DIY Network

Wood-Spirit Carving, Part 1 From "Woodsculpting" episode DWDS-101

	The "wood spirit" is a suitable project for a novice woodcarver.
	Carver Vic Hood at work on one of his wood sculptures.

In this episode of DIY's Woodsculpting Workshop, we meet expert woodcarver and artist Vic Hood.

After spending more than 30 years as a professional restoration consultant, Vic Hood discovered wood-sculpting in the early 1990s. Since that time, Vic has won numerous national wood sculpting competitions and now teaches seminars and workshops in his studio in Leiper's Fork, a small community located near Nashville and Franklin, Tennessee.

In this episode, Vic demonstrates how to carve a wood-spirit out of a scrap block of wood. These fun sculptures are excellent projects for novice carvers and feature all of the elements of any sculpture -- form, movement, shadows, and highlights. Topics in this episode include finding a suitable scrap of wood, drawing in the pattern and learning some basic lessons in anatomy. Also featured are tips and techniques on using chisels.

Materials used in this episode:

Wood slab
Chisels (#5, #7, #11, etc.)
Neoprene-covered carver's mallet
Carving knife
Wood-burning tool
Felt-tip marker
Pencil
Linseed oil and mineral spirits for finish
Brushes and rags
Protective gloves

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Figure A

Wood Spirit: Design and Basic Carving

The "wood spirit" carving is a suitable project for the beginning carver since the design consists essentially of just eyes, nose, beard and hair. It's a good project for learning some of the fundamentals of woodcarving.

Steps:

• Begin by selecting a piece of slab wood (figure A). Slabs of raw wood like this are available from sawmills. Rough out the basic shape by cutting it with a chain saw. Vic roughed out a shape for this piece that provided a basic outline as well as a sense of movement.
  

• Draw a flowing line for the face using a felt-tip marker. Begin with an oval and center line to indicate the basic placement of the face (figure B).

• Remember that, in the finished piece, the nose will stick out further than any other feature on the face.

• Mark off lines to indicate the placement of the nose and eyes (figure C) as well as the mouth. On this carving, little detail will be required for the mouth since the beard will conceal most of the mouth form. The position of the two eyes can be represented by an arc.

  Figure B

  Figure C

  
  

• Use larger tools to begin to remove larger amounts of wood at the outset. Vic begins with wider tools including a #5 and #11 chisels. The #5 chisel has a flatter cutting edge (figure D) while the #11 has a curve (figure E).

• Vic uses a neoprene carver's mallet (rather than a wooden mallet) since the soft neoprene absorbs some of the shock.

  Figure D

  Figure E

  
  

• Continue chipping away the basic outline for the face, following the outline of the marks (figures F and G).

  Figure F

  Figure G

  
  

  	After years of working with wood as a building material, Vic became enamored of wood as an artistic medium.
  	Vic's early inspiration for woodcarving was the "cigar store Indian," the wooden icon used in earlier times as the traditional symbol for tobacco stores. Vic's first serious carving endeavor still stands on the porch of his woodcarving shop near Franklin, TN.
  	Woodcarver and wood-sculpting teacher Vic Hood.

RESOURCES :

Fox Chapel Publishing Co.
Publishers of
Woodcarving Illustrated magazine and numerous books on woodcarving.
1970 Broad Street
East Petersburg, PA 17520

Websites:
www.foxchapelpublishing.com

Fox Chapel Publishing, featured authors

Special DIY page at www.woodcarvingillustrated.com

Woodcarving Illustrated magazine
Website: www.woodcarvingillustrated.com

Carving Found Wood
By Vic Hood
Fox Chapel Publishing Company (October, 2002)
ISBN: 1565231597
Carving Found Wood

To order this book from Amazon.com, click here.

Extreme Pumpkin Carving
By Vic Hood and Jack A. Williams
ISBN: 1565232135
Fox Chapel Publishing Company (October, 2002)
ISBN: 1565231597
Extreme Pumpkin Carving

To order this book from Amazon.com, click here.

Fox Chapel Books on the art of carving wood spirits