Carving a Scandinavian-Style Troll Queen

The Troll Queen is easy to carve and paint

Classic flat-plane design is a great beginner caricature

In the Spring 2011 issue of Woodcarving Illustrated, Harley Refsal shares step-by-step instructions for carving and painting a Scandinavian-style Troll Queen.

The Troll Queen is the perfect mate to the Troll Harley carved for a previous issue (Summer 2004).

An expert in Scandinavian culture, Harley teaches the techniques of Scandinavian-style flat-plane carving across the United States and in Norway.

In this minimalist folk-art style, large, flat areas called "planes" are left intact on a finished carving. As in other styles of whittling, carvers frequently use just one knife for their work.

Recently retired from Luther College, Harley is also the author of Whittling Little Folk (available April 2011) and The Art and Technique of Scandinavian-Style Woodcarving, both available from Fox Chapel.

When Harley came to the office and demonstrated the process of carving the Troll Queen, we took more photos than we could fit in the magazine. Scroll down to see steps from the carving process from a different angle or photos that we took between the steps.

For complete instructions on how to carve the Troll Queen, see Woodcarving Illustrated Spring 2011 (Issue 54). 

Separate the feet from the hem of the dress

Use the drill bit to decide the angle to drill the hole through the hand for the scepter.

Separate the cuffs of the sleeves from the hands.

Clean up the inside of the hands and separate the hands from the chest.

Separate the forehead from the kerchief.

Carve the hair that sticks out from under the kerchief and add a part to the hair.

Mix one part yellow acrylic paint with 10 parts water and apply the wash to the top of the scepter.

Mix 1 part brown acrylic paint with 10 parts water and mix this wash with yellow wash to paint the shoes.

Mix 1 part brown paint with 10 parts water and apply the wash to the scepter's shaft.

While the wash of flesh-colored paint is still wet, apply thinned red paint to the knuckles to warm up the hands.

Use the back end of a paintbrush or a small drill bit to add dots of paint in the shape of a pentagon to represent the outer petals of the flowers on the dress.

Use the same paintbrush or drill bit to add a dot of yellow paint to represent the center of the flower print on the dress.

Slide the scepter down through the hole in the hand to complete the Troll Queen.

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