The wood spirit face is a favorite wood carving theme. His wild, flowing hair, his long twisted beard, and his exaggerated nose make him an excellent beginner’s carving project.
It may be hard to conceive that the human face is a beginner’s level project, but as we work through the simple steps to create the planes of the face, you will discover how simple and adaptable this style of wood carving is.
I am working my wood spirit face as a cane or walking stick topper, as shown in the sample stick to your right. The wood spirit face is carved using a basswood practice stick – 1 3/4″ x 1 3/4″ x 6″ – then attached to the staff of the stick using a hardwood dowel or all-thread pipe.
To begin this project you will need the following supplies:
6″ x 1 3/4″ x 1 3/4″ basswood practice block bench knife or large chip carving knife large 3/8″ round gouge small 3/16″ round gouge 90 degree v-gouge bull nose chisel or straight chisel 220- and 320- grit sandpaper safety gloves, if you’ve got them heavy terry cloth towel if you don’t have gloves #2 to #4 soft pencil 12″ ruler fine point permanent marking pen sharpening stones, honing board, strop one-temperature or variable temperature wood burning tool
That’s what I have on the table right now, I will add the paint colors later after I decide where this little dude is headed. Use what carving tools you have. There is so little difference between one round gouge and another there is no point in getting into a snit over exact size.
I am going to teach is how to establish the planes of the face without using a pattern and how to use those planes to create unique facial features.
I am also sharing this wood carving project on the WoodWorkingChat.com forum where you can join, post questions, and add your photos as we carve this wood spirit face together.
While you get your supplies together, I am off to get your first set of photos ready. So, please bookmark my blog!
Not sure what tools, knives, or carving sets will get you started in the craft of wood carving, chip carving, and whittling? Are you wondering what general woodworking and craft supplies you might need for your first carving project? Have fun browsing through Lora Irish’s carving kit which includes wood carving beginner sets, sharpening stones and honing boards, rasps, rifflers, sanding and tracing paper, compasses, rulers and t-squares, and so much more!
A basic relief carving or whittling tool set contains far more than just your carving tools and knives. Let’s take an in-depth look at some of the common supplies you may use in your carving craft. All photos in this article are large-sized and labeled, just click on any image to show the full-sized photo.
Plus there are lots of links to Amazon.com, so that you can do a little window shopping as you prepare and plan your own wood carving supply kit.
The still life for this tutorial features a Philadelphia derringer, three vintage books, and a pipe stand with two long stem briar pipes.
The shadows and highlights are strong in this sepia toned photo as the still life was taken with one light source set to the upper right hand side of the arrangement.
A full range of tonal values are used within the image from pure white highlights through solid black tones.
The still life was created using objects that all had a neutral color hue – walnut brown in the gun stock, brown metal in the gun barrel, dark brown in the book covers, beige in the book pages, rose brown in the pipes.
Mapping your Photo
Before you begin your pyro project print an extra copy of the image. Take time to carefully review the image, circling each area of tonal value interests.
1 Areas of bright white highlight 2 Cast shadows 3 Graduated tonal values that show contour 4 Repeated tonal values 5 Equal tonal values in adjacent elements 6 White and black contrast The gray scale shown on the right of the photo was created by copying and pasting small areas directly from the photograph.
Creating your own Still Life Arrangements
1. Select a neutral mid-toned background. A tablecloth, bed sheet, or roll of craft paper works excellently.
2. Set up one lamp with a fluorescent bulb as your light source. Turn off any other lights in the room and close the window curtains.
3. For your first still life arrangements chose elements that share the same color – all red elements or all blue elements. Working with just one color can guide you in recognizing the color tones as tonal values.
4. Place the arrangement away from the background cloth or paper to create air space for the cast shadows.
5. Take several photos of each arrangement from different angles. You may discover that one angle shows stronger shadows than another.
Thanks for stopping by and taking time with me at my teaching table! See you for the next free, online, Lora Irish Pyrography Project.
Click on the pattern to the right for a full-sized printable pyrography pattern.
Over the last few days we have discussed light and shadow, and how the eye and brain interrupts visual information as related to photographs that we use in pyrography projects. Today we will be exploring how to layout and plan your still life photos to create the strongest image possible for your wood burnings.
For this photo sample I have laid my arrangement on the table with my focus on tonal value instead of hue. I chose silk flowers that had strong amount of black or white to add to the arrangement.
The addition of a few pure white flowers in both the foreground arrangement and in the basket adds highlight tonal value to the final photo. Compare the visual arrangement line created by the white flowers in this photo with the original photo, below, that used the red flowers for the arrangement layout. White is the purest of tonal values and therefore has the strongest visual impact.
A few dark red flowers were also added to the basket. Since dark red is created using pure red hue and black I know that these flowers will have a dark tonal value. By adding black tonal values through these deep red flowers I can carry the visual impact from the white flowers into the deep shadow areas of the basket.
The glass globe still places some transparent glass in the final image but as the base of the lamp is color toned so that this area in the arrangement will take on a mid-tone value.
Note in the two layouts the difference in the tonal value of the background blue-gray paper. In our new photo layout I have changed the direction of the light source to create a graduated tonal value scale from one overall mid-tone value. Now the mid-tone red and orange flowers in the foreground will stand out from the pale toned background.
The gray-scale image has a nice balance of white, mid-grays, and black tonal values. The brightest areas of the gray-scale photo are now in the white foreground petals instead of in the background glass elements. The black tones under the flowers and between the floor arrangement and basket are stronger because there are more strong areas of white with which to contrast.
In the original arrangement the strongest asset was the diagonal line of bright orange flowers. In the new arrangement color photo that line is not as strong with the addition of new flower colors – the dark burgundy and pure white flowers break the orange line.
Yet the gray-scale photo has a strong diagonal line in the same position. This new line has extra strength because the flowers now create a gray-scale – working from pale tones to the lower left, mid-tones at the center oil lamp, and dark tones in the basket.
Finally I have sepia toned my photograph to give a clear, easy to follow map for my burning project. On to the photo I have laid a cross-hatch sepia tonal value scale. As I work this photo into a pyrography burn I can compare my cross-hatch scale to the tonal values of the photo to create a realistic styled wood burning.
Tomorrow we will finish up this look at using photographs for your pyrography, how color effects visual impact, and how the eye sees with a free Lora Irish pyrography pattern for the Derringer.
Over the last two days we have been exploring how light, shadows, color, and tonal value are created in a photograph and how they affect the sepia pyrography wood burning. Today we will look at repeated tonal values, black and white contrast, and adjacent mid-tone in our gray-scale photos. Next we will take a look at how your eye and brain sees and interrupts images.
A shade of tonal value will be repeated several times throughout any image or photograph. In the tomato drawing three areas that been marked that all share the same tonal value. Each of these areas would receive the same pyrography burning to keep the tones equal.
You will find similar or equal tonal values throughout your gray or sepia toned image even though those same areas show different hues in the color photo. A medium green, medium red, and medium blue may share the same medium sepia tonal value.
Black and White Contrast
Placing one or two areas of the extreme tonal values next to each other gives the eye a place to compare the darkest and palest tones. The brightest highlight on this tomato lies in the upper left and is adjacent to the blackest tone of the drawing, found in the background area. These two tonal value areas set the whitest and darkest tones of your tonal value scale.
Working an area of high contrast – white against black – creates a visual boundary for your tonal value scale. All mid-tones must fall between these two extremes. The boundary tones do not need to be pure white or pure black; a gray-scale can be created starting with a pale gray and ending with a dark gray.
Adjacent Mid-Tone Values
In any gray scaled photo you will discover adjacent areas in two different elements that have the same tonal value. In these areas the defining line between the two elements seems to disappear. In our sample there are three areas where the body of the tomato and either the table surface or background share the same tonal value.
When two areas share one tonal value you can adjust one or both of the mid-tone values in a burning to create some contrast. Even a very small change in one area, either going a bit lighter or darker, is enough to redefine your boundary lines.
How the Brain Interrupts an Image
Notice that I did not say how the eye sees an image. The eye receives information about an image or photo in two distinct manners, it is only when those two pieces of information are combined by the brain do we see an image. So where the eye gathers information it is the brain that interrupts that information into one image.
Inside of the eye are two receptors – the cones and rods. The cones of the eye gather information about color, it determines if an objects is red, yellow, or blue. The rods, the second eye receptor, evaluates the amount of light each area is receiving; the rods create the gray-scale tonal values that we use in pyrography. Our sample photo for this section is a wooden hill just after sunrise.
Color Receptors – Cones
The sample photo has been altered to remove as much shading as possible while emphasizing the color hue of each area. The gray-green leaves of the forest are now broken into areas of yellow, yellow-green, deep green, and blue. The tree trunks show greens, reds, and yellows.
You can see the colors contained in light when you view a rainbow created through a prism, called a spectrum. Each color in the spectrum has its own specific wave length. When light strikes an object most of those color waves are absorbed by the object. Those that are not absorbed bounce off the object to be received by our eye.
So the color of any object and therefore the color that our eye cones receive are the light wave lengths that the object rejects. We don’t see green leaves, we see the green light waves that have bounced off of the leaves.
Sepia or Gray Scale Receptors – Rods
What the tonal value receptors, the rods, see is equivalent to a sepia or black and white photo. Rods record the amount of light an area is receiving – whether it is in pure highlight or the darkest shadows.
Combining the Cones and Rods Images
The brain combines the information sent by the cones and rods to create one image that has color hues and tonal values.
In the photo sample, left, the color image has been superimposed over the sepia tonal value image, exactly as the brain compiles the information it receives. The resulting photo is an excellent copy of the original camera photograph.
