In this week’s video, longtime contributor and CCA member Bob Hershey demonstrates how to carve natural-looking rocks. Be sure to also watch Betty Padden’s video on how to paint realistic stone texture so you can take your carves to the next level!

Also, be sure to check out these fantastic new Fox Chapel books:

Carving & Painting Adorable Animals in Wood by Desiree HajnyWith helpful tips and notes throughout to capture a realistic yet playful essence of 12 animals, this advanced pattern book is perfect for woodcarvers looking to challenge their skills.

Carving Creative Walking Sticks and Canes by Paul PurnellThis book features 13 step-by-step projects for both intermediate and advanced woodcarvers, progressing from simple sticks to a couple of highly detailed and decorative cane heads.

About the Author

Bob Hershey is a retired truck driver who began carving in 1982. He is a member of the Conewago Carvers and Lancaster County Woodcarvers clubs. He enters the local club shows; Artistry in Wood in Dayton, Ohio; and the Caricature Carvers of America competitions. Bob carves a great variety of subjects, and teaches classes in animal caricatures and themed bark houses. He lives in Lititz, Pa., with his wife, Debby.

The post Woodcarving Wednesdays: How to Carve Rocks appeared first on Woodcarving Illustrated.

In this week’s video, regular WCI contributor James Miller demonstrates how to carve and paint a simple, flat-plane gnome in one short sitting.

Interested in more? Check out Carving Flat-Plane Style Caricatures by Harley Refsal. Learn how to carve and paint charming caricatures in the traditional flat-plane style, with step-by-step instructions and 50 patterns.

Also, stay tuned for James Miller’s upcoming book, Carving Animals in the Flat-Plane Style—containing 16 step-by-step projects, from bears to squirrels to reindeer, as well as expert tips and detailed painting guides. Coming this fall and available for preorder now!

About the Author

James Miller started carving at the age of 11 under the tutelage of a supportive community education carving group. He has since become deeply immersed in the world of Scandinavian folk art. A software developer by trade, James enjoys the creative challenge of simplifying and abstracting forms in unique ways. For more of his work, visit Facebook.com/jrm.woodcarving.

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Paint to a carve is like icing to a cake. It can enhance a piece and add depth and dimension that otherwise may not have been achievable. In this week’s video, Betty Padden demonstrates how to paint a pumpkin. Even if Halloween isn’t constantly on your mind (like it is for us), we encourage you to use her professional blending, highlighting, and shading techniques described in this video on any future carve.

Interested in more from Betty? Be sure to check out her workbook, Lettering & Sign Carving. The book offers a contemporary look at a nostalgic craft with updated techniques and a fresh variety of styles for carving and painting a variety of signs for the home, summer cottage or basement bar.

About the Author

Betty Padden and her husband, Bob, own Wooden Apple Signmakers in Auburn, Mass. They have been professional sign carvers for 35 years and have been teaching their craft to students for more than 30 years. They are the creators of SantaCarls®, a unique figure that has been sold at Disney parks and Busch Gardens. Betty also designs and paints for Ne’Qwa Art and Blossom Bucket, among other companies. Visit bettypadden.com for cut outs, patterns, and designs, and help for woodcarvers struggling with projects. See more of Betty’s work at woodenapplesignmakers.com.

Get the Summer 2020 issue: [button link=”https://www.foxchapelpublishing.com/woodcarving-illustrated-issue-91-summer-2020.html” bg_color=”#ff0000″]Purchase the Issue[/button] For more articles like this, subscribe to Woodcarving Illustrated magazine. [button link=”https://www.foxchapelpublishing.com/wood-carving-illustrated-subscription.html” bg_color=”#ff0000″]Magazine Subscription[/button] Plus! Get digital mini magazines in your e-mail between printed issues. [button link=”https://woodcarving.zeeframes.com/enews/” bg_color=”#ff0000″]Subscribe to Strop Talk[/button]

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Looking to perfect your realistic carvings? Alex LaCasse makes the daunting look easy in this week’s video. Follow along as he demonstrates how to add hair texture to a friendly woodspirit in cottonwood bark. Happy carving!

Be sure to also check out Harold Enlow’s Carving Faces Workbook. This wonderful read includes clear, easy-to-follow instructions and detailed patterns for carving a variety of faces that are full of life and expression. Each project is done in small steps that guarantee success. For anyone looking to carve faces that stand out in a crowd, this is a must-have addition to your woodcarving library.

About the Author

Alec LaCasse is 24 years old and lives beside Cranberry Lake in Oakland Township, Mich. He has been carving since age 12 and teaching about carving the human face since age 16. For more information about Alec’s work, classes, or to request a private Skype lesson, see aleclacasse.com. 

Also, be sure to check out Alec’s new online carving school HERE!

Get the Spring 2020 issue: [button link=”https://foxchapelpublishing.com/woodcarving-illustrated-issue-90-spring-2020.html” bg_color=”#ff0000″]Purchase the Issue[/button] For more articles like this, subscribe to Woodcarving Illustrated magazine. [button link=”https://www.foxchapelpublishing.com/wood-carving-illustrated-subscription.html” bg_color=”#ff0000″]Magazine Subscription[/button] Plus! Get digital mini magazines in your e-mail between printed issues. [button link=”https://woodcarving.zeeframes.com/enews/” bg_color=”#ff0000″]Subscribe to Strop Talk[/button]

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This week, Betty Padden demonstrates how to create realistic stone texture. Betty has taught carving and painting tips to students for more than three decades. Her most recent work—the Mythical Woodland Cottage—was featured in WCI Spring 2020 (Issue 90), and the upcoming Summer 2020 (Issue 91). Be sure to subscribe to Woodcarving Illustrated to learn how to carve and paint your own ethereal escape.   Now, sit back, relax, and enjoy this week’s video!

For more of Betty Padden’s paint guides and blending techniques, be sure to check out her recent book Carving and Painting Noah’s Ark: Easy-Build Ark Plans Plus Step-by-Step Instructions and Patterns for Classic Animals. This comprehensive guide shows you how to create your own big in-the-round Noah’s Ark to use as either a delightful children’s toy or a functional art collectible. Betty also reveals her layered techniques for transforming a major project into simpler, doable carvings, while adding a touch of whimsy along the way.

About the Author

Betty Padden and her husband, Bob, own Wooden Apple Signmakers in Auburn, Mass. They have been professional sign carvers for 35 years and have been teaching their craft to students for more than 30 years. They are the creators of SantaCarls®, a unique figure that has been sold at Disney parks and Busch Gardens. Betty also designs and paints for Ne’Qwa Art and Blossom Bucket, among other companies. Visit bettypadden.com for cut outs, patterns, and designs, and help for woodcarvers struggling with projects. See more of Betty’s work at woodenapplesignmakers.com.

Get the Spring 2020 issue: [button link=”https://foxchapelpublishing.com/woodcarving-illustrated-issue-90-spring-2020.html” bg_color=”#ff0000″]Purchase the Issue[/button] For more articles like this, subscribe to Woodcarving Illustrated magazine. [button link=”https://foxchapelpublishing.com/magazines.html” bg_color=”#ff0000″]Magazine Subscription[/button] Plus! Get digital mini magazines in your e-mail between printed issues. [button link=”https://woodcarving.zeeframes.com/enews/” bg_color=”#ff0000″]Subscribe to Strop Talk[/button]

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By Harold Enlow

Photography by Scott Kreiner

Eyes add expression and character to a carving. Many folks struggle with carving eyes, so they paint the eyes on their carvings. But this often requires the entire carving to be painted. Because I use a natural finish on many of my carvings, I prefer to carve the eyes.

While the shape of the eye may change depending on the emotion you are portraying, the general technique is the same. I use the same four V-tool cuts to shape every eye. The same cuts are made in the same order regardless of whether I’m carving a happy or angry eye. The shape or placement of the cuts is what determines the expression.

Step 1: Round the corner of the blank using a carving knife. Faces and eyes are not flat, so it’s best to start with a rounded blank.	Step 2:  Make a semi-circular stop cut with a carving knife to outline the brow line. Cut deeper at the rounded corner and shallower as you approach the sides. Carve up to the stop cut to create the eye socket. Repeat the process until you have a fairly deep eye socket.
Step 3: Rough in the eyeball. Remove a triangular chip of wood from the inside and outside corners of the eye with a carving knife. This helps you begin to round the eyeball.	Step 4: Carve the upper eyelid. Make the first V-tool cut along the inside crease of the top eyelid. Use a sharp 1/8″ (3mm) V-tool. This separates the upper eyelid from the eye socket and the brow line.
Step 5: Carve the lower eyelid. Use a sharp 1/8″ (3mm) V-tool to make the second V-tool cut along the inside crease of the bottom eyelid. This separates the lower eyelid from the bottom of the eye socket and the top of the cheek.	Step 6: Refine the upper eyelid. Make the third V-tool cut along the bottom edge of the top eyelid. Position the wing of the V-tool perpendicular to the eyeball. This separates the upper eyelid from the eyeball.
Step 7: Refine the lower eyelid. Use the same V-tool to carve along the top edge of the lower eyelid, making the fourth V-tool cut. Position the wing of the V-tool perpendicular to the eyeball. This separates the lower eyelid from the eyeball.	Step 8: Finish the eyelids. Use a detail knife to make a stop cut along the bottom of the upper eyelid, separating it from the eyeball. Then, use the same knife to thin the lower eyelid slightly so the upper eyelid overlaps the lower eyelid at the outside corner.
Step 9: Round the eyeball. Make a stop cut along the top of the bottom eyelid with a detail knife. Use the same knife to cut up to the stop cut along the upper eyelid and down to the stop cut along the lower eyelid, rounding the eyeball into these stop cuts.	Step 10: Decide how to finish the eye. Make sure the upper eyelid sticks out more than the lower eyelid. If you plan to paint the eye, you are done carving. If you plan to apply a natural finish, carve the iris and pupil.
Step 11: Carve the iris. Use a 1/16″ (2mm) #6 gouge to make a stop cut around the iris. The eyelids hide a portion of the iris unless you are creating a surprised or scared expression. Recess the iris area slightly with the same tool to create a little shadow. Clean up the iris with a detail knife and micro gouge.	Step 13: Carve the pupil. Stab in the pupil with a micro veiner. The whole pupil shows under the upper eyelid. Carve out the pupil using a micro veiner and clean up the pupil with a detail knife. The goal is to create a deep shadow.

CLICK HERE to download a pattern drawing of the eye.

Materials & Tools

MATERIALS:

• Basswood blank

TOOLS:

• Detail knife

• 1/8″ (3mm) V-tool

• 1/16″ (2mm) #6 gouge

• Micro veiner

For more great information on carving facial features, see Carving Faces Workbook by Harold Enlow. Pull up a seat next to Harold’s carving bench as he teaches you how to carve faces with life and expression while sharing decades of carving tips and techniques.

Available for $19.95 plus S&H from Fox Chapel Publishing, www.FoxChapelPublishing.com.

The post Carving an Eye appeared first on Woodcarving Illustrated.

By Lora S. Irish

Overwhelmed by the paint aisle? Not sure of the difference between yellow-orange and orange-yellow? Completely confused when people talk about primary and secondary colors? This project will answer those questions by helping you create a beautiful, lasting reference you’ll be proud to hang in your workshop or home. Best of all, you only need three colors—red, blue, and yellow—plus some black and white to mix all of the colors you need.

Check below for the list of supplies, and then scroll down to download the PDFs. You need all five PDFs; one long document was broken into pieces for easy downloading. The pattern is in PDF #5.

Materials & Tools

General Supplies
Wax-coated paper plates or styrofoam plates
Palette knife
Water: 2 bowls
Paper towels
Paintbrushes: flat shaders, assorted sizes #4 – #10
Frisket film: 12″ (30.5cm) square (Self-adhering, removable plastic film used for masks and stencils. Click here for more info.)
Birch plywood: 12″ x 18″ (30.5cm x 45.7cm)
Sandpaper: 220 grit
Brown kraft paper: 6″ (15cm) or 8″ (20cm) square
Graphite tracing paper
#2 pencil
Painter’s tape or masking tape
Craft knife, bench knife, or chip-carving knife

Craft Paint
(Any brand is fine. See below for an explanation of paint colors)
Cadmium red
Cadmium yellow
Ultramarine blue
White
Black
Gel pens: assorted

Paint Colors: Professional Names vs. Craft/Hobby Names

The list of color names in the supply list are the traditional artist-quality, professional color names. Most paint manufacturers use the chemical-based name for their artist color lines, whether those colors are acrylics, watercolors, or oils. So the manufacturer will name their pure hue red Cadmium Medium Red for each different line of paint.

Craft paints, made for the hobby market, have their own specific names for their hues, tones, and color shades depending on the manufacturer. One company may call the pure hue red color Fire Engine Red, while another names the same color Apple Red, and a third might name theirs Candy Cane Red. When you purchase your craft colors, please refer to the manufacturer’s color chart, which shows all of the colors in that line of paint. Chose the purest hues possible, regardless of the name of any particular paint color.

I worked my project using the Apple Barrel craft paint line manufactured by Plaid. These colors are inexpensive and readily available. My local WalMart carries several lines of Plaid craft paints.

From left to right:
20501E Bright Red = Cadmium red
21961E Outrageous Orange = Cadmium orange
20513E Bright Yellow = Cadmium yellow
20361E Bright Green = Chromium oxide green
20596E Cobalt Blue = Ultramarine blue
20595E Concord Grape = Dioxide purple
20503E White
21885E Jet Black

Note: I use orange, green, and purple (the three secondary colors) often enough that I include premixed bottles in my regular paint kit. You don’t need them for this project, however; we will create them by mixing red, yellow, and blue (the primary colors).

CLICK HERE to download Part 1 of the  Color Wheel Project PDF.

CLICK HERE to download Part 2 of the  Color Wheel Project PDF.

CLICK HERE to download Part 3 of the  Color Wheel Project PDF.

CLICK HERE to download Part 4 of the  Color Wheel Project PDF.

CLICK HERE to download Part 5 of the Color Wheel Project PDF.

Lora S. Irish is a professionally trained artist who specializes in projects using natural materials, including wood, leather, gourds, and fabric. Using those materials as inspiration, springboard, and surface, she carves, paints, woodburns, embroiders, scrapbooks, and makes jewelry and, more recently, soap. Lora has written 28 books on crafting and offers free tutorials, patterns, and projects on her blog, LSIrish.com. Her patterns are available for sale at ArtDesignsStudio.com.

Want more from Lora S. Irish? CLICK HERE to see her books and magazine articles available from Fox Chapel Publishing.

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by Chris Pye

This article was first published in issue 43 of Woodcarving Illustrated.

This design gives you the opportunity to practice low-relief carving. The technique is the same whether you are carving kanji characters, traditional letters, or pictorial designs. These kanji characters look interesting, and the shapes teach you how to set-in and ground a low-relief carving.

In “low relief” the depth is shallow and the carving feels quite light. The depth between the top of the letters and the background is 1/8″ to 3⁄16“. In traditional carving, the background is often simply called the “ground,” and establishing it is called “grounding” or “grounding out.”

Grounds can be “open” (approached easily from the side) or “closed” (areas surrounded by wood that are trickier to get at). Carvers need to be able to deal competently with both instances.

Design

I want to emphasise that the technique demonstrated is entirely independent of the subject. I chose this design to provide practice in important and fundamental carving techniques, but the design could be anything that works in relief as a silhouette—any letter, of any style (from Hebrew to Arabic); single (monograms) or grouped (a house sign, blocks of text); and even flowers, fish, or geometric patterns. Feel free to work with an alternate design; the method of carving will be the same.

This design is an example of “kanji:” a form of Japanese writing or script. I chose two kanji characters that make one word: “Mu-Shin,” and because Japanese is read from top to bottom, I’ve put them one above the other.

“Mu-shin” is a wonderful concept that arises out of Zen, for which there is no exact equivalent in English. It can be translated as “empty-mind” or “no-mind,” meaning a mind that is empty, but has infinite capacity and potential. The concept is readily found in the “mind like water” business concept. To give the kanji a context—and to provide more valuable carving practice—I added a pattern of water flowing around a stone.

You need a neat accurate outline of your subject, whatever you choose. Make your lines—what will be the outline of the subject—clean, simple, and flowing. They should be quite large, and without a lot of fussy details.

I enlarged the kanji on my computer and printed the design on vellum, or transparent paper. The transparent paper allows me to orient the designs with the grain.

Keep the strength of the wood fibers (the grain) in mind. Short fibers are weak and prone to breaking off, so check your design, and adjust it for strength.

A tight-grained wood such as oak, lime, basswood, or mahogany is ideal, but any unfigured, carveable wood will work. Because the design reads vertically, I have the grain orientated this way too. Western lettering looks better with the grain horizontal. Since the carving is quite shallow, you need only use a board 3/4″ to 1″-thick.

Basic Relief: Removing the Background

Basic Relief: “Setting In” the Subject

Basic Relief: Carving the Water

Finishing Notes

I finish the wood with a matte acrylic varnish, the sort used to finish oil paintings, which gives the surface a light sheen. A simple beeswax polish would also look good.

Special Tools

Final Word on the Design

It’s always good to critique your work. Despite this being an excellent practice piece for setting in, I’m not sure whether the pebble lying on a vertical surface really works, as it defies both logic and gravity. It also seems a little too dominant in the design. A smaller, flatter pebble would feel lighter, and would be less dominant and more balanced.

Painting the surfaces of the kanji would strengthen these elements, and setting the whole piece in a deep, box-like frame would take away some of the pebble’s isolated dominance.

Materials & Tools

Materials:

• 1″ x 91/2″ x 171/2″ basswood or wood of choice
• Temporary-bond spray adhesive
• Vellum or tracing paper
• Pebble of choice
• 2-part epoxy glue
• Mineral spirits (optional)
• Matte acrylic varnish or beeswax polish

Tools:

• Ruler or marking gauge
• 3/8″ 60° V-tool
• 3/8″ skew chisel
• #3 gouges: a variety from 1/4″ to 3/4″
• #6 or #7 gouges: a variety from 1/4″ to 3/4″
• #8 or #9 gouges: a variety from 1/4″ to 1/2″
• Assorted short-bent gouges and skews (essentially, whatever you have)

Patterns:

• Pattern download
  

About the Author

Chris Pye is a master woodcarver, instructor and author of several books, including Woodcarving Projects and Techniques, produced by Fox Chapel Publishing. Chris runs the video-based teaching website, WoodcarvingWorkshops.tv, with instruction on tools, sharpening, lettering, relief carving, in-the-round projects and much more; and from where he writes a free monthly blog about woodcarving. You can see a gallery of his commissioned work at www.chrispye-woodcarving.com.

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by Mac Proffitt

This article was first published in issue 53 of Woodcarving Illustrated.

It is possible to sharpen gouges with a flat stone, but I prefer to use a conical slip stone or gouge stone. Regardless of the stone you use, the goal is the same: to produce a wire edge on the inside of the bevel. The bevel is the part of gouge that does the cutting and it is what we sharpen and keep sharp. A wire edge is a continuous burr that forms when the edge of the tool gets thinner as you sharpen.

Once a gouge is sharp, you should never re-sharpen it unless you break it, chip the edge, or have to re-shape the bevel. Just strop the gouge when needed to maintain a sharp cutting edge.

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5. Polish the edges. Use a leather strop charged with abrasive. Hold the gouge against the strop with your index finger opposite the bevel. Roll the gouge from side to side with a firm even stroke. Attach a piece of leather to a dowel to polish the inside of larger gouges. Use a leather shoe string charged with abrasive to polish the inside of small gouges and veiners.

About the Author

Mac Proffitt co-owns and operates Smoky Mountain Woodcarvers Supply in Townsend, Tenn. Mac has been teaching carving classes and tool sharpening for more than 15 years. He can be reached at mac@woodcarvers.com. For a complete range of sharpening supplies, visit www.woodcarvers.com.

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by Lora S. Irish

This article was first published in issue 39 of Woodcarving Illustrated.

A high relief carving depends on shadows and the illusion of depth. Undercutting helps you achieve this and has the added benefit of tucking the joint line underneath an element, which allows you to hide imperfect joints and gives your carving crisp lines.

I make undercuts with a bench knife, but you can use a straight chisel. With a bench knife, I can pull it through the cut, but with a chisel I tend to push it in. That can lead to problems later when the compressed fibers pop up and make the cut look fuzzy.

About the Author

Lora S. Irish operates a web-based carving pattern business: www.carvingpatterns.com.

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