My First Woodspirit

[shazrod]

Hi everybody,

I have just joined the forum, and am completely new to woodcarving, i have been making a few walking sticks but only started that about 3 months ago. I recently decided to try carving a woodspirit on a stick, and i am reasonably happy with the result being as i have never tried any carving before.

I have (hopefully ) attached some pictures for you to have a look at, just click on the following link.

shazrod - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

I have really enjoyed the carving even though i have not got much in the way of carving tools, and i want to try some more.

I hope you like the pictures.

Rod

[Paul_Guraedy]

Rod, you may have been carving for only 3 months; but, you must have invested a lot of time in it. I have just returned from your photos and the woodspirit is excellent.

I am curious about your statement of not having much in the way of carving tools. What did you carve this with?

Welcome to the Forum, you have a bright future in woodcarving.

[shazrod]

Thanks Paul,

Just had a look at your carvings, their fantastic, i wish i was as talented as you.

I carved my woodspirit with some craft knives but i did buy a very cheap set of small carving chisels for £2.50 to finish it off.

Thanks for your comments and i look forward to being a member of the forum.

Rod

[CarverFromNoWhere]

You did an excelent job for only 3 months, Keep it up Rod and you should look at some quaility tools you will be much happier and thinking if you can do this with cheap tools .
Carl

Oh yeah welcome to the WCI Board if you have any questions just ask around.

[MelNM]

You did great Shazrod, I really like your wood spirit.
Mel

[xsailer]

I think you did a great job. It would seem you have some background experience. Looks good.

[Mark Gargac]

WOW! nice woodspirit carving. I wish my first one would have looked that good. For only carving for 3-months and not having alot of tools you did an excellent job here. Keep up the great work and keep posting these fabulous woodspirit carvings.

[catbird]

My goodness, that's a nice stick, Rod! No pun intended.
What kind of wood is it? What kind of finish did you put on it? We like to have all of the details...Welcome to the board. Good Job!
TFS

[shazrod]

Wow thanks everyone for your positive comments.

I would just like to say that i havent actually been carving for three months, i was making walking sticks for three months prior to trying carving, the wood spirit is my first carving and it took me about 6-8 hours on and off.

I really dont know what the wood is but it may be lime, i finished it with a dark oak stain and three coats of yacht varnish.

I have been looking at some of your carvings and i love them, i am really interested in the woodspirits and whimsical houses, i also would like to carve realistic faces.

It seems that woodspirits are more of an American thing, there doesnt seem to be so many in the UK, so i would love to be able to do some more and maybe sell some. I guess i am trying to run before i can crawl, well we are all allowed our dreams.

Rod

[Clifford_Parker]

Rod,

Welcome to the board. That is a very nice woodspirit for a "first try".

While woodspirits do seem to be an "American thing", they are actually an adaptation of the woodwose and greenman legends widely found in western Europe and the U.K. Their pre-christian origins seem to be Gaulish or Anglo-Saxon while the greenman's origins seem to be Celtic.

Woodwose - Monstropedia - the largest encyclopedia about monsters

Green Man - Monstropedia - the largest encyclopedia about monsters

Green Man - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia