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Post by hmoosek on Aug 26, 2022 11:19:06 GMT -6
I promised I’d start a thread on whittling, but I’ll be honest, I ain’t very good at it, but I am persistent. It takes me a long time to do simple carvings. You’ve heard of 5 minute whittles, well it takes me a day and a half. Hahahaa. I don’t consider myself a carver as I basically just whittle. Almost every cut is done with a knife. On an occasion such as when I’m doing hair, I’ll use a small v tool. I don’t have fancy gouges, mallets, etc. I wouldn’t know how to use them if I had them. I’m also not a flat plane carver, although I like the look, I just don’t carve that way. I like things rounded and smooth. I use an emery board to smooth as I go. Lots of times, I can’t see to make a clean cut, so I do what I can to make it look better. I scour the web and YouTube for ideas. I’ll then try and make it my own. Look at the picture below. The pattern on the left is called a simple Santa. I whittled it using Bob’s tutorial. A man named Bob Kozakiewicz created it. The Santa on the right is my adaption. I thought the long beard looked better to my eye, but I give Bob the credit because without his tutorial, I’d never thought to create it in the first place. Below is Bob’s tutorial. woodcarvingillustrated.com/blog/2017/12/15/carving-simple-santa-ornament/ok, so when I start one of these, I grab a 1 1/4” x 1 1/4” x 5 or 6” I believe Bob uses 1x1x6. I like the bigger wood. Easier for me. At the moment, I don’t have any pictures of plain wood with drawn out pencil marks, but I’ll try to take some later just to show y’all how simple it truly is.
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Post by hmoosek on Aug 26, 2022 11:23:56 GMT -6
Here’s a little hillbilly. Hillbillies are my absolute favorite thing to carve! I carved this one following a YouTube Video. Again, you’ll notice my subtle differences.
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Post by hmoosek on Aug 26, 2022 11:36:03 GMT -6
Here’s me turning him into a gardener.
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Post by hmoosek on Aug 26, 2022 11:38:26 GMT -6
Here’s something, I’m not sure what to call it. It was time consuming, I’ll tell ya that.
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Post by hmoosek on Aug 26, 2022 11:45:44 GMT -6
Like I say, I’m an amateur, but if you want to learn, I’ll do my very best to help.
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Post by woodeye on Aug 26, 2022 12:19:59 GMT -6
Great Job, moose! I like 'em all. The one you don't know what to call looks frazzled like I did when I came out of Covid-19 quarantine...
Anyway, keep up the good work!
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Post by chrysanthemum on Aug 26, 2022 17:57:13 GMT -6
Your hillbillies are cute, hmoosek . Your time consuming carving reminds me of the dwarves in an old animated version of The Hobbit that I used to watch when I was little. I have fond memories of that.
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Post by hmoosek on Aug 26, 2022 19:12:32 GMT -6
chrysanthemumTo make that little critter, I used a V-Tool, to make the hair, but instead of cutting it out, I dropped super glue way down in the cut. Each piece of hair was done this way. Again I saw it on a YouTube and thought it’d make a great way to do hay arms for a scare crow, but I never got around to whittling one. I got a wild hair and decided to try it on that little fellow.
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Post by hmoosek on Aug 26, 2022 19:18:02 GMT -6
I also have fun creating accessories for my whittles. The pecan, the hoe, a moonshine jug, etc. it seems to bring them to life in my eyes.
I carve a bit different from some as I like to start with a plain block of wood. Meaning I don’t make a pattern and/or cut it out on a bandsaw. There’s nothing wrong with that method, I just don’t whittle that way.
That said, I do freehand draw on the wood to help me stay symmetrical.
I’m not saying I won’t ever cut anything out and then whittle, but for the most part, I just like starting with a piece of wood.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Aug 26, 2022 22:29:54 GMT -6
I love this thread! Thanks, for starting it Moose! We'll enjoy your works and the works of others for years to come!
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Post by rdback on Aug 27, 2022 9:39:47 GMT -6
You might call yourself an amateur, but you do great work hmoosek ! Thanks for sharing some of your creations with us.
By the way, the guy with the whiskers looks like a "Hatfilled" to me. See what I did there? lol
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Post by hmoosek on Aug 27, 2022 14:03:24 GMT -6
What did Bob Ross say? We don’t make mistakes, we have happy little accidents. This was one of those Happy little accidents. I had this one all carved and painted up. I had been experimenting with different finishes. Sometimes I oil them, then paint, then put on a protective coat. On this one, I had rubbed mineral oil first, then I painted. Oh I was so happy with how it turned out . Then as I started putting on the protective coat, all my paint started coming off. I was quite bummed!, but After looking at the finished piece, my wife reminded me that sometimes, it’s good to have a piece that looks old and weathered. This thing looks like it was carved a hundred years ago, but I did it last year.
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Post by hmoosek on Aug 27, 2022 14:14:07 GMT -6
I call this one George. Growing up we had a fellow in our neighborhood who was a cigar chewing, short temped, donkey. Well, donkey isn’t exactly how me and my best friend referred to him, but you get the picture. My best friend told me this one looked like George, so the name stuck. Hahahaaa!
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Post by hmoosek on Aug 27, 2022 14:16:48 GMT -6
Random little guys. The one on the very right in black and white, was my first one done without following a how to tutorial. I also did the Hillbilly without following a tutorial as well. This is as close as I’ve ever done without following any kind of tutorial. The little fellow on the left, I did that one from a book by Keith Randich.
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Post by hmoosek on Aug 27, 2022 14:25:12 GMT -6
One more Hillbilly.
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