Throughout these next few steps in this free, online wood carving project by Lora Irish for the Wood Spirit, we will focus on defining the facial hair for our Wood Spirit, including the head hair, mustache, lip beard, and full beard area.
The fourteenth chapter in Lora Irish’s Great Book of Free Carving Projects and Patterns
“Wood Spirit Carving” – Refining the Face Shape
Steps 31 – 34
Step 31
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| I have decided that my wood spirit will have side burns and mutton chops that flow smoothly out of the cheek area, so my next step is to round out the demarcation line at the bottom of the cheek using a large round gouge. |  |
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Step 32
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| To remove the block-look at the top of the mustache I need to shave under my wood spirits nose again.I am rounding just the top one-third area of the mustache and beard because I have not yet decided how I will treat the bottom area of the beard.It may become braids or perhaps just divided into two or three leather wrapped sections. |  |
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Step 33
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| In working the last steps I can see that one side of my face is not quite the same as the other.The nostril area on the left is more rounded along the bottom edge and the right side of the nose at the center cheek is more curved on the right than on the left.The human face is not a mirror image of itself if you divide the face down the center line of the nose. In fact, a perfectly mirrored face can be visually disturbing. |  |
| The next three photos are from MorgueFile.com, a photo sharing site where you are allowed to copy, distribute, transmit the work and to adapt the work.I think you will enjoy browsing through their photo files. |  |
| In all three photos I have copied the original photo then I have copied one-half of the face and made two mirror-image composite faces.Where you may not see the small difference between one side of a face to the other in the original photo, those changes become fairly dramatic when mirrored. |  |
| The reason I am presenting these photos is so you know that it is not only OK that one side of your face is not exactly like the other, but that in having those small difference you are making your face more visually acceptable as a human face. |  |
Step 34
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| Its time to cut the nostril holes in our little dude.I use a wide or large round gouge and use it up-ended, cutting the nostril hole by pushing the sharp edge into the bottom of the nostril.As I push the gouge I roll it along the bottom until I have cut a half-circle that touches the top edge of the upper lip on both sides. |  |
| With my bench knife I can cut along the top edge of the lip into the half-circle to free the gouge chip. The finished nostril has a smooth, even curve from the curve of the gouge. |  |
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| With the cheeks shaped and rounded I can see that the inside corner of face between the eye and the side of the nose is too high. I need to drop this little area deeper into the wood.Using my bench knife I can stop cut along the nose and cheek joint line. My second stop cut is at the corner of the top eye lid into that small space.The third cut is with my bench knife held at a close angle to the wood and pushing into the first two cuts.This lifts a small thin triangle chip.The lower right photo shows the drop in the area between the nose and eye corner. |  |
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| With my v-gouge I am cleaning the joint line between the side of the nose and the cheek.This is a good time to stop and compare where we are in this wood spirit carving.The left side of photo 163 shows our wood spirit with the basic facial planes cut.The right hand side shows where we are now.Can you see how the plane work has created the structure, size, and placement of each facial area? |  |
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Easy Steps to
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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 |
