Here is a pic to show what I mean.

[Irishman]

Thread 4

Here is the finished carving. He stands about a foot high and is made of ash. I have two coats of stain on him and will add more layers to darken the beard, mustashe and hair. Hope this short tutorial gives beginners some tips of one way of approaching doing a mustache.
Patrick

[Ashbys]

Well Done Pat.

Garry

[Lynn O. Doughty]

Excellent demonstration.

[Kenny_S]

Nicely done.

I use a method similar to your on the mustach where as I make triangle cut where the mustach meets the mouth and rest of face around the mouth. This is completed in the deep part of the mustache and gives a seperation of Tash and mouth/face.

[Tom-H]

Patrick, That's just what I needed, and I suspect others too. Thanks, Tom H

[Hugh]

Great instruction, your methods are so straight forward, and easy to follow. I'm trying to learn to carve faces, and the instruction sure helps. Thanks