I am asked how actually create the carvings I make so I have decided to put some photographs on my site that show the stages I go through to make a Green Man type carving.
As I take much of my inspiration from carvings I see in buildings a decent quality camera with a good zoom lens is essential. when photographing I take shots from as many angles as I can and when possible with the light coming from different angles as this helps me to interpret depth on the carving. I then use the full face photographs to help to mark up on the timber I am using, in this instance a lovely thick section of Sycamore which was cut green by a local mobile timber mill. I use a grid to mark up the features of the face and then start bosting in, this means roughly cutting into the timber to define the features of the carving
Here you can see the start of the carving with some basic features pencilled in and the nose starting to take shape. If you move the flat of your palm to your face the first feature your hand will touch is your nose, this means that you only need to take a small amount of timber off to create the tip of the nose. I then start to shape the face from that feature, constantly checking any photographic references for accuracy, at this point a piece can get quickly ruined by not thinking about how a face is shaped. I look and feel my own face to understand how the features work together.
This next photograph shows other facial features emerging, eyebrows eye sockets cheeks and a moustache appearing.
Here you can see the starting of the right eye taking shape and how the right brow and cheek are now starting to take form.
I will continue taking photographs throughout the process so If you are interested to see the rest please visit again
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