Carving Small Characters in Wood E-Book

Jack Price

• Herausgeber: Fox Chapel Publishing
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2020

Seitenzahl: 89

Beschreibung

Making tedious wood carving techniques more approachable, Carving Small Characters in Wood offers simple methods in a smaller format to carve compact caricatures with personality. With step-by-step directions and photography, you'll be able to learn and appreciate this form of miniature character wood carving. Starting off with basic lessons on carving the body and face then progressing into greater challenges like creating ears, hairstyles, and grimaces, author and renowned caricature woodcarver Jack Price is the leading voice to learn from on how to carve small statuettes! A well-respected carver, Price is also the author of the popular books Carving Compact Characters and 50 Character Patterns for Woodcarvers. Beginning his career in 1975, he has been specializing in compact figures since 1978, with most of his work ranging from 2-3 inches in height.

Leseprobe

CARVINGSMALL

CHARACTERSIN WOOD

© 1996, 2019 by Jack Price and Fox Chapel Publishing Company, Inc., 903 Square Street, Mount Joy, PA 17552.

Carving Small Characters in Wood is an updated edition of Carving Small Characters, published in 1996 by Weasel Publishing Co. The patterns contained herein are copyrighted by the author. Readers may make copies of these patterns for personal use. The patterns themselves, however, are not to be duplicated for resale or distribution under any circumstances. Any such copying is a violation of copyright law.

ISBN 978-1-4971-0018-3

eISBN 9781607657101

Studio photography by Mike Mahalo: pages ii (top right character), v–vi, 9, 10, 11 (except for bottom right), 12–16, 22, 33, 43, 50–51, 53, 56, 63, 65, 67, 75, 79, 81, 83, 84, 86–106, and front cover (except for quarter).

Character names and step-by-step photography by Jose Gamero. Additional photos by Jose Gamero: pages ii (left three photos and bottom), 11 (bottom right), 17, 25, 59, 73, and back cover (bottom three photos).

All carvings by Jose Gamero except those pictured on pages 10, 43, 75, 81, 86, 92–93, and 98–99.

Shutterstock: Front cover quarter/Spiroview Inc; page 55 paintbrushes/Zadorozhnyi Viktor.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Price, Jack (Jack A.), author.

Title: Carving small characters : creating wooden caricature figurines /Jack Price.

Description: Updated edition. | Mount Joy, PA : Fox Chapel Publishing, 2019. | Revision of: Carving small characters. -- Celburne, Tex. : Weasel Pub., 1996. | Includes bibliographical references. | Summary:

“Caricature carver Jack Price shows his process for creative small

wooden figurines. Includes step-by-step projects and tips for finishing

carvings”-- Provided by publisher.

Identifiers: LCCN 2019024076 | ISBN: 9781497100183 (paperback) Subjects: LCSH: Wood-carving. | Wood-carved figurines. Classification: LCC TT199.7 .P73 2019 | DDC 736/.4--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019024076

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To LaMonne, my raison d’etre.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface

Acknowledgments

Carving 101—Getting Started

Why Carve Small Characters?

Basic Information

Carving 102—Carving the Basic Man

Carving the Body

Carving the Face

Dressing the Character

Painting the Character

Carving 201—Carving a More Complex Character

Carving Ears

Hair Dos and Don’ts

Grins and Grimaces, Gnawers and Gnashers

Homework Assignment

Turning the Character’s Head

Carving Hands

Carving 202—Post Graduate

Displaying Your Carvings

A Challenge

Reliable Sources of Information

Rogues’ Gallery

PREFACE

The purpose of this book is to teach the reader how to carve small human figures from blocks of wood using a limited assortment of tools. Throughout the book there are pictures and text that show and describe how to make the cuts that produce delightful small characters.

This book is divided into four parts. Part one, Carving 101, includes some rudimentary information about tools, wood, and carving cuts. Experienced carvers will find this portion superfluous and may want to skip ahead.

The second section, Carving 102, describes in detail how to carve the body of a small person, how to carve a face, and how to dress and paint the character.

The third section, Carving 201, portrays ways to carve more sophisticated characters. The information in this section will enable the carver to make the face and head more interesting by adding parts, making facial alterations, and repositioning the head.

The last section, Carving 202, contains the Rogues Gallery and information that will be helpful to those who seek excellence in character carving.

This book describes the way I carve small characters. It is not THE way; it is MY way. I have tried diligently to take the reader from a pattern on a block of wood to a carved character that makes people smile.

Some of the cuts that I advise will produce parts of a character that are not anatomically correct. Of course, a 2 in. (51 mm) carving of a person with a head that is one-third the length of the total piece is usually not considered to be a “realistic” carving. The only requirement for these little people is that they must be “cute” or “darling” or some such adjective. These are some of the words that people who buy my carvings use to describe them. Of course, I agree with them wholeheartedly.

Good Luck!!!

My Pedagogical Beliefs

In the years that I have taught people to carve small characters, my students have taught me many things. It is the same with this book. I tried my very best to write a book that a neophyte carver, who could read and follow instructions, could carve a satisfactory character just by following the written instructions and studying the pictures.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Special thanks to Bill Gilbert, my good friend of many years, who encouraged, exhorted, goaded, and nagged this ne’er-do-well to complete this book. In desperation he made me an offer I couldn’t refuse—free word processing and consultation. I accepted gratefully.

Thanks also to members of the Caricature Carvers of America, a group of carvers so awesomely talented that my association with them has stimulated me to aim a bit higher.

Additional thanks to my many carving friends who encouraged me to complete the book by constantly asking, “When the X@c*% will the new book be available?”

Special thanks to Melvin Mar and Debbie Welch, two graphic design experts, whose know-how, creativity, and artistic ability elevated the appearance of this book from ho-hum to something special.

Jose Gamero, Carver

In 2014, Jose Gamero had developed an interest in wood carving and was looking for the opportunity to start. By coincidence, he discovered Jack Price’s legendary book Carving Small Characters. Jose absorbed every word Jack put into his book, and since then he has not stopped carving little characters and other figures. Jose’s carvings and photographs made this new edition possible.

Dough

CARVING 101

GETTING STARTED

WHY CARVE SMALL CHARACTERS?

1. They are fun to carve.

2. Carving these little characters is energy efficient. The process does not require great strength and large muscles are not overworked.

3. Carving small is environmentally friendly; very little wood is used per character.

4. The cost of wood is minimal. They can even be carved from other people’s scrap wood.

5. It is often easier to find 1 in. (25 mm) basswood than it is to find thicker wood.

6. Only a few tools are needed to complete a project.

7. Each character can be completed in a short period of time.

8. If you mess up a carving you can toss the piece away and start another character without feeling a loss of time or money.

9. Carving compact characters can be done almost anywhere. If you carry a piece of wood and a sharp pocketknife with you whenever you are away from home you can make idle time more enjoyable.

10. Small carvings make excellent gifts. They can be produced in a short time and each is highly prized by the recipients.

11. They make good prototypes for larger carvings. If you want to do a large character, do a small one first. Work out some of the problems on a small, inexpensive piece of wood rather than goofing up a large expensive piece.

12. If you sell your carvings you will find that people who would ordinarily not purchase a carving because of the expense, will buy small character carvings because they are affordable.

13. Small character carvings take up very little display space.

14. The variety of characters you can make from the patterns is limited only by your imagination.

15. Carving compact characters helps you make friends. Compact characters are very popular people. They are great conversation starters.

16. People who buy them love them and treasure them. They become collector’s items.

17. They make people smile.

18. Carving them relieves stress and makes the carver a better person to be around.

19. Small person character carving slows down the aging process, refreshes the spirit, counters depression, and frees the mind.

20. People who carve small characters stay young in spirit.

Russell

Hermes

BASIC INFORMATION

This portion of the book is written specifically for the beginning carver—the person who wants to carve but is a tad short on “know-how.” It is not a treatise on beginning woodcarving but it contains the basic information that I think a novice woodcarver needs to know before attempting a first carving.

Wood

Almost all general-information carving books have a chapter about carving wood. These books identify several woods that are suitable for carving. Talk to experienced carvers and they will give you information about different woods that you may want to try sometime. For this project I suggest that you obtain a piece of 1 in. (25 mm) basswood and cut it into 2 in. (51 mm) long blocks of wood. A compact character can be carved from each of these blocks.

One-inch basswood is usually only 13/16 in. (21 mm) thick. You will find some that is only ¾ in. (19 mm) thick and others that are a full inch. Any size will do but the 13/16 in. (21 mm) fits the basic man pattern better.

When you price basswood you may think it is expensive. Actually it isn’t when you carve small characters. From one board foot of lumber—12 × 12 × 1 in. (30 × 30 cm × 25 mm) you can saw seventy-eight “little people” blocks.

If you have friends who carve medium to large pieces, ask them to save their scrap lumber for you. Most carvers will be delighted to do so because they hate to throw away wood. You will be surprised how many 2 in. (51 mm) blocks of wood you can cut from wood that was worthless to someone else.

One more suggestion. Whenever possible buy kiln-dried wood. It is usually more uniform and cuts better than air-dried wood. Buy northern basswood if you can. When you carve compact characters the quality of wood you select determines the excellence of the finished product to a large degree.

Grain

Wood is made up of layers of microscopic fibers that run the length of the tree. When we speak of grain, we refer to the direction in which the wood fibers are aligned.

It is easy to tell the direction the grain runs when wood is in a rough state. If it “has its hair on” the grain is evident. Basswood that has been planed smooth is more difficult because some basswood is so clear that the grain is hidden.