Relief Carving Wood Spirit Grape Man WIP

[Colin-Partridge]

Susan your the best I dont know of anyone who is more helpful than you. Not only helpful but you are so good at what you do. Thankyou for all the help I know I have learned oodles from you.
ColinThumbs Up

[Greyhair]

thanks for the fabulous tutorial. All I have ever done is carving in the round so this was all fresh territory to me. It was done masterfully and I will save this in my personal web folder for a reference source.

[Irish]

Hey Colin! Glad your home and back to posting on the board ... Hi Greyhair!!!!

[Irish]

Step 94: I have marked a line from the edge of the eye brow out into the leaf area. I want the eye brow to become part of the leaf so I will use that brow line and make it into a leaf vein. I have also marked the stem where it comes into the nose as I want these two areas to become one piece or element.

Step 95: I am starting the nose shaping by tapering the sides with my bench knife. I
am working from the wide part of the nose towards the bridge to stay with my grain.

(We really haven't done 95 steps at this time ... I just had 95 thingies to tell you to
this point My beloved Michael has always said that I need 450 words just to say Good Morning ...)

Step 96: The bench knife or chip knife can be used to free that chisel chip. Only cut
as deep as you need to release the chip.

Susan

[Irish]

Step 97: I love to use my chip knife to shave an area smooth. I drop the side of the knife as low as possible onto the wood then I can just glide it across the high ridges. I'm rounding over the nose area now.

Step 98: I am tapering the the bottom corner of the nostrils so that they flow into the mustache below.

Step 99: I also need to round over the bottom edge of the nose. Notice that I have my bull nose chisel up side down ... Right side up this chisel just eats wood but when I turn it up side down it shaves extremely thin slivers.

Susan

[Irish]

Step 100: The large round gouge is perfect for making nice even nostril holes. I am
using it just as we did to cut the pupils in the eyes. Set the tool at an angle that
goes into the nose area then gently roll it back and forth until you have a nice cut
impression.

Step 101: I can use my chip knife now to free that round gouge impression. A small
straight chisel will also do this step.

Step 102: My small riffler is great to teasing out those last few fibers left inside
the nose and for dressing out where the bottom of the hole flows into the mustache.

Susan

[Irish]

Step 103: My v-gouge is finally on the table and I am using it to smooth the joint
between the nose and the cheek. I am not making a deep v cut but instead gliding the
v-gouge along the joint just enough to clean both sides of the area.

Step 104: I am freeing the v-gouge chip with my chisel. Now ... I can't think why I
use the bench knife at times but the chisel at other times. It so much depends on the
shape of the area and, I think, which of the two tools is closest to my hand.

Step 105: This step could come anywhere in your carving. Occassional (you mean a lot!) I will make a stop cut deeper than the final dressing level. This means I have a fine cut line that shows after I have shaped the areas and the joint. I use either my small riffle or the back (blunt) edge of my chip knife to heal the cut. Drop the blunt knife edge onto the stop cut ... CAREFUL! Because your tool's cutting edge is facing you ... push into the cut and pull through the length of the cut. This presses the stop cut closed. Pressed wood forms have been used for years a stamped cut out decoration. That pressed area will stay together for a long time.

Susan

[Irish]

Step 106: If you put the top of the palm of your hand on your upper lip and your finger
tips over the pupils of your eyes ... the angle that your open fingers make is the exact same angle of the nostrils where they roll away from the nose. So, I am marking my nostril angle.

Step 107: I have v-gouged the nostril angle, notice that it starts about 1/2 of the way into the nostril and ends at the upper cheek.

Step 108: Because I will be working the eye area next I am taking a few moments to smooth out the cheek area below the eyes.

Susan

[Irish]

Step 109: As you do the smoothing steps watch the direction of your grain. Change or move the position of the carving often so that you get a clean approach to your strokes.

Step 110: As I am smoothing the lower cheeks that area takes me to the eye corner. I am using my chisel to make a crisp but very shallow stop cut there. That's the joint line between the cheek and the upper eye lid.

Step 111: I am taking a moment to check the cheek wrinkles that I added early in the
carving. The wrinkles don't match on either side of the nose. Now, that's ok as the face does not wrinkle evenly or in a pattern ... but I am going to make an adjustment...

Step 112: I have added a line on each side. One on the top for his left side and one on the bottom for his right side ... this gives me the balance or mirror look that I
want.

Susan

[Irish]

Step 113: I am adding the new wrinkle lines with the v-gouge and have also recut the old ones while I have this tool in my hands.

OK ... time for a chocolate break and to let Mike into the computer for a while I'll post more later today.

Susan