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Twistie Stick Snake Cane Carving, Day 2

Free Lora Irish cane carving projectDay 1 Twistie Stick Snake Cane Carving
Day 2 Twistie Stick Snake Cane Carving
Day 3 Twistie Stick Snake Cane Carving
Day 4 Twistie Stick Snake Cane Carving
Day 5 Twistie Stick Snake Cane Carving

Walking Stick Joinery
Walking Stick Wood Species – Harvesting Your Sticks
Walking Stick – Adding Extras
Walking Stick – How to Clamp Your Handle

Free Mountain Man Cane Carving Pattern

The first stage of this cane carving, today’s work, is to establish the general round shape of the design, determine the path for our snake, and to drop the background area of the cane around the snake. Then we will work to create the path of the twist in the sassafras branch on which he climbs.

Please remember – you can click on any post image for a large photo.

 

Step 1: Please double check the sharpness and honing of your bench knife. Remember, the most dangerous knife or tool in your kit is the dullest. Use your bench knife and a push stroke to round-over the edges of your basswood blank. Work the cuts from the sharp corner to the center of each flat face of the stick.

Round over your basswood blank

A well rounded stick will have all of the original surface area cut. Note in the photo that no area has been left un-worked.

Of note, whether you are a relief carver or 3-D carver, at some point in any carving you want to insecure that you have actually carved all the wood. The milled surface of your basswood blank has a very different texture than the areas that you have cut. After you have added your finish – oil, varnish, polyurethane – that difference will dramatically stand out, making the un-carved areas an eye sore.

Round over your basswood blank

I like to double check my round by comparing the basswood blank to something that I know is a true circle, or close to a true circle. For this project that true circle is the inside of a toilet paper or paper towel roll cardboard tube. By sliding the blank inside the cardboard tube I can check for flat surfaces or planes that need a little more work.

checking how round your carving is

Step 2: To easily create the path of the snake around the basswood blank, I have marked a roll of painter’s tape at 5/8″. For this cane that will be the width of the snake’s body. With your bench knife cut the tape.

using tape to make your snake body

Secure one edge of the tape at the bottom of your stick, and roll the tape around the stick until you reach the top. My tape ran at about a 45 degree or less angle. Looking at the stick with the bottom edge of the tape facing me, I have four wraps, with the last wrap right at the top of the stick.

carving a  walking stick snake

carving a  walking stick snake

Step 3: Please see the Step 6 for the pattern for the snake head. Using a pencil or marking pen, draw or trace the pattern for the snake head about 1″ from the top of the stick.

tracing the pattern for a walking stick

Mark two tapered lines for the tip of the tail of the snake onto the tape. Begin the tail about 1″ above the bottom of the stick.

tracing the pattern for a walking stick

Using a pencil or marking pen, trace along the edges of the tape to mark on the wood the snake’s body lines.

tracing the pattern for a walking stick

Step 4: Remove the tape. You can re-wrap painter’s tape to the roll and re-use it later for your next snake walking stick or for securing paper patterns and graphite paper to your relief carvings.

wood carving free project by Lora S. Irish

Create a stop cut along the outer edge of the snake body lines, cutting on the marking pen guidelines. A stop cut is made with your bench knife in two separate strokes. First, holding the knife at a 90 degree angle to the wood, cut along the line.

wood carving free project by Lora S. Irish

Make the second part of the stop cut by slicing into the first cut, moving from the background area towards the snake body.

wood carving free project by Lora S. Irish

I prefer to slowly drop the background wood in a stop cut area in thin layers or slivers at a time. As you work you can make the first cut slightly shallow, and then make the second background sliver into that cut. Then return to the snake body line and make a new, slightly deeper first cut. Again, work the second background sliver. This will slowly drop the background level of the wood, giving you more control over your depth of work.

Step 5: Continue working the two strokes of the stop cut along both sides of the snake body. The stop cuts are worked about 3/8″ to 1/2″ away from the body lines of the snake. This leaves the center area of the space between the snake twists high or proud. Those areas will become our sassafras twists soon.

wood carving free project by Lora S. Irish

stop cut, wood carving free project by Lora S. Irish

Work the stop cut around the snake’s head. Notice in the third photo for this step, below, that the snake’s body has been ‘freed’ from the background wood by dropping the background areas.

stop cut, wood carving free project by Lora S. Irish
Step 6: Work the stop cuts along the snake body until you are about 1/4″ deep at the marked guidelines.

stop cut, wood carving free project by Lora S. Irish

stop cut, wood carving free project by Lora S. IrishThe wrapped snake is a classic design for walking sticks and canes, one that has a history as old a Genesis in the Bible in the story of the serpent twisted in the branches of the Tree of Knowledge. It is a powerful image and one that is so easy to create in our carvings.

Using the wrapped tape method of creating the snake’s body path, you can quickly change the width of the snake by changing how thick or wide your tape is. The length of your snake also is easily adapted for either larger carving blanks or even short key chain sized blanks.

The snake head pattern is a simple to pencil mark directly to your wood. Begin with an equilateral triangle twice the size of the snake’s neck width.

Make a pencil line at each corner of the triangle to slice off the sharp edges. Now add a small half-circle just in front of the center point on each side of the triangle for your eyes. That’s it! Quick, easy, and fast.

Tomorrow we will establish the wrap of the sassafras twist and stop cut that area to create the second twist or wrap of the cane. Thank you for reading!!!!  If you have any questions, now is a good time to sign up for one of the forums where you can chat directly with me.

– Lora

Twistie Stick Snake Cane Carving, Day 2 Read More »

Twistie Stick Snake Carving by Lora Irish

Twistie Stick Snake Carving Free Project

Free Lora IRish Cane Carving ProjectHi Gang!

I thought I would share a walking stick carving.

Day 1 Twistie Stick Snake Cane Carving
Day 2 Twistie Stick Snake Cane Carving
Day 3 Twistie Stick Snake Cane Carving
Day 4 Twistie Stick Snake Cane Carving
Day 5 Twistie Stick Snake Cane Carving

Walking Stick Joinery
Walking Stick Wood Species – Harvesting Your Sticks
Walking Stick – Adding Extras
Walking Stick – How to Clamp Your Handle

Free Mountain Man Cane Carving Pattern

 

Walking stick carving is often one of the first carving projects a new woodcarver tries.  This particular design – a snake wrapped around a Sassafras twistie stick – is a beginner’s level project, but I think that even the advanced carvers here may discover a few fun tricks and tips.

We will work, step by step, through creating the round, establishing the snake, marking and cutting the twist, texture the snake and bark, adding a frog on the top of the stick, and how to add a real honeysuckle vine into the twist.  The cane will be lightly coated with a finished with a linseed oil and turpentine mixture and then dry mounted to your walking staff.

Supplies:

These are the tools that I used, but you do not need these exact tools or exact sizes.  Use what you have.  If you are new, a bench knife, or large chip carving knife, and a basic Japanese set will get you started.  Because we will be creating the pattern directly to the basswood you can make this stick in any length!

Sassafra Twistie Cane and Snake by Lora Irish1 1/2″ x 1 1/2″ x 12″ basswood blank
bench knife or large chip carving knife
v-gouge
3/8″ round gouge
1/8″ round gouge
u-gouge, also called a veining tool
several sizes of fine rasps or rifflers
220-grit sandpaper
1″ wide painter’s tape or masking tape
pencil, for marking the cane
old toothbrush for cleaning
carving gloves
thick terry-cloth towel
sharpening tools
cardboard center from a roll of toilet paper
linseed oil
turpentine
all thread pipe
epoxy glue

walking stick staff – approx. 4′ to 5′ tall, x 1 1/4″ diameter

Sassafra Twistie Cane and Snake by Lora Irish

We will begin tomorrow by rounding-over the basswood stick, establishing the path of the snake, and rough carving the Sassafras twistie area low to reveal the snake’s body.So, go get your knives and carving tools, check them for sharpness, find a basswood cane blank, and join me tomorrow as we begin this fun project.  I’m off to start cropping photos for you.

I will also be posting  this Twistie Stick Snake Cane each day on my favorite carving forums.  Stop by, join up, so that you can post your questions and photos!!!!  Carving forums are like potato chips … just one is never enough … Grin!

FamilyWoodworking.org at Twistie Stick Snake Cane Thread

WoodworkingChat.com at Twistie Stick Snake Cane Thread

And while you wait to get started, visit Roy’s relief Carving Class thread – See our widgets in the right hand nav bar and on both forums!!!!

Lora Irish carving patternswood carving bench knivesI had a question from one of the forums, and thought I would post the answer here too!

In the photo you can see five different bench knife styles – top to bottom – small chip carving knife, large chip carving knife, detailer, short-blade bench knife, and a long-blade bench knife.

I prefer a large chip carving knife as my main cutting knife whether for relief or for 3-d cane carving. My hand is small, much smaller than my husbands. Where the longer handles of the bench knives fit his hand, they are too cumbersome for me. Also, the short blade of the chip knife puts me hand right against the wood during the cut, a bench knife leaves my hand 1″ to 1 1/2″ away from the wood. The third advantage is that the chip knife serves two purposes – one for my regular carving and, of course, for chip carving.

chip carving knifeIf you haven’t gotten a bench knife yet, consider a large chip carving knife. While you are making your purchases also get some of the new self-adhering bandage wraps. You can cut a short – 5″ length – and wrap the handle of your knife to give added grip strength. Cut a longer piece – 12″ – and wrap your tool handles if you have arthritis. It will make the handles thicker for easier gripping as well as pad the handle to minimize the stress on your joints.

Twistie Stick Snake Carving Free Project Read More »

walking stick joinery

Walking Stick and Cane Handle Joinery

We have added four new project pages to this free, online, wood carving walking sticks tutorial by Lora Irish, that focus on how to attach your cane topper to your walking stick.

Cane Wood Carving Project by Lora IrishHarvesting Walking Sticks – Learn how to harvest, store, and dry your tree saplings and branches for cane carving.

Common Tree Species – Take a look around your own backyard to discover which tree species you can use for walking stick and cane carving.

Adding Extras – Make your walking stick stand out by adding a small ‘What If’ bag to your staff.

newWood Carving Walking Sticks, Gluing Your Joint – A quick look at the basic steps in gluing a cane topper to your walking stick.

newWood Carving Walking Sticks, How to Join Your Cane Handle – Explore seven ways to join your cane topper to your stick

newWood Carving Walking Sticks, How to Clamp Your Cane Handle – Learn how you can use tape as a gluing clamp.

newWood Carving Walking Sticks, Working with Bamboo – Special technique for attaching your cane topper to your bamboo walking stick.

 

Walking Stick and Cane Handle Joinery Read More »

free walking stick wood carving project

Wood Carving Walking Sticks

wood Carving Cane Toppers by Lora IrishWalking Sticks and canes are a favorite wood carving project for both beginning carvers to the most advanced woodworker.  This free, online project by Lora Irish will take you through the basic techniques used in choosing your wood staffs and sticks, wood carving cane toppers, cane construction, and finishing used for walking sticks.  Learn how to use wood burning in your cane carving to clean the joint lines of your carving and add fine details.  Explore the different steps you can use to add bright, bold painted coloring.

This free Irish project will be posted over the next several weeks, and will include how to carve the planes of the wood spirit face.  So please check back often to see what new techniques, patterns, and ideas Lora has posted.

Harvesting Walking Sticks – Learn how to harvest, store, and dry your tree saplings and branches for cane carving.

Common Tree Species – Take a look around your own backyard to discover which tree species you can use for walking stick and cane carving.

Adding Extras – Make your walking stick stand out by adding a small ‘What If’ bag to your staff.

Our next lessons will focus on Cane Construction Techniques!

Wood Carving Walking Sticks Read More »

Pyrography Doodles by Lora Irish

Pyrography Doodles

Mushroom Doodles Pyrography ProjectYou know you do it!  In fact, anytime you are on hold on the telephone, or as you are talking to your kids, or even when you are just thinking.  If there is a pen or pencil and a piece of paper near by, you are doodling.  As kids, you always knew who was going to grow up to be a creative person because their denim notebook was covered with tons of little doodles.

So, let’s have some fun and bring those creative doodles to our favorite art form, pyrography.  Over the next few days I will be posting an in-depth, step-by-step tutorial for this Mushroom Doodle Pyrography Project.  It will include the pattern, the doodle fill chart, and lots of photos so that you can complete your own desktop cork board note pad or kitchen recipe holder.

We will be working an outline burn around each element of the pattern.  Then, instead of fill those areas with graduated shading, we are going to use our favorite doodle patterns.  Each area of the pattern can feature lines, swirls, spirals, daisies, butterflies, checkerboards, and even full designs of flowers, leaves, and stems.  Anything goes when you are doing a pyrography doodle.

Take another look at the top header image for this post to see a close-up of a few doodle patterns that we will be working.

Mushroom Pyrography Doodles by IrishSupplies:
12” x 12” x 1/4” birch plywood
12” x 4” x 1/4” basswood
variable temperature unit
ball tip or loop tip pen
220-grit sandpaper
fine-grit nail sanding foam board
graphite paper
12” x 12” x 1/4” cork board
yellow carpenters glue
4 yards of sea grass twine
hot glue and glue gun
spray sealer

Mushroom Doodles Pyrography ProjectPlease slip over to our craft, carving, and pyrography patterns website, Art Designs Studio, to get your free patterns for this project.  The download link is on our home page.

Today we will work through the preparation steps.  Tomorrow we will begin the pyrography steps.  So, please, bookmark our blog and share our link with your pyro friends.

1.  With 220-grit sandpaper, sand the front surface of your birch plywood.  Work your sanding with the direction of the wood grain to avoid scratching the surface.  Remove all sanding dust with a dry, clean cloth.

2.  Print a copy of the outline pattern.  Tape the pattern to the right side of your board, 3/4” from the edge.

3.  Using graphite paper under the pattern, trace along all of the pattern lines.  Remove the pattern paper and graphite paper.

4.  Using your finest line burning tip, set your temperature setting to a hot setting. Burn along all of the pattern lines to set your design.  You want a dark, even line.

5.  Work a second burning over the pattern lines to create a thick to thin effect in your outlines.  This adds strength to the outline, giving the line extra emphasis in the finished work, as well as interest in the changing dimensions of the line.

6.  Using the fine nail sanding board, lightly sand over your board to remove any rough areas caused by the hot temperature burn.  Wipe the board with a clean cloth to remove any dust.

So, go grab your freebie pattern package which features three patterns – our mushroom design, a sunflower, and a chicken.  Gather up your wood burning tool kit and let’s get ready to burn!

 

Pyrograhy Doodles Page 1
Pyrograhy Doodles Page 2
Pyrograhy Doodles Page 3
Pyrograhy Doodles Page 4
Pyrograhy Doodles Page 5
Pyrograhy Doodles Page 6
Pyrograhy Doodles Page 7

 

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