Oops!

[MackTheKnife]

This is my latest (unsuccessful) effort at doing to C.J. Trygg eyes. To me, they look too small and too high. What I think I did is let the cheeks determine the size and placement of the eyes instead of carving down the cheeks enough to let me put the eyes where they belong. Please let me know what you think.

I don't have enough wood to redo the eyes in the same style, so I'm going to either go with the eyes on my other Santa ornament or do the eyes in the Mike Bloomquist tutorial.

Bob

[CarverFromNoWhere]

Bob are ya trying to get the smiling eyes? Looks like ya did a good job to me your being to hard on yourself.
Carl

[Kenny_S]

The eyes have it. Looks good to me Bob.

[tucker1931]

Hey Bob, just keep hackin away and they will get easier as you go, I've been at it a year now and am finally starting to get the odd set of eyes that suit me. Hang in there buddy.
Cliff

[gene-messer]

Bob ... You did a good job on the eyes .. but there not similar to Trygg's ..

Sorry to discourage you .. but I spent alot of time studying Tryggs way of carving and your eyes are very good ... but Trygg carved his eyes a certain way ..
Trygg used a simple .. but complex way of carving the eye and Harley Refsal is good at carving eyes that way ..

Basically the reason your eye looks different from Tryggs is because if you look at Tryggs .. it is almost a straight v cut with with no specific detail involved .. if you notice .. most all his characters are looking to the side and thats his trade mark ....

I read Trygg himself carved over several thousand figures just himself and he used the same wonderful concept each time ..

But we have to remember .. Trygg carved to make a living .. not just for fun ..

below are several pictures of Tryggs faces and look at them carefully .. his eyes are straight across .......

In the next post I will show you some figures I have tried related to Tryggs eyes

Gene

[gene-messer]

Here are the faces I carved using a similar method of Tryggs way of doing it ..

Iam still learning myself Bob .. so just take your time and study his look of the eyes ..

experiment and your have them before you know it .. believe it or not they look easy .. but there more difficult then you think .. I still havent mastered them to what I want yet ..

Gene

[MackTheKnife]

Thanks everyone for the good words.

Gene, you are right. I'm not even getting close to Trygg's eyes. That's the frustration. You are a lot closer than I am. The goal to which I would like to aspire is the eyes on the hobo that is pictured in Harley Refsal's "Art and Technique of Scandinavian Carving". To me it looks like he carved a slight elongated eye mound and then made a v-cut through the long axis. Only it ain't that simple!

Thanks for showing your examples. It gives me hope.

Bob

[tucker1931]

Gene, those carvings are remarkable, you are so dang close to Tryggs you can't tell the difference, to me, you are the modern day master of the art of flat plane, without question.
Cliff

[gene-messer]

Dont be discouraged ole friend ... the problem is .. it does look easy and its discouraging that you cant get it right alot of times ..

But dont give up .. your get it someaday when your least expecting it and then your say to yourself .. wow ! .. there it is ..

create your own style like Harley did and who knows .. maybe it will be better then all the rest ..

thats the problem with flat plane carving .... at first it looks so simple .. then you suddenly realize after trying it so many times .. it aint !

these guys like Trygg, Emil Janel , and Gunnerson were masters at it ..

Harley Refsal will tell you he has had the chance to study all over Europe this type of carving and he knows it like the back of his hand .. but it still took years for him to master it ..

I guess thats why it facinates me so much ..

You are doing great Bob .. keep it up ..

Gene

[Mike_B-NY]

I dunno Bob... they may not be C.J. Trygg eyes, but their darn good. Call them your own eyes and enjoy them. I appreciate the reference to my eye tutorial, but I wouldn't try to force what you have now into the chip carved eyes of my tutorial. They're fine the way they are.

Sorry for my slow two cents worth... hope it wasn't too late <G>.