As a new wood carver you would think that the classic wood spirit face would be difficult to create. Yet, it is one of the simplest, method-technique topics that wood carvers and whittlers can work.
Face carvings, as the wood spirit, or as shown above as a Mushroom Wood Spirit, begins with a series of simple angled cuts to establish the planes in the face. These planes create the depth, width, and feature areas as the rise of the eyebrow ridge, the deep set of the nose bridge, and the angle and slant of the mouth.
Where you create the planes and angles determines the finished look of the face. In this sample the nose plane is exaggerated and the eye depth plane is minimized. When the shaping steps are done, this Mushroom spirit has an extra long nose that fills up the needed space to create the mushroom stem.
To learn more about Wood Spirit Facial Plane carvings, check out our E-Project – Wood Spirit Mushroom Carving E-Project – which takes you through all of the steps to create the facial planes, plus gives you eight full sized 3D patterns. If you want to focus on the Wood Spirit face, check out Wood Spirit Carving E-Project, which takes you through the face carving as well as how to paint your wood spirit walking stick.
If you are an advanced wood carver and just are looking for new ideas, browse through the Canes, Walking Sticks & Wizard Wands Pattern Package with 48 full-sized 3D patterns or our classic Cane Handles & Walking Sticks Patterns with 38 patterns.
And, if you stop by our new Facebook page you will discover a discount code for ArtDesignsStudio.com for $5 off that can be used for each of the Pattern Packs or E-Projects above. Save up to $20 on your next wood spirit carving project!