During this free, online wood carving project session, we will focus on completing the carving and detailing of our Wood Spirit eyes.
Learn how to carve the wood spirit face, step by step, DIY free project online book by Lora Irish for cane carving, walking sticks and wizard wands. Discover how easy it is to wood carve the wood spirit eyes.
The tenth chapter in Lora Irish’s Great Book of Free Carving Projects and Patterns Series
“Wood Spirit Carving” – Detail Carving the Eyes
Steps 17 – 18
Step 17
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| The lower eye lid sets below the upper one at the inner corner of the eye – where the eye touches the nose. Drop the lower lid slightly by cutting it with the v-gouge. Use your bench knife to free the v-cut. |  |
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| You can use rolled pieces of 220-grit sandpaper, or fine, profiled rifflers to clean up the eye area.This area, for me, often is too tight to get a straight chisel to do the clean up and smoothly steps. A riffler will do the same job without damaging the eye lid cuts. |  |
| Again, this step is not a necessary step, it is just one that I do to give more shadowing inside of the eye. |  |
| Using my bench knife I create an undercut for both the upper and lower eye lids. Make a stop cut along the eye ball area, slanted into the eye lid where the lid touches the eye.Make a second cut in the same area with a slightly higher slant. This will free a very thin sliver of wood from between the eye ball and the inner surface of the eye lids. |  |
| In this photo you can see that these small undercuts create a dark shadow along the eyelid line – just as if you had painted a very thin line of mascara to your wood spirit. |  |
Step 18
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| Its time to cut the pupils. OK … before you mark your pupil location I would like you to get up, go to the bathroom, and look at your eyes in the mirror. Take a simple, relaxed, straight-on look at yourself. |  |
| Note that your iris and pupils are not fully round, black balls at the very center of your eyeball! Your pupils are more likely two-third circles or half-circles that are tucked up under the upper eye lid. |  |
| If you can see the entire circle of the iris or pupil, the person is in shock or in terror. A natural, relaxed eye is slightly hidden. |  |
| With a pencil mark a dot in the center of the eyeball just below the upper eye lid. This will be where we cut the pupil.Up-end a small round gouge, and push the cutting edge into the eye ball area at the pencil mark. You are cutting straight into the eye, creating a half-circle cut impression.Use your bench knife and cut along that up-ended cut at the upper eye lid to release the half-circle slice. |  |
| An up-ending round gouge cuts a perfect circle every time!Notice how the cut holes of the pupil naturally cast the right amount of black shadow, exactly the way the pupil of your own eye does. |  |
| The Wood Spirit to your left has not had its pupil cut yet, but you can see how the undercut shadows of the eyelids makes the eyeball stand out and separates the eyeball as an individual area or feature. On the next page of this online Great Book of Free Carving Projects and Patterns series, we will start the rounding over and general shaping steps.We have already worked through 109 photos and still have 90 more to go. |
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This is new work. after May 2013, |
Wood Spirit Carving, Free Project by Lora Irish 1 Introduction and Supply List 2 Walking Stick Preparation 3 Exploring the Human Face 4 Planes of the Human Face 5 Carve The Human Face 6 Shaping the Facial Features 7 Sloping the Sides of the Face 8 Rough Cutting the Features 9 Carving the Eyes 10 Detailing the Eyes 11 Shaping the Features 12 Defining the Cheek and Nose 13 Working the Facial Hair 14 Refining the Face Shape 15 Carving the Wrinkles 16 Trimming the Beard 17 Review of the Techniques |
