© 2022 by Fox Chapel Publishing Company, Inc., 903 Square Street, Mount Joy, PA 17552.

Complete Guide to Bird Carving is an original work, first published in 2022 by Fox Chapel Publishing Company, Inc. All projects were previously published in Woodcarving Illustrated. The patterns contained herein are copyrighted by the author. Readers may make copies of these patterns for personal use. The patterns themselves, however, are not to be duplicated for resale or distribution under any circumstances. Any such copying is a violation of copyright law.

Print ISBN 978-1-4971-0277-4
eISBN 978-1-6374-1083-7

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021946988

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For a printable PDF of the patterns used in this book, please contact Fox Chapel Publishing at customerservice@foxchapelpublishing.com, with 9781497102774 Complete Guide to Bird Carving in the subject line.

Foreword

Welcome to the wonderful world of bird carving! The craft is as unique and diverse as there are birds in the sky. To show you how accessible and rewarding the craft can be, we searched the archives of Woodcarving Illustrated to offer this collection of step-by-step tutorials for bird carvers of every interest and skill level. Whether you’re into stylized songbirds, wrens in the round, or realistic warblers, this book has something for you.

The projects in this book are divided into three sections based on difficulty level. The first section includes beginner-friendly projects with simplified features and minimal tools. The second section offers a slew of designs ideal for the intermediate carver, with slightly more challenging details. The third section includes projects perfect for advanced carvers who have mastered the basics and want to take their skills even further.

Each project is presented with instructions and a full materials and tools list to guide you through the crafting process. We’ve also included the basics on safety, tools, and accessories—everything you’ll need to start making woodchips. Corresponding patterns for each project are provided in the back of the book.

Whether you’re just getting started or have been carving for years, the following pages offer resources and projects that you’ll want to turn to again and again.

Happy carving!

—Editors of Woodcarving Illustrated magazine

Table of Contents

Getting Started

Materials & Tools

Basic Bird Anatomy

Safety

Hand Carving Basics

Power Carving Basics

Adding Texture

Woodburners

Painting & Finishing

Projects

Beginner Projects

Regal Eagle

Comfort Bird

Oval Owl

Simple Songbird

Twig Rooster

Intermediate Designs

Smooth Nuthatch

Tiny Woodpecker

Blue Heron

Loon Pin

Wren-in-the-Round

Advanced Carves

Stylized Goldfinch

Baby Chickadee

Ruby-Throated Hummingbird

Yellow-Rumped Warbler

Shoveler Hen Walking Stick

Patterns

About the Authors

Like the Projects in this Book?

Then you’ll love Woodcarving Illustrated magazine!

Woodcarving Illustrated is a quarterly magazine produced by Fox Chapel Publishing. Each issue is packed with all the latest and greatest projects, user-friendly patterns, tool reviews, tips, and features for carvers at all skill levels. Whether you’re a fan of caricature, relief, chip carving, spoon carving, whittling, power carving, or flat-plane carving—or just want to expand your woodworking repertoire—we’ve got something for your specific interests. Visit foxchapelpublishing.com/magazines to subscribe.

Then, once you’ve tried your hand at some of our out-of-this-world projects, join the community! We’re on Instagram and TikTok @woodcarvingilllustrated, and on Facebook at Woodcarving Illustrated Magazine. Also, be sure to check out our message board at forum.woodcarvingillustrated.com or sign up for our regular newsletter at woodcarvingillustrated.com/enews.

Once you’ve made one (or a dozen) of the projects in these pages, write to us directly! Send an email to editors@woodcarvingillustrated.com to share photos and information about your creations. We love hearing from you!

Getting Started

Materials & Tools

Each project in this book includes a full list of materials and tools you will need. Among the specific materials and tools needed for each project, common items include a saw for preparing blanks, assorted grits of sandpaper, cyanoacrylate (CA) glue, clamps, and a drill press and bits.

Other Useful Items

Acrylic paints, stains, and dyes: For adding color.

Chisels, gouges, and V-tools: To add texture after the initial roughing out is complete.

Epoxy putty: For creating lifelike eyes.

Carving knife: For roughing out and/or detailing a handcarved project. Alternately, you could use a traditional bench knife to rough out a project and add texture and detail with a rotary tool.

Paper towels: For wiping off excess glue or finish. Be sure to properly dispose of oil-soaked towels and rags, as they can spontaneously combust (See Minimize Fire Hazards here).

Paintbrushes: For applying acrylic paints, stains, dyes, and/or finishes.

Rotary tool: For shaping and adding texture.

Toothpicks: To add fine details, such as eyes and decorative dots.

Woodburner: For adding details and creating lifelike feathers before paint is applied.

Sanding Through the Grits

The grit number on a length of sandpaper refers to the average number of particles per square inch. The lower numbers, such as 60 and 80, are the coarser grits, which remove the most wood and are used for rough shaping. The higher numbers—220 and above—refer to finer grits that remove less wood and are used for smoothing. “Sanding through the grits” simply means using progressively finer sandpapers to smooth the scratches left by coarser grits. Rub sandpaper on a project until the wood is smooth and shaped the way you want, and then move on to a finer grit of paper and repeat, sanding with the grain when possible.

Basic Bird Anatomy

For those inclined to skip this segment, avoid the temptation. Understanding how a bird is put together will help your bird carving skills progress. In this section, we will touch on some important points of anatomy; however, we encourage you to do a deeper study on your own.

The external anatomy of a bird is known as topography, as it is a sort of map of feather groups and anatomical features. Ornithologists, those who study birds, have developed a common nomenclature that names these features. Color changes often demarcate these feather groups and features, particularly on the head. You’ll notice that many of the projects in this book stick to common descriptions, but it is important to know anatomical features as a bird carver.

Birds come in many shapes and sizes, but the basic feather groups shown below are present on nearly all flying birds. The obvious differences are the shape, size, and color of the feathers within those groups specific to any particular species.

Safety

Heeding a few safety precautions will ensure you can carve effectively for years to come. When hand carving, always wear a carving glove on your non-carving hand and a thumb guard on your carving hand to avoid injury. Position a nonslip pad under the wood blank to keep it in place and protect your body while carving. Make sure your knife is sharp by periodically honing the blade with compound and a simple leather strop. Having a sharp knife allows you to cut with less force and gives you more control, reducing the risk of injury.

Always use a dust collection system, avoid loose-fitting clothes, tie back long hair, and wear personal protective equipment (such as a dust mask and safety glasses) while power carving.

Protect Your Pipes

Dust inhalation is the biggest risk power carvers face. Cutting, grinding, and sanding all generate dust. The small particles of wood that remain in the air can cause respiratory problems when inhaled. While the more serious risks are normally associated with exotic hardwoods, you should always take dust control seriously. It is imperative to use a good dust collection system. These systems operate like a vacuum, pulling air and dust particles into the system and trapping the particles in a filter. Dust collection systems come in all sizes and price ranges. Some are portable and can be moved easily, whereas others are larger and fit into a complete workstation. Some larger dust control machines can be installed in the ceiling and operated remotely.

Construct a shopmade dust collector by encasing a standard box fan in a wooden frame with furnace filters. Sandwich the fan between the filters, using a lower-efficiency filter on the intake side and a high-efficiency HEPA filter on the exhaust side.

No dust control system will trap all of the dust particles generated while carving, so power carvers should wear a dust mask in addition to using a dust collection system. When selecting a dust mask, bypass a paper or cotton fiber mask in favor of a more effective model that has a cloth or rigid body and replaceable filters. Make sure your mask is comfortable and fits your face well; the better a mask fits and feels, the more effective it will be, and the more likely you will be to wear it.

Minimize Fire Hazards

Fire hazards occur where dust is not collected and correctly disposed of. Uncontrolled and uncollected, airborne dust particles settle and build up on any exposed area or item. In a studio workshop, where all aspects of carving are dealt with, many situations can generate a spark. Anywhere dust has settled, a fire path exists from the spark or flame source to anything combustible within the shop, and finally to the building itself. The answer to this type of hazard is to treat dust immediately as it is generated, direct it to a location for disposal, and not allow it to settle anywhere but where you want it. Even then, inspect and clean your shop regularly to remove casual dust, and dust from partially uncollected or uncollectible sources, like a table saw.

Hand Carving Basics

For the handcarved projects in this book, a few basic cuts are often used: the stop cut, the push cut, the paring cut, and the V-shaped cut. Master these four basic types of cuts and you’ll be ready to tackle a multitude of projects.

Stop Cut

As the name suggests, the stop cut is used to create a hard line at the end of another cut. Your hand position depends on the placement of the cut you need to make. Regardless of your hand position, simply cut straight into the wood to create a stop cut. Make a stop cut first to prevent a consecutive cut from extending beyond the intended area. Make a stop cut second to free a chip of wood remaining from a primary cut.

Push Cut

For the push cut, hold the wood in one hand. Hold the knife in your other hand with the thumb on the back of the blade. Push the knife through the wood, away from your body. This type of cut is also called the straightaway cut. For additional control or power, place the thumb of the wood-holding hand on top of the thumb on the blade, and use the wood-holding thumb as a pivot as you rotate the wrist of your knife-holding hand. This maneuver is often called the thumb-pushing cut or lever cut.

Paring Cut

The paring cut gives you a great deal of control but requires you to cut toward your thumb. Wear a thumb protector or be aware of the knife position at all times, especially if it slips beyond the anticipated stopping point. To perform the paring cut, which is also called a draw cut, hold the wood in one hand. Hold the knife in the other hand with four fingers. The cutting edge points toward your thumb. Rest the thumb of your knife-holding hand on the wood behind the area you want to carve. Extend the thumb as much as possible. Close your hand, pulling the knife toward your thumb, to slice through the wood. This is the same action used to peel (or pare) potatoes.

V-Shaped Cut

To make a V-shaped cut, hold a knife the same way you do when making a paring cut. Anchor the thumb of the knife hand against the wood and cut in at an angle with the tip of the knife. Rotate the wood, anchor your thumb on the other side of the cut, and cut in at an angle, running beside the first cut. Angle the two cuts so the bottom or deepest part of each cut meets in the center. This creates a V-shaped groove. Use the center of the cutting edge to make intersecting angled cuts on the corner of a blank, creating V-shaped notches.

Power Carving Basics

Carving with power involves the use of motorized equipment that rotates a shaft with a cutting bit mounted on the end. Because the rotating bit grinds away wood in a highly controlled manner, power carving allows you to create delicate designs and intricate details that would be extremely difficult to carve with traditional hand tools.

About 90% of bird carvers use power for some or all of their carving. In addition to providing more control, power carving tools generally remove wood faster than traditional edged tools. They also let you create thin carvings and achieve highly detailed pieces. It is possible to accomplish similar effects using edged tools, such as knives, gouges, and V-tools, but it is much more difficult. For example, it’s easier to create a delicate hummingbird bill without breaking it when using power; however, one small slip with a knife or gouge and the bird’s bill is destroyed. Power carving does not preclude the use of edged tools but enhances your ability to achieve the desired effects in your carving. Carving with power also opens up a world of opportunities for carvers with arthritis and some other physical limitations.

Choosing the Right Bit

Just as there are a variety of power tools available, there are many bits offered in different shapes, sizes, and materials—from diamond to ceramic. The bits are often referred to as burrs, cutters, carvers, stones, and discs. While the descriptions may seem baffling, all bits perform the same important operation: wood removal. Once you have the nomenclature mastered and acquire an understanding of bit composition, including the fact that “grit” is used here as it is when referring to sandpaper grade, the rest should be easy to follow. The finer the grit, the smoother the final surface. For this reason, most texturing stones are ideal for smooth finishing, but finish is not dependent on bit grit alone. The other critical factor is the rotary tool’s speed, measured in revolutions per minute (rpm). Follow this general rule: the coarser the grit, the slower the rpm; the finer the grit, the faster the rpm.

Bit Shapes

BALL:

• Use to create concave cuts and to hollow out areas

• Creates a cut similar to a U-gouge

CYLINDER:

• Use to cut flat areas, round edges, and make stop cuts and V-cuts

• Creates a cut similar to a knife or straight chisel

• Hold the tool at an angle and use the top corner to make V-cuts

• Smooth-end or safe-end bits are the most useful

FLAME:

• Use to make concave cuts and V-cuts, and to recess areas

• Creates a cut similar to a U-gouge when using its side and a V-tool when using the tip

PEAR:

• Use to round edges and create lumps and bumps

BULL NOSE/BALL NOSE:

• Combines a ball with a cylinder

• Use to make concave cuts and hollow out areas using the top

• Use the side to cut flat areas and round edges

• Creates a cut similar to a U-gouge with the top and a knife cut with the side

LARGE TAPER:

• Use to round edges, make concave cuts, and access hard-to-reach areas

SMALL TAPER:

• Use to access hard-to-reach and angled areas

• Create feather barbules

OVAL:

• Use to round edges, create lumps and bumps, and make concave cuts

INVERTED CONE:

• Use to make V-cuts for feather barbules

DISC:

• Use to undercut feathers and make channel cuts

• Cut off thin pieces of unwanted wood

Practice Technique

Now that you’ve learned about power carving bits, it is important to know how to use them. This section serves as a brief introduction to power carving techniques you might encounter over the course of a project. We’ve included general information, practical advice, tips, and illustrations to allow you to dive right in or improve your skills.

1 Lightly rough out and shape. Use a micro motor, medium-grit cylinder-shaped carbide cutter. Hold the tool with an overhand grip. Smaller, coarse cutters are available for smaller areas.

2 Continue light roughing. Use a micro motor, medium-grit cylinder-shaped carbide cutter. Notice that the thumb is out of the direct path of the tool. Use carefully controlled, smooth strokes, and don’t be tempted to remove too much wood at once. Always move the tool, not the wood.

3 Smooth and shape. Use a micro motor, tapered stump cutter. Hold the tool as you would a pencil. Holding the tool like this gives you greater control over the smaller, more precise movements used in this stage. The little fingers acts a pivot and support point.

Other Bits for Roughing Out

Ball-nosed cylinder-shaped carbide cutter. This bit provides the necessary torque and power to complete the first step in power carvings—roughing in. Use an overhand grip, curling your fingers over the top of the tool’s handle. The thumb acts as a brace against the wood, and cuts are made toward the thumb.

Ball-shaped carbide cutter. Cutters are often color-coded to indicate different degrees of coarseness. When using this bit, use the same overhand grip, with your thumb acting as a guide.

4 Make undercuts. Use a micro motor, flame-tipped blue stone. Matching a bit to the area you are working will make the tool more efficient. The flame shape of the stone allows you to cut a shallow indentation with a narrow groove—great for undercutting a bird’s wing.

5 Make holes and indentations. Use a micro motor, ball-shaped stump cutter. This cutter is great for making eyes. Note that it does not make the actual hole for the eye, but just the indentation. This can be followed by a cylinder-shaped cutter to complete the hole.

6 Lay out details. Use a micro motor, small-rounded blue stone. This bit works well to lay out individual feathers. Mark the feathers in pencil, and then move the stone carefully around the marked edges in one smooth motion. The little finger acts as a pivot point and helps steady the tool. Retrace the cut to make it deeper.

7 Make flat cuts and square edges. Use a micro motor, cylinder-shaped blue stone. Cylinder-shaped stones are perfect for flat cuts that require a square edge. They are especially useful on wing feathers. For detailed carvings, each feather will have a flat, sloping surface that appears to be tucked under the previous feathers. The square edge of the cylinder adds to this appearance.

8 Carve deep undercuts. Use a micro motor, needle-point diamond. Occasionally, some areas of a carving need to be deeply undercut, such as where tail feathers overlap. A needle-point diamond bit works extremely well here. Note the angle of the bit. Use the side—not the tip.

9 Round the carving. Use a micro motor, round-nosed tapered ruby. Rubies are not as hard as diamonds, but depending on their grit, can give a smoother cut. The tapered shape of this bit can also make slight indentations.

10 Texture the carving. Use a flexible shaft, tapered cylinder-shaped white stone. Flexible shaft machines or air turbines are good choices for this next stage of power carving. Texturing requires very controlled movements, so my grip on the tool hasn’t changed. I often choose softer stones over diamonds and rubies for fine detailing.

11 Add the fine texture around the eyes and beak. Use a flexible shaft, pointed white stone. This bit is great for mouths. Avoid using the very point of the stone; focus on laying the tool on its side and using the surface close to the tip. Note that the tip of this stone is black. A little applied pencil lead gives an even smoother cut.

12 Add the finer details. Use an air turbine, inverted cone-shaped white stone. An air turbine runs at a much higher rpm than a micro motor or a flexible shaft and is excellent for detail work. The tan marks on the surface of this bird are the result of the friction from the high rpm. They are easily covered during painting and finishing. An inverted cone is often used to texture feathers.

13 Finish texturing. Use an air turbine, tapered cone-shaped white stone. The side of this very small-tapered cone-shaped bit will leave behind fine texturing marks on the cheek feathers. Pencil lead applied to the surface of the stone will give it a smoother cut.

Tip

Changing Collets

The collet, shown here being removed from the end of a flexible shaft handpiece, can be changed to accept bits with different-diameter shafts. When the new collet is in place, the retaining collar is replaced, a bit is inserted, and the collar is tightened with the wrench. The locking pin is then removed, and the tool is ready for use.

Adding Texture

A bird’s body is a landscape of textures that are overlooked when seen from afar but easily identified up close. Individual feathers and even lumps and bumps are present, and bird carvers spend a lot of time power carving and woodburning to bring their project close to that kind of realism. But even the professionals may forget about some important details, including rippled, split, and overlaid feathers. Used judiciously, these features will contribute not only to the overall look but also add interest to your carving.

Making Ripples

Rippled feathers occur on the trailing edge of major flight feathers such as the primaries, secondaries, and sometimes the tertials and tail (shown here). Here’s how to achieve this look.

Tip

Practice

Take the time to observe real feathers, and then practice drawing different feather shapes, individual feathers, and groups of feathers until you are satisfied that what you have drawn represents the feathers you want to carve and texture.

1 Sand away any remaining tool marks. Sand progressively through the grits to 150. The goal is to sand away the tool marks, not to achieve a flawless surface. When finished, outline the feathers with a pencil so that they will show up better.

2 Sketch in some barbs as guidelines. In the case of this kestrel, as shown, the ripples follow the barb lines.

3 Sketch in the ripples. Good reference material is important here because ripples vary in size and shape, depending on the species and the feather. Many ripples are V-shaped, with the widest part of the V at the feather’s edge, or parallel. Others are perpendicular to the vane, such as the secondary feathers of a Canada goose. Most ripples will not extend to the quill but instead gradually flatten out to the normal curvature of the feather.

4 Carve the valleys. Use a flame-shaped ruby or diamond bit. Lay the bit on its side and, starting almost at the quill, drag it out to the edge. Begin with light pressure closest to the quill and increase the pressure as you approach the edge, where ripples are generally deeper. Do not blend the valleys at this time.

5 Raise each hill. Using a needle-tapered diamond bit, make your first pass to separate the feather from the one below it. Power-carve away the excess wood from the underside of the hill. When using this bit, be careful not to poke it through to the other side of the wood if you are working on a thin area. Use a light touch and go slowly. After you have separated the hills from the feathers below, clean up the cuts with a smaller needle-tapered diamond bit. Follow the incisions made with the larger bit and go a little deeper. Again, use a light touch.

6 Smooth the transition between the hills and valleys. Use the flame-shaped ruby or diamond bit to smooth the transitions and thin the feathers’ edges. Then sand the wood smooth. Note: Sanding is a key element to a well-executed texture. The surface must be as smooth as possible for the burning that follows. Any scratches that are not sanded away will show through the burn lines and subsequently through the paint. Start with 80-grit sandpaper, moving progressively through the grits to 500.

Making Splits and Overlays

The barbs that make up a feather vane have a series of microscopic hooks on one side and eyes on the other. The hooks of one barb mesh with the eyes on the next. The connection is what holds a vane—a collection of individual structures called barbs—together. These structures are more numerous and stronger on the stiff feathers to withstand the rigors of flight. Occasionally, the barbs separate and a split forms. Carving a few of these into your piece adds greatly to the realism of the carving. Be aware that soft feathers tend to split more than stiff feathers.

One of the functions of preening is to reconnect split feathers. It is vital to have an unbroken surface area for flight. Too many splits cause the air to whistle through the feathers—not suitable for a bird that wants to stay airborne. Be sparing in your use of splits on the stiff feathers. A bird with many splits in the major flight feathers has either had a mishap and hasn’t put itself back together yet, or it is ill. The steps that follow detail the process of making splits and overlays.

1 Large splits should be planned ahead of time in order to leave sufficient space to accommodate them. The barbs above the split extend beyond the actual width of the feather vane when it is closed (see Step 2). The photo shows the upper surface of a kestrel’s tail. One feather has a split already carved and the other has an overlay sketched in. To begin to make the split, use a narrow flame-shaped ruby carver or diamond bit. For the overlay, use a blue tapered bit to make a “step” where the top vanes overlap.

2 Carve the feather to its final thickness and sand it so that the vanes above and below the split gently round into the underlying feather. You don’t want a ridge. Sand the feather smooth for burning. The pencil lines are guides for burning. Note how the feather’s edge is sanded with almost no excess wood left above the feather or below it. At this stage, feathers have edges, not ledges. Also note the ridge remaining on the overlaying feather, which is a potential ripple. If you decide not to make a ripple, the ridge can be carved away.

3 For an overlay, first carve out the little V-shaped notch formed using a tapered diamond bit. With the needle-tapered diamond bit, “lift” the upper portion of the overlay slightly above the underlying feather. Clean the lift with a smaller needle-tapered bit. Then power carve the feather to its final thickness using a bit such as the flame-shaped ruby carver. Sand the upper part of the overlay so that there is no ridge. The pencil lines in the photo are guides for burning. Once you’ve carved the overlay, woodburn any remaining details and add your choice of paint.

Woodburners

If you wish to create fine and realistic feathers, then a woodburning unit is essential. When you are woodburning, it is important to work in a well-ventilated room. Use a fan, pointed away from your work, to draw the smoke away. The air from a fan pointed at your work can affect the nib temperature, resulting in inconsistent burning. The same can happen with a draft from a window. Wear a mask and use smoke filtration systems to help reduce smoke inhalation.

Practice a light touch. Beginners tend to use too much pressure, resulting in a dark, but deep and coarse, burn. Too much pressure also results in loss of control over the pen, making loose, curved stokes impossible. Some carvers do burn darker in areas that will be painted a dark color, but we don’t recommend this until you’ve mastered the very light touch required to form a fine, dark line. It’s far easier to darken a light area with paint than the reverse.

Burn at low temperatures, doing little more than scoring the wood. The color of the wood after burning should be a golden brown. Another thing to remember is to hold the nib at a 90° angle to the wood surface. Angled burns make the surface appear coarse and differently textured from one side to the next, as well as when viewed from different angles.

Recommended Nibs

The tonal value is determined by the woodburner’s temperature setting, the density of the burn pattern, and the nib. High temperature settings will produce larger, bolder marks, while low temperature settings will create smaller, paler marks. Each nib makes its own shape. A ball nib makes a perfect, small circle pattern, while a looped writing nib will leave a small oval. Square shaders used on a corner point will create a small, straight line. Experiment on a practice board with all three variables—heat, pen, and density—to determine which combination gives you the best results.

Ball

Looped

Square

Painting & Finishing

The final phase of carving, and for some people the most feared, is painting. Even experienced carvers become a little tentative with that first brush stroke. But with a painting strategy planned out in advance, in combination with the techniques demonstrated below, the apprehension is lessened considerably.

The foundation of a successful bird painting technique is, of course, blending. Once you understand how to correctly transition between colors in each area of a project, you’ll be well prepared for the detailing work that follows. Both of the blending techniques below require practice, but can achieve a wide variety of effects.

What Is Wet Blending?

Wet blending consists of laying two colors next to each other and then, with a blending brush, “stitching” the colors together by tapping the brush along the juncture of the two colors. This tapping lifts small amounts of one color and deposits it onto the other color, blending the two along the juncture.

Wet blending requires you to have your colors and brushes set up beforehand since you must work fairly quickly before the paint begins to dry. Have your colors mixed on the palette and one round brush loaded with each color. Dampen the blenders with water and a small amount of retarder and place them within easy reach. If you are doing a relatively large area of blending, having two or three clean, damp blenders on hand helps to speed the blending. This way, you can put the dirty blender into the rinse jar, pick up a clean blender, and continue uninterrupted.

Note: A retarding medium is a substance, usually added to water, used to slow the drying time of acrylic paints.

You’ll also need a clean paper towel nearby to wipe your brush on after every four or five taps. There are two basic ways to wet blend: soft-blending and line-blending (see here). If you don’t wipe your blender often, the accumulated paint will begin to unload in the transition area, muddying the blend. Apply paint to an area small enough to work at a comfortable pace. If you try to blend a large area all at once, the paint could dry before you get a chance to blend it, leaving a hard edge that is difficult or impossible to fully disguise.

Soft-Blending

A soft blend is two or more colors that show a soft and gradual transition from one color to another in a relatively wide area. A soft blend can also be used for shading and highlighting.

Getting Started

Dip the tip of the brush, about ¼ the length of the hairs, into the retarder; then pick up a brushload of paint and mix the two together on the palette. Dampen the blenders, dipping just the tip into the retarder.

1 Lay down one color; then quickly pick up the second brush and lay down the other color. The two colors should just barely touch.

2 Pick up a blender and, holding it at an 90° angle to the surface, tap the brush along the juncture of the two colors.

3 After four or five taps, switch to a second, clean brush or wipe the brush clean on a paper towel, pick up another bit of retarder, and continue stitching the colors down the line. Work back and forth, pulling one color into the other, until there is a smooth transition of color with no “breaks” or “edges” of color. When you use this technique on your bird, do only one feather or small area at a time.

Using Reference Materials for Painting

If you study the real bird—either in hand or a study skin—you will see that there are no continuous edges of color or one solid color throughout an area, even on the “hard” feathers. The eye wants to see a solid edge or solid color and merges these variations into these features. Train yourself to see past the first, initial impression, then replicate what you see. This creates much more interest, life, and realism. The viewer’s eye will combine these variations optically, thus maintaining the integrity of the “first impression” of a solid edge or color.

Line-Blending

A line blend is a narrow region of blending between two colors. The transition between the two colors doesn’t show a sharp delineation, but there is still a definite demarcation between the two colors. An example of where this could be used would be on patterned feathers or on a dark feather with a distinct light edge.

Line-blending is done in much the same manner demonstrated in the soft blend demonstration, with the major differences being that you don’t tap back and forth between the colors in a wide area, and you don’t use a large blending brush. For line-blending, you want to confine your tapping motion to the juncture of the two colors, forming a narrow band of blending, and use a short, flat brush.

Getting Started

Set up your palette the same way you would for the soft blend technique.

1 Lay down one color; then quickly pick up the second brush and lay down the other color. The two colors should just barely touch.

2 Pick up the flat brush and, holding it at a 90° angle to the surface, tap the brush along the juncture of the two colors. The brush should be oriented so that the long axis is parallel with the line of blending.

3 After four or five taps, switch to a second, clean brush or wipe the brush clean on a paper towel; then pick up another bit of retarder and continue stitching the colors down the line. Work close to the juncture of the two colors and blend until there is no longer a sharp, hard edge but still a demarcation between the two colors. When you use this technique on your bird, do only one feather or small area at a time.

Each painted project in this book will recommend different paint colors and techniques to match the style of the carving. If you choose to paint your bird, basic craft acrylic paints such as Apple Barrel®, Delta Ceramcoat®, and FolkArt® show up well. More expensive, higher quality acrylic paints are also available online or in most craft stores. Oil paints can also be used. Some carvings, such as Chris Pye’s “Wren-in-the-Round” (on here), call for stains and dyes instead of paints. You can also leave your carving natural, as Glyn Cutts did for his charming nuthatch (here). Some carvers dip their creations in boiled linseed oil or Danish oil to preserve the carving and enhance the wood’s rich hue; some seal their bird with varnish for a glossy and polished look. Choose your finish depending on the level of realism you’re going for.

Projects

Beginner Projects

Beginner Projects

Regal Eagle

This majestic design is based on classic chainsaw carvings. While simple, it’s a perfect intro to the world of bird carving—you can practice the basic shape of a bird, along with essential skills such as forming an eye and shaping a beak. Once you’ve sawed the rough profile, all you need to complete it is a knife, and there’s no painting required; you can apply a natural finish or keep it even simpler by leaving the bird unfinished. Done and done!

Materials & Tools

Materials

• Basswood, 2 ½″ (6.4cm): 2 ¾″ × 12″ (7cm × 30.5cm)

• Pencil

• Sandpaper: assorted grits to 240

• Finish, such as natural Danish oil

Tools

• Saw: band or coping

• Carving knife

The author used these products for the project. Substitute your choice of brands, tools, and materials as desired.

Tip

For triangular chip-carving-style cuts, keep your blade angled to around 65°.

By Greg Young
Pattern here

Getting Started

For this project, I selected a piece of basswood from a downed basswood tree being cut and split for campfire wood. Basswood, clear pine, or any soft wood with tight, straight grain would work. Before carving, flatten the bottom of the wood so you have a stable base.

Establish the head, neck, and shoulders. Mark the blank. Use a coping saw, or band saw to cut the excess wood away. Then draw the neck, head, beak, and shoulder area.

Rough out the beak. Using a knife, make stop cuts under the bottom of the beak and remove wood from the neck and shoulder area up to those stop cuts. Repeat this process several times to define the beak area.

Round the eagle’s body. I’ve found it’s much easier to draw the body lines on the eagle after rounding the back and front of the body up to the neck area. Note: If you’d prefer a guide, draw on the body lines, round the body, and then redraw the lines. Round the blank 5″ (12.7cm) below the shoulder area. Then draw a centerline on the front and back of the eagle, continuing the line over the top of the head and beak area.

Draw guidelines for the eagle’s features. Use the pattern to draw the wings and tail. Note how the primary feathers are crossed at the bottom of each wing. Then draw the legs and talons. Finally, draw the outer edges of the eagle’s head and beak.

Carve the wings. Make stop cuts on the back of each leg, under the bottom of each wing, and around the tail. Carve away wood under and up to each stop cut. Then make stop cuts on the wing lines around the shoulders and breast of the eagle. Carve up to those stop cuts from the breast area, and carve down from the neck area to establish the shoulders and wings. Don’t carve too deeply next to the wings because it creates a trough. Taper and blend all of the cuts up to the stop cuts.

Define the legs. Place the tip of the knife along the lines that mark the inside edge of each leg, and make a deep chip-carving cut angled inward from each side. Then make another plunging cut in and up at the bottom of each foot. You may have to repeat this step a few times to carve the area deeply enough.

Narrow the head and beak. Then gently round the back of the eagle’s head. Draw the hood and beak lines on the sides of the head.

Carve the talons. Make stop cuts along the outer edges of the feet. Draw three talons on each foot. Remove wood below and along the outside of the talons. Carefully make a stop cut and use the tip of the knife to remove the wood between each talon. Cut away a shallow wedge of wood where each leg meets the foot to further define the legs and talons, and then blend the legs into the feet.

Carve the beak. Using the tip of the knife, rotate your wrist to make a curl cut and remove wood from the beak to the neck. This will narrow and further define the beak. If you have difficulty getting a clean cut under the beak, use very fine-grit sandpaper to smooth the neck.

Carve the feathers. Make stop cuts along the primary feathers that cross over the tail and carefully remove the wood around them. Then carve away the wood on the exposed tail to lower it and separate it from the crossed primary feathers. Draw a crosshatch pattern for the wing feathers, and draw a few vertical lines for the tail feathers. Make stop cuts on all of the lines. Starting from the outer edge of the tail, cut up to each tail-feather stop cut. Then carve the wing feathers. Start at the bottom and carve up to each stop cut, working your way to the top of each wing. Then remove a thin wedge of wood on all of the feather lines.

Carve the head. Make a stop cut along the hood and carve up to it, narrowing the head and beak area. Make a stop cut around the beak on each side of the head, and carve up to the stop cuts to define the beak. Draw the eyes, and make a stop cut in the corner of each eye. Carve up to the stop cut from the center of each eye to remove a wedge of wood from the corners. Draw a horizontal jagged line on the eagle’s breast between the two wings, and make a three-cornered chip to separate the head from the body. If desired, make a few deep V-cuts to represent the boulders the eagle is perching on. Clean up your cuts and finish as desired; I used natural Danish oil.

Beginner Projects

Comfort Bird

These silky-smooth birds are soothing to hold, and the blanks can be production-cut for holiday gifts or fundraisers. If you’re new to hand or power carving, this project is a great way to practice both skills. The simplified form allows you to focus on getting comfortable with the woodgrain as you carve and sand. Then learn how to apply a basic finish to make its natural beauty shine!

Materials & Tools

Materials

• Hardwood, such as cherry, walnut, or poplar, 2″ (5.1cm) square: 4 ¼″ (10.8cm) long

• Sandpaper: 150-grit

• Tape: clear packaging

• 0000 steel wool

• Finish, such as Minwax®

• Paste wax, such as Minwax®

• Pumice stone: 4F fine

• Oil of choice (for pumice)

• Soft cloth

• Cardboard

Tools

• Saws: radial arm (optional), band

• Carving knife

• Sander: drum 1″ (25mm)-dia.

• Rotary tool with bits: assorted small

• Needle: darning

• Paintbrush: small

The author used these products for the project. Substitute your choice of brands, tools, and materials as desired.

Tip

Orient the pattern so that the grain flows from beak to tail. This gives the bird more structural support.

By Frank Foust
Pattern here

Cut away the excess wood. Create templates by transferring the patterns to thin cardboard and cutting around the outline of the patterns. Trace the templates onto the blank and cut the top view of the bird with a band saw. Tape the waste in place, rotate the blank 90°, and cut the side view.

Rough out the bird. Remove the sharp edges and rough shape the bird with a sanding drum equipped with 60-grit sandpaper. I use a 1 ½″ (38mm)-diameter drum attached to a radial arm saw, but you can use a rotary-power carver. Shape the neck with a 1″ (25mm)-diameter cushioned sanding drum.

Finish shaping the bird. Use a carving knife to shape the beak. Use a rotary-power carver and your bit of choice to add any desired details and to remove any remaining ridges. Make sure the bird is smooth and flowing with no hard lines or sharp angles.

Sand the bird. Sand the bird by hand with 150-grit sandpaper. Then buff the bird with synthetic steel wool until the carving is perfectly smooth. Don’t rush the process. Creating a smooth surface is a vital step.

Apply polyurethane. Insert a darning needle into the bottom of the bird to give you something to hold. Then apply a light coat of polyurethane to the carving and allow the finish to dry thoroughly. Buff the carving with synthetic steel wool, apply another coat of finish, and let the finish dry thoroughly.

Finish the bird. Rub the second coat of polyurethane with powdered pumice mixed with oil. Remove the oil and pumice, and then apply paste wax. Use a soft cloth to buff the wax to a high gloss.

Beginner Projects

Oval Owl

The next stop on the bird carving train is an owl you can carve from a pre-turned wooden egg blank, easily found at your local woodworking supply store. No need to worry about basic shaping here, as it’s already done! That said, the egg comes with its own challenges and is a great crash-course in grain direction. Once you’ve carved the details, you can practice woodburning, adding color, and mounting your piece—all skills you can hone while growing as a bird carver.

Materials & Tools

Materials

• Wooden egg, basswood or butternut: hen-sized or any size you are comfortable carving

• Pen or pencil

• Sandpaper: assorted grits

• Natural finish, such as Danish oil

• Paper towels

• Acrylic paints: black, burnt sienna

Tools

• Carving knife

• Thumbtacks

• Skew chisel: ⁵/₁₆″ to ⅜″ (8mm to 10mm)

• #6 gouge: ½″ (13mm)

• #8 gouges: ³/₁₆″ to ¼″ (5mm to 6mm), ⅜″ (10mm)

• V-tool: ¼″ (6mm) 70°

• Paintbrushes: assorted

• Woodburner with nib: skew (optional)

• Heat gun (optional)

The author used these products for the project. Substitute your choice of brands, tools, and materials as desired.

Tip

A large gouge is vital to creating smooth, concave eye saucers.

By Steven Kulp
Pattern here

Getting Started

Purchase a basswood or butternut egg made for carving; don’t try this with inexpensive turned eggs from a craft store. Photocopy and cut out the pattern.

Draw a straight line along the length of the egg. Start at the top. I draw it down the edge-grain side of the egg because it holds the details better. Push a pin or small nail through the bull’s-eye of the pattern into the top of the egg. Align the center mark on the chin with the line, and hold it in place with a small piece of tape.

Transfer the pattern. Take a second pin or nail and stab through the pattern at the corner points of the beak. While holding the pattern flat, trace around the outside. Use the diagram to mark the belly, feet, and wings. Remove the pattern and draw the horn feather lines and beak marks.

Carve around the face and horn feathers. Use a small V-tool. Make the V-groove just over ⅛″ (3mm) deep. Remove the wood between the horn feathers and around the top of the head with a ³/₁₆″ to ¼″ (5mm to 6mm) #8 gouge.

Carve toward the V-grooves around the face. Use a knife, and start at the outline of the wings. Then carve from the outlines of the wings to the top of the head in the back. Round the belly and carve a notch between the belly and the top of the feet.

Carve from the wings to the sides of the feet. Use a ⅜″ (10mm) #8 gouge. Remove enough wood so you’ll be able to drill a hole through both of the feet or cut a notch for mounting on the edge of a box or cup. Round the top and bottom of the feet, and carve the claws with the knife or the small V-tool.

Carve the details of the face. Make stop cuts around the beak and between the eye dishes and the bib. Then carve the bib down to ¹/₁₆″ (2mm) thick with the knife or a skew chisel. Use a ½″ (12mm) #6 gouge to carve the eye dishes down to ⅛″ (3mm) thick. To get clean cuts, carve from the outside of the eye dish in toward the beak.

Carve the beak to a pyramid shape. Use the knife or skew chisel. Make the top point at the widest part of the beak. Carve the horn feathers down to meet the top of the beak, tapering them back from the center of the head.

Decide how to carve the eyes. You can make a realistic eye centered in the dish, or make oversized cartoon eyes looking off to one side. You can carve a recess and add small yellow glass eyes or paint them. I woodburn mine.

Finishing

You can finish the owl several ways. Refer to the diagram and carve, paint, or burn feathers. If you decide to paint, seal the egg with natural Danish oil and let it dry. Then drybrush the wings and shoulders with a wash of burnt sienna acrylic paint, and paint the eyes and bill black. If you choose to burn, follow the diagram for the feathers, and then blacken the eyes and bill with the woodburner. I use a small heat gun to darken the back of the wings slightly. Then apply another coat of Danish oil.

Beginner Projects

Simple Songbird

This whittled bird fits nicely in your hand, and the blank is durable enough to throw in a pocket or backpack. Use the rough shape as a clean slate for creating your own backyard visitor of choice: gather reference materials, shape the profile based on your selection, and add as many or as few details and textures as you like. Unlike in earlier projects, the painting stage is just as important as the carving portion, so take your time and experiment with washes to achieve the desired look.

Materials & Tools

Materials

• Basswood, 1 ½″ (3.8cm) thick: 2 ¼″ × 4 ¾″ (5.7cm × 12.1cm)

• Bamboo skewers, 2 each cut to size

• Glue: wood, such as Titebond®

• Acrylic paints: assorted

• Glass beads for eyes (optional)

• Wood for stand

Tools

• Saw: band, coping, or scroll

• Carving knife

• Drill with bits: assorted small

• Paintbrushes: assorted

Tip

Make sure to carve the final shape of the beak last, as this area is delicate.

By Frank Egholm
Pattern here

Getting Started

Draw or trace the outline of the bird onto the wood. For strength, make sure the grain runs along the tail. Cut the perimeter with a band saw, coping saw, or scroll saw.

Carve the bird. Round the body. Then round and narrow the head. Finish the head and body, and then narrow the tail and carve the beak to a point.

Add the details. Drill holes for the legs. Turn a tiny drill bit with your fingers to make sure you don’t drill too deep. Then dry fit the legs; I use bamboo skewers. While you can paint the eyes, I use tiny glass beads.

Alternate Designs

Use the same pattern to whittle birds common to most backyards.

Junco.

Goldfinch.

Paint the bird. I painted my bird with thinned acrylic paints. I based my painting on a common Eurasian bullfinch, but because the shape of the bird is so generic, you can make your bird a bluebird, goldfinch, junco, wren, or almost any variety of songbird. Glue the legs in and add a base, if desired.

Wren.

Bluebird.

Beginner Projects

Twig Rooster

When people think of classic whittling projects, often a simple pocketknife and a branch come to mind. This is one such design; you can use found twigs and make a complete project while out on a hike. The twig rooster is a fantastic way to practice using a single blank with multidirectional grain—you actually work with the natural shape of adjacent branches and splits, rather than sawing them off. You’ll also learn how to use the level of moisture in a piece of wood to your advantage. A few drops of paint complete the look.

Materials & Tools

Materials

• Forked branch

• Clear finish (optional)

• Oil paints (optional)

• Sandpaper: assorted grits

Tools

• Pocketknife

• Belt or shoelace

• Paintbrush (optional)

Tip

Wait until your branch dries in order to get the most pronounced curls.

By Chris Lubkemann
Pattern here

Note: Always wear a carving glove and thumb guard. These photos were taken without them to clearly show hand and knife positions.

Getting Started

Once you have the rooster-carving technique down, you can “branch” out to pheasants, herons, roadrunners, and a whole slew of other critters and projects.

The size and shape of your rooster will depend on the thickness and angle of the forked branch you choose. In addition, the success of the tail depends on the dryness of the wood. Rooster tails need to be carved when the wood has dried a bit. The dryness of the wood is what allows the feathers to curl as they are cut.

Try the following trick to help you decide when a branch is dry enough to carve a rooster tail: when you take the bark off the tail branch of the fork, also remove the bark from another straight branch of the same wood and the same thickness. Use the second branch as a practice and test piece. If the thin slices of the second branch do not curl when you make the cuts, you’ll know the wood on the first branch is still too wet for the curling feather cuts of a rooster. If the wood on the second branch curls nicely, the wood on the first branch is also just right for curling. Also, it’s not a bad idea to try a few practice tails on the test branch before doing the tail on your almost-finished rooster.

Finally, you will do a much better job of carving a rooster and have better control if you use your pocketknife’s small blade for the carving, except when slicing the tail feathers in Step 9.

Choose a forked branch. Select a fork with a bottom branch (Branch B) diameter of ⅜″ to ¾″ (1cm to 1.9cm). The length of Branch A (the head) should be roughly two times its diameter. Branch B (the feet) should be slightly longer than Branch A. Leave Branch C (the tail) 4″ to 5″ (10.2cm to 12.7cm) long.

Note: All instructions are for right-handed carvers. Lefties need to reverse the instructions.

Taper the head and feet. Taper Branch A for the rooster’s head and neck. Begin the cuts slightly above the bottom of the Y. Turn the fork 90° and taper Branch B for the rooster’s legs. Curve these cuts and take more wood from the front than from the back to make the chest puff out more. Notice where these cuts begin in relation to the horizontal dotted line and the bottom of the Y.

Carve the vest. Remove the bark from the sides of the tapered Branch B (legs). Then carve away any remaining bark on Branch A. Leave the bark on the rooster’s “vest” over the chest. If Branch C is very thick, remove some wood from the sides to create an oval cross-section.

Separate the legs. Draw the pointed-arch-shaped area between the legs marked with an X on the drawing. Insert the point of the knife at the top of the arch and cut toward the bottom. Note: If you try to cut from the bottom up, you will be cutting against the grain and will run a much greater risk of cutting yourself. Round and smooth the legs.

Shape the head. This requires three separate cuts. Cut in the directions indicated by the arrows to keep from splitting the wood. (1) Cut off a small amount of wood from the front of the branch. (2) Round the head from the front to the crown. (3) Then round the head from the back to the crown. The angle of cut 2 is steeper than cut 3.

Refine the comb. (1) Taper (sharpen) the top of the branch to separate the comb from the head. (2) Carve a series of V-shaped notches into the top of the comb. Make small cuts to keep from splitting the wood. (3) Carve a notch to form the front of the comb and the top of the beak.

Separate the comb from the back of the head. (1) Make a cut down and in at a sharp angle. (2) Use the drawing as a guide to carefully cut up to the stop cut to shape the back of the head and neck and separate the comb from the back of the head. (3) Taper the back of the comb and the beak. Note: Here and below, cut a little bit at a time, repeating the cuts as necessary to get the desired shape.

Carve the beak and wattle. (1) Carefully carve a small notch under the beak. (2) Then make a stop cut straight up under the wattle and carve up to it to separate it from the neck. (3) Carefully round the wattle down into the neck. Use the tip of the knife to carve a thin V-groove to divide the wattle in two.

Carve the curly tail feathers. Secure the rooster face down on a flat, sturdy surface. Place the knife blade nearly flat on the tail. Make short, repeated, forward-slicing cuts with the knife the whole way to the base of the tail branch. These thin slices should curl naturally.

Finishing

Carefully sand the head and legs. Do not allow the rooster to get wet or apply a water-based finish—if the feathers get wet, they will lose their curl. Paint the rooster as desired; do not paint the tail. Seal the piece with clear oil-based polyurethane; an acrylic sealer will sometimes work as well.

Refine the last feather. Because you started with the bottom feather, the last feather to carve is the top one. Carefully thin the top feather, carving from the bottom up. Using the flat surface of the knife, carefully spread the feathers apart and into their final positions.

Tip

Wet vs. Dry Wood

The amount of curl you get when you carve depends on how wet the branch is. For flowers, trees, and rooster tails, you’ll want to use drier wood for more curl. It is nearly impossible to get a good natural curl if the wood is damp or wet, no matter how sharp your blade is or how thin you make the individual slices. However, slight curls are perfect for roadrunner tails. Practice on scrap branches to see the difference.

From left to right, the branches from wettest to driest. The wettest branch doesn’t curl. The branch on the far right is the driest, so it curls the most.

More on Curls

Learning the Cut

Carving curls isn’t hard, once you get the hang of it. Plan to practice on several small branches before you try a project. You can cut curls with either a small or large blade—use the one you’re most comfortable with. Here are a few tips for success:

A. Rest the tip of the blade against the twig at a very shallow angle. You don’t want to dig into the wood so much as let the edge of the blade lightly catch as you move it.

B. Hold the knife firmly and slide the blade forward and slightly down in a short slicing motion. Only cut down ¹/₁₆″ to ⅛″ (2mm to 3mm). Do not cut straight down; you aren’t peeling a carrot!

C. Draw the knife back without cutting—you are not sawing. Don’t lift the blade, either, because lifting the blade starts a new cut.

D. Make another tiny, controlled, forward slice as you push down slightly on the knife. The knife tip should move both right-left and down in this movement. Pull the blade back and repeat the forward cut. It might take seven or eight tiny cuts to make one curl.

Controlling the Direction

To make a straight curl, hold the knife straight across the branch and cut down. The wood will curl down in line with the stick.

To make curls that bend to the right, tip the knife blade down as you cut.

For curls that bend to the left, tip the knife blade up.

Combine cutting styles to create a curl explosion!

Intermediate Designs

Intermediate Designs

Smooth Nuthatch

This stylized nuthatch is a perfect precursor to more realistic bird carving: the proportions are slightly more true to life, the basic feather groups are suggested by a few strategic cuts, and beads are added to simulate the eyes (great practice for epoxy-and-glass eye additions in the advanced projects that come later). The best part? You can whittle it all with a single utility knife.

Materials & Tools

Materials

• Basswood (lime), 2″ (5.1cm) thick: 2″ × 6 ¹¹/₁₆″ (5.1cm × 17cm)

• Found wood base

• Beads, ⅛″ (3mm) diameter: black

• Dowel, ⅛″ (3mm) diameter: 1″ (25mm) long

• Sandpaper: assorted grits to 320

• Acrylic paint (optional)

• Satin varnish

• Glue: cyanoacrylate (CA)

Tools

• Pencil

• Knife: fixed-blade utility knife

• Band saw

• Drill with bit: ⅛″ (3mm) diameter

Tip

Use a weathered piece of found wood or bark to make the base. This creates textural contrast with the smooth bird.

By Glyn Cutts
Pattern here

Note: Always wear a carving glove and thumb guard. These photos were taken without them to clearly show hand and knife positions.

Draw the major landmarks. Transfer the side view pattern to the blank and cut along the lines with a band saw. Draw a centerline on the top and bottom of the bird. Using the pattern as a guide, draw a line across the front of the beak on the top and bottom. Then draw a line at the back of the head on both sides and across the tail on both sides. Sketch the beak. Mark the beak (B), head (H), and tail (T).

Shape the body. Carefully carve toward the beak, removing the sharp edges. Make the same number of cuts on both sides of the centerline to remove the same amount of wood. Then carve toward the tail. Again, make the same number of cuts on both sides.

Tip

Holding the Knife

Before you start whittling, it is a good idea to get a feel for the knife and practice rolling your wrist. This helps you get the right cutting action when you whittle. Match your hand position to the photos and then practice this movement a few times before starting. I always keep my fingers behind the sharp edge and whittle away from myself.

Round the back. Make a stop cut on the corner of the blank along the neck line. Make a scooping cut from the high point of the back to the stop cut. Repeat the process on the other side. Make a stop cut on the tail line, and round from the high point of the back down to the stop cut at the tail.

Finish removing the sharp corners from the head and body. Repeat the process explained in Step 3 to make stop cuts along the neck and beak lines, and remove the sharp corners to those stop cuts. Make an identical number of cuts on both sides.

Shape the tail and beak. Keep the blade flat against the wood as you remove an equal amount of excess wood from both sides of the beak. On the tail, I use a series of three cuts to remove the excess wood. Carve off the top corner, then the bottom corner, and finally the corner created by the first two cuts. Remove an equal amount of excess wood from both sides of the tail.

Tip

Maintaining Symmetry

Use the centerline as a guide to make sure you remove the same amount of wood from both sides.

Form the head. Round the head as you taper the neck toward the beak. Extend the neck line down the sides of the blank. Continue rounding from the centerline on the top to the center of the sides. Trim the beak as necessary.

Shape the body. Round the body from the bottom centerline to the side and up to the top centerline. Repeat the process on both sides. Mark the 1³/₁₆″ (2.1cm) width of the tail. Stop-cut along the tail line. Round and taper the body to the marks on the tail. Trim the tail to the marks.

Refine the head. Draw the beak, which is ⅜″ (1cm) wide where it connects to the head and tapers to a point. Round and taper the head to the base of the beak the whole way around. Then refine the neck by making scooping cuts from the body to the neck. The goal is to create a soft transition between the body and head.

Refine the tail. Remove the sharp corners from the bottom of the tail. Then carve down the middle of the bottom of the tail to thin it. Use the same process to remove a little wood from the top. The tail should taper down to about ⅛″ (3mm) wide at the tip. Make a mark 1³/₁₆″ (2.1cm) from the base of the tail and cut the tail off at that mark.

Refine the beak. Make a mark ⁹/₁₆″ (1.4cm) from the base of the beak. Remove the sharp corners and whittle the beak to a point at this mark. Then sand the bird with 80-grit sandpaper to remove the tool marks. Do not change the shape of the bird.

Draw the eye and feather lines. Draw lines parallel with the base of the beak about ⅛″ (3mm) apart across the head. Measure in ³/₁₆″ (5mm) from the base of the beak on each side and mark the locations of the eyes. Use the pattern as a guide to draw the feather lines on the sides, back, and tail. These lines are just for reference; you can adjust them as you carve.

Add the eyes. Drill a ⅛″ (3mm)-diameter hole on each side with a drill and bit or the point of the knife. Glue black beads into the holes.

Carve the feathers. Make a shallow stop cut with the knife slightly angled in under the feathers. Carve up to the stop cut to free the chip and slightly undercut the feather groups on the sides and tail. Sand away the tool marks with 80-grit sandpaper.

Finish the bottom of the bird. Remove any remaining excess wood from the belly area. Then sand away the tool marks with 80-grit sandpaper. Remove the scratches from the 80-grit sandpaper with 220 and then 320-grit sandpaper.

Finishing

I sealed this nuthatch with two coats of interior satin varnish. You could also paint the carving with acrylic paints or leave it unfinished. If you decide to paint the bird, seal the wood with varnish, and then sand the finish lightly. Keep reference photos handy while painting. I drill a hole in the bottom for a ⅛″ (3mm)-diameter dowel and then drill a matching hole in a piece of found wood to create a natural base for the nuthatch.

Intermediate Designs

Tiny Woodpecker

Take your whittling skills up a notch with this miniature ode to the downy woodpecker. Carved from just a scrap of wood and only requiring a knife and a drill to complete, this design allows you to hone your detailing abilities; you’ll also add hanging hardware and a mixed-media element.

Materials & Tools

Materials

• Acorn (red oak recommended)

• Basswood or similar, ⅛″ (3mm) thick: ³/₁₆″ × 2″ (5mm × 5.1cm)

• Birch toothpicks: 2 each

• Acrylic paint: black, gray, red, white

• Glue: cyanoacrylate (CA)

• 7-strand coated beading wire, ⁵/₃₂″ (4mm): 1″ (2.5cm) long

• Chinese knotting cord or similar: gold, 4″ (10.2cm) long

Tools

• Carving knife: Del Stubbs Harley or detail

• Rubber fingertip, such as Swingline (optional)

• Glue gun with glue sticks

• Hand drill with bit: ⅛″ (3mm)-dia., ¹/₃₂″ (1mm)-dia.

• Dremel with bit: fine-grit cone-shaped diamond

• Pin vise

• Scissors or wire cutter

• Paintbrushes: #3 round, 2 / 0 and 10 / 0 liner

Tip

Have a box of toothpicks lying around? You’re in luck! Here they’re used for everything from making the beak to securing the bird to its acorn home.

By Steve Tomashek
Pattern here

Getting Started

The most critical part of this project is finding and cleaning the acorn. I’ve found that red oak (Quercus rubra) offers the sturdiest nuts for this purpose. Find them in the fall before they start to rot; let them dry in a single layer in a well-ventilated room and start cleaning them out in the winter. If you leave the nutmeats inside too long, they will eventually mold.

Note: Always wear a carving glove and thumb guard. These photos were taken without them to clearly show hand and knife positions.

Prepare the acorn. Separate the cupule (cap) from the nut and drill an ⅛″ (3mm) hole in the nut where it was attached to the cupule. Enlarge the opening by carefully carving around the circumference of the hole until it encompasses the area that was connected to the cupule. Use a knife. Chop the nut meat into smaller pieces to remove it through the hole.

Prepare the blank. Make sure that the grain runs vertically. Round one end and narrow it slightly on all sides using paring cuts; this will be the bird’s head.

Drill the beak hole. With a hand drill, make a ¹/₃₂″ (1mm) hole on one side of the blank, making sure not to drill all the way through. Use a pin vise for added control; it takes just a few twists to get sufficient depth (a little over ¹/₁₆″ [2mm]). Tiny drill bits are brittle and break easily, so be careful not to flex it forcefully.

Add the beak. Insert a toothpick tipped with cyanoacrylate (CA) glue into the hole. Hold onto the toothpick as you carve it into a beak. Starting each cut as close as possible to the head, give the beak four distinct sides that end in a point. Try not to cut all the way through the toothpick until you’ve managed to establish all four sides.

Establish the neck. Beginning at the base of the beak on both sides of the head, cut off V-shaped chips to separate the head from the breast. Repeat with finer cuts until the edges of the V-cut are curved and smoother on the front and sides.

Round the belly with small, repeated strokes. For ease of handling, chop off the chips you make but keep the carving connected to the piece you’re holding onto. Smooth the edges into the curve and narrow the tail slightly.

Drill a hole in the bird’s belly. Be very careful not to drill all the way through. Insert a toothpick tipped with cyanoacrylate (CA) glue into the hole. Separate the carved bird from the rest of the blank with a few careful slices.

Paint the bird. Using the toothpick as a handle, use slightly thinned acrylics to paint the bird its natural colors. For a downy woodpecker, start with a coat of white over the entire body. Then use black, gray, and red to fill in the details. Finish with white to detail the eyes and add wing spotting. Use very small liner brushes for the finest details. Magnification and good lighting help enormously.

Glue the acorn back together. Use a glue gun for best results: squirt the heated glue into the cupule, reattach, and hold for a few seconds. Then drill a hole in the top of the nut portion. Be careful not to break away the protrusion, as this is where you will affix the hanger.

Place the bird against the nut and mark the best placement. Drill two holes in the side of the nut, one for securing the bird and the other at beak level. Expand the one at beak level using a fine-grit cone-shaped diamond bit and fasten the bird into the other so it appears to be boring into the wood with its beak. The shell of the nut will likely split if too much force is applied; using a cone-shaped bit works much better than using a larger drill bit. Trim the toothpick fixed to the bird so that it fits snugly into the second hole and attach with cyanoacrylate (CA) glue.

Add the hanger. Insert the ends of a piece of beading wire into the hole at the top of the nut, and wedge them into place. I used a toothpick that was whittled to a fine point, scored a little over ¹/₁₆″ (2mm) from the end, and tipped with cyanoacrylate (CA) glue. Hang the ornament with a piece of colorful knotting cord.

Intermediate Designs

Blue Heron

This relief carving, although less dimensional than previous projects, is great practice for creating fine feather texture, as well as upping your blending and shading game. The horizon, cattails, and log texture are important, too: often, professional bird carvers include elements of the creature’s habitat for added realism.

Materials & Tools

Materials

• Basswood, 1″ (2.5cm) thick: 11″ × 12″ (27.9cm × 30.5cm)

• Transfer paper

• Pencil

• Pen: red

• Eraser

• Tape: masking

• Sandpaper: assorted grits to 240

• Boiled linseed oil

• Turpentine: odorless, such as Turpenoid®

• Mineral spirits

• Oil paints: burnt umber, cadmium yellow, cadmium orange, carbon black, cobalt blue, deep green, Naples yellow, Payne’s gray, terra verte, phthalo blue, titanium white

• Acrylic paints: cadmium yellow, carbon black, titanium white

• Polyurethane: satin spray

• Paper towels

• Brown paper bag

• Toothpicks

Tools

• Nonslip pad

• Knives: carving, detail

• Ruler

• Bent chisel: ⅛″ (3mm)

• Fishtail skew chisel: ¼″ (6mm)

• #3 gouges: ⅜″ (10mm), ⅝″ (16mm)

• #7 gouge: ½″ (13mm)

• #8 gouge: ⁵/₁₆″ (8mm)

• #11 gouges: ¹/₁₆″ (2mm), ⅛″ (3mm), ³/₁₆″ (5mm)

• V-tool: ⅛″ (3mm) 60°

• Awl

• Hammer

• Paintbrushes: assorted

Tip

Thin oil paints with boiled linseed oil to create watercolor-like washes on the finished piece.

By Robert Stadtlander
Pattern here

Getting Started

Use a nonslip pad under the blank to hold it in place while carving. Secure a copy of the pattern to the blank with masking tape and slip a piece of carbon paper between the blank and pattern. If your carbon paper is smaller than the pattern, slide the carbon paper around as needed to trace the pattern. Use a red ballpoint pen and omit the detail when transferring the pattern to save time. Remove the pattern and carbon paper.

Make two cuts at a 45° angle to create the oval border. Use a carving knife. Make stop cuts perpendicular to the surface around the major elements, like the heron’s body. Carve up to the stop cuts with the knife to free the chips. These second cuts are called relief cuts. Leave extra wood around the elements to allow for cleanup later. As you carve deeper stop cuts, use a ½″ (13mm) #7 gouge for the relief cuts.

Carve the background sky down ½ ″ (1.3cm) in the deepest areas. Taper the sky so that it is bowl-shaped and shallower near the border. Use a ⁵/₁₆″ (8mm) #8 gouge and a ¼″ (6mm) fishtail skew to make the relief cuts in the tight areas. Carve the water above the log down ¼″ (6mm). This is the middle ground. Sketch the heron’s feathers.

Tip

Clean Cuts

Use a V-tool to outline the feathers; this method saves time and allows for more symmetrical cuts than a detail knife would make.

Flatten the middle ground. When you get to the required depth, use wider #3 gouges to make this surface as flat as possible. Taper the middle ground down to ⅜″ (1cm) deep as it approaches the horizon. With the background ½″ (1.3cm) deep, there should be a step at the top of the waterline. Make a deeper stop cut on the border where the water meets the sky. Carve up to any leftover stop cuts with a #3 gouge.

Taper the water in front of the log to ¼ ″ (6mm) deep where it meets the log. Round the log using different sizes of #3 gouges. Carve the feet down ⅛″ (3mm). Round the heron’s body, neck, back, and head. Use the #3 gouges and the carving knife. Separate the feathers using a ⅛″ (3mm) 60° V-tool. Taper the top bill and bottom bill using a #3 gouge.

Make stop cuts between the cattails and leaves. Use the carving knife. Use the ½″ (13mm) #7 gouge to make stop cuts at the top and bottom of the spikes. Make shallow stop cuts near the tips so they remain attached to the spikes. Use the ⅛″ (3mm) bent chisel to clean out the narrow areas between the stalks and leaves. Round the two spikes that are level with the surface of the board with a #3 gouge.

Make perpendicular stop cuts in the V-grooves between the feathers. Use the carving knife. Make relief cuts with a ⅜″ (10mm) #3 gouge to create shadows in the feather areas. Use the ½″ (13mm) #7 gouge to create a little notch where the neck meets the body. Create the horizontal eye socket with a ³/₁₆″ (5mm) #11 gouge. Separate the bill with a detail knife and the ½″ (13mm) #7 gouge.

Create the feathers on the neck. Use a ¹/₁₆″ (2mm) #11 gouge. Make the feather texture follow the bends in the neck by twisting your wrist as you make the cuts. Draw the eye and make sure it is positioned correctly. It is important to have sizes and locations correct. The eye is round except where it tapers to the inside and outside corners. Set the eye in with the detail knife.

Round the legs and toes with the detail knife. Texture the outside of the log using the ⁵/₁₆″ (8mm) #8 gouge. Adding a few knot holes and cracks provides additional definition. Use a ⅛″ (3mm) #11 gouge to texture the rotting end of the log. Draw lines starting from the setting sun and carve a series of continuous grooves with the ½″ (13mm) # 7 gouge, leaving high ridges to simulate the light beams. Round the top of the water near the horizon. Make vertical cuts with the ⅛″ (3mm) #11 gouge to texture the trees and use the ⅛″ (3mm) 60° V-tool to create the top profile.

Use a blunt awl and soft-faced hammer to create a dimpled texture on the cattail spikes. I rounded the end of a ¹/₁₆″ (2mm)-diameter nail and mounted it on a handle. Texture parts of the log using the awl and hammer.

Create the feathers on the neck. Use the ¹/₁₆″ (2mm) #11 gouge. Make the feather texture follow the bends in the neck by twisting your wrist as you make the cuts. Draw the eye and make sure it is positioned correctly. It is important to have sizes and locations correct. The eye is round except where it tapers to the inside and outside corners. Set the eye in with the detail knife.

Tip

Clearing Chips

When carving detail, use a soft toothbrush to remove any chips rather than pulling or cutting them out.

Painting and Finishing

For this piece, I used oil paint thinned with between 10 and 50 parts boiled linseed oil. The oil paints dry slower than acrylic paints, so you can adjust the colors easier. If a piece looks too dark, wash away some of the paint with a small amount of mineral spirits. If the area is too light, add small amounts of dark oil paint, such as black or burnt umber, and blend. Adjust the colors of the thinned mixtures by adding more boiled linseed oil to make it lighter or more oil paint to make it darker.

Tip

Testing the Paint Washes

Use scrap basswood to test the colors and consistency of the paint wash. Practice thoroughly blending the different colors.

Apply the base coat to the water. Use a 50:1 mixture of boiled linseed oil and Payne’s gray. Use a ½″ (13mm) flat brush to apply most of the paint and a #6 shader for the small areas. Leaving the colors of the water dull makes the heron stand out more. Make a 50:1 mixture of boiled linseed oil and burnt umber, and apply it to the spikes on the cattails.

Apply the base coat to the trees. Use a 50:1 mixture of boiled linseed oil and terre verte oil paint. Use a 50:1 mixture of boiled linseed oil and permanent green deep for the cattail stalks. Apply the Payne’s gray wash from Step 11 to the heron’s body except the area around the eyes. Paint the crown and shoulder feathers with a 10:1 mixture of boiled linseed oil and carbon black. Use a 20:1 mixture of boiled linseed oil and phthalo blue for the brighter blue feathers. The oil paints dry slower, which allows you to make easier adjustments while painting.

Paint the sky. Use a 50:1 mixture of boiled linseed oil and cadmium yellow. Apply it with a flat brush. Blend in a small amount of cadmium orange for the sun. Paint the bill with a 10:1 mixture of boiled linseed oil and cadmium orange. Use a 10:1 mixture of boiled linseed oil and Naples yellow to lighten the sky area near the outer perimeter. Apply 10:1 mixtures of boiled linseed oil and Payne’s gray, phthalo blue, cobalt blue, black, and white, with the #6 shader to the feathers to add variations in color.

Apply the base coat to the outside of the log. Use a 10:1 mixture of boiled linseed oil and titanium white. Use burnt umber for the rotted wood. Blend in a little cadmium yellow on the cattail stalks. Shade the cattail stalks and log with a 50:1 mixture of boiled linseed oil and black oil paint. Shade the log with a 50:1 mixture of boiled linseed oil Payne’s gray and black mixed with a small amount of terre verte to add a mossy effect. Use the solution of phthalo blue from Step 12 for shadows in the water around the log and cattails.

Paint the heron’s eye with black acrylic paint. Thin the paint 4:1 with water and apply it with a small, pointed round brush. Allow it to dry, and then paint the entire eye with undiluted cadmium yellow acrylic paint. Allow it to dry, and paint the pupil with undiluted black. Let the paint dry overnight.

Tip

Easy Paint Dots

Use a wooden toothpick instead of a paintbrush to paint small dots such as eye pupils.

Pick up a small amount of titanium white oil paint with a ½ ″ (13mm)-diameter round brush. Remove most of the paint on a paper towel. Stroke the brush perpendicular to the raised areas on the heron’s feathers, legs, cattails, log, and water to create highlights. If the white oil paint dissipates too much, use white acrylic paint. Use the same process to highlight the background trees with Naples yellow. Make a 50:1 mixture of odorless turpentine and burnt umber oil paint. Apply it to the border. Allow the paint to cure for 72 hours and then seal the carving with satin-finish spray polyurethane. Apply two or three coats. Let the finish dry between coats. Buff down the flat surfaces with a crumpled-up paper bag between coats.

CAUTION!

Boiled linseed oil generates heat as it dries, which can cause spontaneous combustion. Lay oily rags out flat to dry before disposing, or place them in a metal waste container. Do not wad them up or throw them in a standard trash can.

Intermediate Designs

Loon Pin

In the comfort bird project here, you practiced power and hand carving with softer, more common hardwoods. Here, you’ll apply basic hand and power carving techniques to a glued-up blank made of slightly more challenging materials; holly and ebony (both dense hardwoods) are my preference for their naturally rich colors. Make sure to use proper breathing protection here, as denser hardwoods can produce dust that irritates the lungs.

Materials & Tools

Materials

• Light-colored wood, such as holly or basswood, ½″ (1.3cm) thick: approx. 1″ × 2″ (2.5cm × 5.1cm)

• Dark-colored wood, such as ebony, ½″ (1.3cm) thick: approx. 1″ × 2″ (2.5cm × 5.1cm)

• Sanding stick

• Sandpaper: assorted grits to 600

• Epoxy: quick-setting

• Enamel paints

• Finish, such as Tru-Oil®

• Pin hardware

Tools

• Scroll saw

• Carving knife

• Sanders: disc or belt, palm

• Die grinder

• Slotted mandrel

• Rotary tool with bits: assorted, small

• Spring clamp

• Bench vise

• Rasp

Tip

Create your own wood filler using epoxy and sawdust.

By Al Groncki
Pattern here

Getting Started

The pattern for the pin consists of two templates: one for the dark part of the anatomy and one for the light section. Make the cutouts slightly oversized, especially in the bill area. If it is too fragile in the beginning, the bill can easily break off.

Apply the pattern to the blank, and then cut out the shapes on a scroll saw.

Project Notes

After allowing the epoxy-and-sawdust adhesive to set up overnight, I flatten the back of the cutout on a sander. A disc sander works best, but a belt sander held in a bench vise will also flatten the wood.

Some may think that a die grinder is excessive for a project this small, but I find that the power tool has excellent torque for rough-grinding hardwoods. However, a flexible shaft machine or even a hobbyist’s hand-held grinder will do the job. Most bits will remove wood, but a fine carbide bur that is flame-shaped or tapered is a good choice. If power carving is not for you, then a roughout or detail knife will shape the entire loon.

Regardless of how you rough out the contours of the loon, there are two areas where a knife is necessary. Since the base of the neck joins the body at a sharp angle, a rotary bit here is too big. The other problem area is the bill. Because power grinding removes wood so aggressively, the bill can quickly disappear. Using a knife is a sensible alternative because the bill can be slowly shaped and refined. After the power carving and knife work are complete, sanding is next. I use a slotted mandrel and a variety of sandpaper grits, starting with 100, then 220 followed by 320, and finally 600. For readers who are not power carvers, handsanding is an alternative.

I wait a few hours for the first coat to dry thoroughly and lightly sand with 600-grit paper. I then apply from three to five more coats of Tru-Oil®.

Natural Wood, Natural Colors

When I first started carving pins, I used basswood and painted the colors. I soon decided that natural wood colors worked best for representing birds. Since the loon has basically two colors, black and white, my choice of woods was fortunately limited. For the black, ebony is an excellent choice. Another dark and contrasting wood is Arizona ironwood. Walnut will also work for the loon, but it should be as dark as possible and may need a touch of stain. For the white, holly is the best choice because it is the lightest of all wood species. If holly is difficult to procure, I recommend basswood.

Use a file or sandpaper attached to a small piece of wood to flatten the edges that will be mated. Slight gaps are acceptable since filler is used with the adhesive. I use a flat file, a rasp or even a piece of sandpaper bonded to a small flat piece of wood to flatten the straight edges to be joined and a knife for the curved edges. By hand holding the two pieces together and putting them up to the light, I can check how they are coming together.

Prepare the filler. I used a palm sander to sand down some of the excess scrap wood from this project, and then gathered the resulting sawdust in a container.

Mix the wood dust with a quick-setting epoxy—one part wood dust to three parts epoxy creates the right consistency. Use a mix of 25% sawdust from the dark wood and 75% quick-setting epoxy. Collect the sawdust and store it in a container for this purpose. After applying the epoxy mix, I hold the pieces together with a spring or C-clamp until dry. The reason I use the dark wood as the filler is that it does not show the seam as readily as light wood filler. Another advantage is that I need to fine-tune only the edge of the light wood instead of striving for a mathematically perfect fit on the part of both pieces of wood.

Hold the two pieces of wood together with a spring clamp until the epoxy-wood dust mix dries.

Flatten the back on a belt sander or sanding disc.

Rough carve the bird. This can be accomplished with a variety of tools including a grinder or a flexible shaft machine and a carbide bur.

Refine the delicate areas, such as the bill and the back of the neck. Use a knife.

Tie Tacks vs. Pinbacks

I prefer tie tacks to pinbacks because the latter tend to cause the carving to droop over on the fabric to which it is attached. The tie tack should have a prong to keep the bird from rotating. The accessory is simple to apply with a quick-setting epoxy, although I take an extra step. I make a slight depression—no more than ¹/₁₆″ (2mm) deep—in the back with a small round diamond bit in a rotary tool. The shallow hole “grounds” the tie tack in the wood for added strength. Whether you wear the pin or present it as a gift, one thing is clear: loons are magical.

Use a slotted mandrel and progressively finer grits of sandpaper, starting with 100 and finishing with 600, to get the carving as smooth as possible. The smoother the surface, the better the paints will look.

Tip

To hold the loon for painting, attach it to a craft stick with either Shoe Goo or hotmelt glue. Only a small amount of the adhesive is needed. When the painting is complete, use a knife to separate the carving from the stick.

Enamel paints such as Testors are preferable for the loon. Use white for the dots on the dark wood and black for the dots and stripes on the light wood. Apply a large dot of red for the eye and a small black dot in its center. Wipe off excess dust, and then apply your finish of choice; I used Tru-Oil®. Attach a pin to the back with a bead of hot glue. Display as desired.

Intermediate Designs

Wren-in-the-Round

Carving in the round means exactly that: carving the subject completely three-dimensionally. You can view the carving from every direction, and every view offers new details and perspectives. In this project, you’ll learn how to prepare for carving using a clay model. Then you’ll carve true wren proportions into a piece of lacewood, which offers more challenges than the traditional basswood or tupelo but compensates with a gorgeous grain pattern. You’ll even learn to enhance the grain with a nontraditional finish you can make at home.

Materials & Tools

Materials

• Wood, such as lacewood, 4″ (10.2cm) square: 3 ½″ (8.9cm) tall

• Sandpaper: assorted grits to 600

• Coffee (for staining)

• Water-based dye: red

• India ink: black

• Varnish: matte acrylic

• Finish, such as Danish oil

Tools

• Band saw

• #1 chisels: ¼″ (6mm), ½″ (13mm)

• Skew chisels: ⅛″ (3mm), ¼″ (6mm)

• #3 gouges: ⅛″ (3mm), ¼″ (6mm)

• #6 gouges: ¼″ (6mm), ½″ (13mm)

• #8 gouges: ¹/₁₆″ (2mm), ⅛″ (3mm), ¼″ (6mm), ⅜″ (10mm)

• V-tools: ⅛″ (3mm), ⅜″ (10mm) 60°

• Bench vise

• Paintbrushes: assorted

Tip

You can round over certain areas, such as the flower centers, by using the gouge flipped over.

By Chris Pye
Pattern here

Tip

It’s often helpful with more complicated in-the-round work to make a model in clay or Plasticene. This preliminary model helps you visualize the finished carving and aids in deciding how to use grain strength in the design. By making the model to scale, you can use it to create a working drawing and transfer measurements to the wood.

Using the Grain to Your Advantage

When carving in the round, you have to pay attention to the grain (the wood fibers) and how their strength works with the design. With this wren, the two thinnest and potentially weakest elements—the tail and beak—are at right angles to each other.

Long wood fibers give strength to any element, but if we run them into the tail we must have short fibers in the beak, which would make the beak very weak. The beak is the most vulnerable element, so maximize its strength by running the grain along it. Angle the tail back as much as the character of the bird will allow. The wood fibers now run more diagonally through the tail, rather than across it at right angles. Keep the tail as thick as the design will allow, especially front to back, and take special care of the tail during the carving process.

Little bird legs are very thin (and normally added using brass rods by bird carvers), so I decided to tie the spindly legs to the wooden rocks carved beneath them. All of these design considerations are part of the challenge of carving. A design may need modifying or compromising to be suitable for carving in wood.

Create an armature for the clay model. Clay has no strength and needs an internal skeleton, called an armature, for support. Insert a screw into a board and wrap wire around the screw to roughly form the bird shape. Note how I have bent the wire into the areas where the tail and beak will be.

Add the clay and shape the bird. The model doesn’t have to be exact; it just needs to be clear enough to help you sort out the size and forms in the carving. I’ve only roughly added the rocks and flowers. These elements are less precise and do not require a great deal of planning for grain direction.

Getting Started

Transfer the design to wood. Create a working drawing from the clay model. Transfer the outline of the working drawing or pattern to the wood with carbon paper. Orient the pattern with the grain aligned with the beak for maximum strength.

Cut the side profile. Use a band saw or a coping saw. Be sure to leave enough stock to carve the flowers and legs of the bird. Leave extra wood around the beak and tail at this stage.

Remove the waste wood around the wren. Use a band saw or coping saw to remove wood from either side of the bird. Leave enough wood on the right side to tilt the wren’s head.

Rounding the body. Begin rounding over the bird from the back and head down and across the grain with a medium-sweep gouge, such as a ½″ (13mm) #6 gouge. Leave the wings a bit thick. Work from the tip of the tail in toward the body, but leave both the tail and beak a bit fat. Tilt the head of the bird to one side.

Rough shape the wings and head. Use a V-tool to separate the wings from the body. Use the same tool to outline some of the major rock groups. Work along the grain as you shape the head and beak.

Continue to shape the wren. Don’t undercut the wren deeply yet, but begin to separate the body from the rocks. Visualize the legs in relation to the bird. The legs splay out from the body toward the feet. Draw the legs on the wood. Remove a little wood from around the legs.

Tip

To give the wren a bit of character, I turned the head slightly to one side. Allowing the head of the wren to clearly overhang the edge of the rocks achieves a sense of space and action beneath the bird.

Outline the flowers. Draw in the simple flowers and lower the ground around them so the wood in which they lie effectively rises up. Angle the flowers away from the bird to make the carving more interesting. Keep the flowers simple so they don’t detract from the main focus of the carving.

Begin carving the flowers. Create the main form of the flowers and separate the petals. Shape the petals. Set in a cluster of circles with a ⅛″ (3mm) #8 or #9 gouge for the flower centers.

Finish the flowers. Turn the gouge upside down and round the circles over into little domes. Clean up the space between the domes with the point of a skew chisel. Undercut the petals.

Rough carve the legs and feet. Start by clearly defining the outside edges. Lowering the area between the legs is tricky because you’ll need to cut against the grain in between the legs as you carve from the front. Use a sharp narrow V-tool to define the inside edges.

Refine the legs and feet. Use a narrow skew and flat gouge to slice slivers of wood away between the feet. Don’t attempt to take too much off at once. Undercut the legs from the inside and outside to visually lift them off the ground. Do not separate the legs from the ground; this would only weaken them.

Finish carving the feet. Cut below and around the feet in front so they overhang the edge of the rocks.

Add the toes. Separate the wren’s three toes with a narrow #3 or #4 gouge.

Finish carving the bird. Make a series of fine tool cuts with a flat gouge to simulate feathers. Keep the feathers simple. Narrow the tail and sharpen the beak. Use a V-tool to define the wings and the wing feathers.

Carve the eyes. The eyes are similar to the little balls you made in the center of the flowers. Use the same technique explained in Step 8. Be careful not to pop the eye out as you rotate the narrow semicircular gouge. Push the gouge lightly into the wood to make overlapping semicircles representing feathers on the upper portion of the wings.

Shape the wood around the wren and flowers. Remove the corners of the original block. Carve various sizes of geometric rocks and cracks with different widths of chisels and the occasional gouge. Compose the rocks fairly spontaneously, making it up as you go along, creating random irregular sizes and shapes. Practice on a piece of scrap wood first. Leave the wood immediately around the wren plain.

Finishing

To make sure the darkness of the wood doesn’t disguise the light and shadows of the carving, stain the rocks even darker and add a touch of red to the center of the flowers while leaving the bird natural.

Color the ground and rocks; I made my own stain by applying strong, cooled coffee to the surface with a brush. Test stains on a piece of similar wood first and aim to build up the color rather than applying the full depth of color all at once. Apply several coats of coffee and rub lightly with fine-grit sandpaper. If desired, once the coffee is dry, darken the rocks even more using Danish oil.

On the center of the flowers, use a water-based red dye, followed by Danish oil to give the pigment a mellower look.

Finally, apply matte acrylic varnish to the wren and petals, and use India ink to make the wren’s eyes black.

Advanced Carves

Advanced Carves

Stylized Goldfinch

This carving falls somewhere between a fully detailed bird, where the individual feathers and quills are carved or burned in, and a stylized one, which is sanded smooth and includes more painted details than carved ones. You’ll use power carving tools to shape the basic wing, body, and face details, and then paint on the rest. Take your time applying the base coat, blending, and adding highlights and shadows; the added care will be worth it!

Materials & Tools

Materials

• Wood, such as jelutong, 1 ½″ (3.8cm) thick: 2″ × 4 ¼″ (5.1cm × 10.8cm)

• Sandpaper: assorted grits

• Lacquer sealer

• Lacquer thinner

• Gesso

• Acrylic paints, such as Ceramcoat®: burnt sienna, cadmium red medium, cadmium yellow medium, carbon black, raw umber, white

• Clear finish of choice

• Eyes: 2 each bead or glass

• Glue: cyanoacrylate (CA)

• Wooden skewer

Tools

• Band saw

• Compass

• Rotary tool with bits: assorted

• Sanding mandrels

• Woodburner with nib: skew

• Paintbrushes: assorted

Tip

Glass eyes or beads add an extra level of realism to any bird carving.

By Bob Guge
Pattern here

The most important thing is to study your subject. It is one thing to create something well, but when you can capture the essence of your subject, it takes your work to another level.

Getting Started

When I am carving a more detailed bird, I use tupelo, but when I’m carving less detailed birds, like this one, I use jelutong because it sands nicely and is virtually grain-free.

Most people prefer to start with a pattern, which makes it easier to rough out the blank with a band saw. It can be a simple drawing or a three-dimension model, like a cast. I usually start with a simple profile of the bird I am carving, which I have included with this project. To make your own pattern, look for a good side view of the subject you wish to carve. In the case of a bird, knowing the “chord,” or the length of the wing to the end of the longest primary feather, is very helpful. This can be measured from a real bird or a cast, or found in bird books and field guides.

When I first started carving I used knives and chisels, but now I use only power tools. Power tools are faster and give me greater control, but require you to use a dust collector.

Cut out the goldfinch. Trace the pattern onto the wood. Cut the side profile with a band saw or coping saw.

Decide the head position (optional). To add interest to the piece, turn the head. You can leave the wood thick around the head and turn it as you carve. For smooth birds, I often cut the head separately and glue it in the position; it’s harder to hide the glue joint on more detailed birds.

Draw the centerline onto the blank. I make a notch in the point of a compass so it rides easily along the edge of the blank. The centerline helps keep the carving balanced. Draw a line perpendicular to the centerline to help keep the width measurements equal.

Begin carving the bird. Use a large, cylinder-shaped sanding bit in a rotary tool. Be careful; the bit can remove wood quickly. Remember that birds are egg-shaped and don’t have any flat edges, so you are trying to carve a rounded shape

Refine the carving. Switch to a smaller sanding bit to shape the smaller areas, such as the head and tail. Watch the centerline and remove equal parts from both sides. I turn the bird often and use my hands to feel if the bird is symmetrical.

Drill the eye holes. Note: While you can carve and paint eyes, I prefer the look of glass eyes. I used a diamond hone to shape an old stone bit into the eye-drilling bit shown above. You could also just carve the eye holes using your choice of bit. As you grind the holes for the eyes, the friction burns the holes, which makes it easier to see what you are doing. Position the eyes directly behind the upper mandible.

Sand the carving. I use a variety of different sizes of power-sanding mandrels and tools. Use whatever tools you have. To get into tight areas, twist a strip of sandpaper into a cone. Wrap the cone around your thumb to use.

Burn the texture. I developed my own bent skew tip to create sharp feather edges. On some birds, I carve and woodburn each individual feather, but on this bird, I only carved and burned the main feather groups. I will paint the individual feathers.

Painting and Finishing

No matter what color I use, I apply thin coats and build the layers of color to the specific intensity I desire. I prefer to paint with acrylics, which are water-based, so I can clean them and thin them with water. For easy painting, drill a small hole in the bottom of the bird and insert a skewer as a handle. Later, replace the skewer with a piece of wire to mount the bird.

Seal the carving. I thin lacquer sanding sealer with an equal amount of lacquer thinner. Apply a few coats with a brush and allow the sealer to dry. I seal the carving so the paint does not soak into the wood

Apply a coat of gesso. Gesso makes a good base for acrylic paints. The paints project better and look brighter with the gesso basecoat. Acrylic paints also adhere better to the gesso.

Apply the yellow basecoat. Mix cadmium yellow medium and white to make a light yellow, and paint the entire bird.

Add the highlights and shadows. The flatter areas will reflect more light, so they should have highlights. Mix a little more white with the yellow and paint the highlights. Add a little burnt sienna to the mixture to create a golden yellow to paint the shadows.

Basecoat the dark areas. Mix raw umber, carbon black, and white together to create a dark basecoat. Apply the mixture to the dark areas.

Paint the edges of the wing and tail feathers. Mix white with a bit of raw umber and a bit of carbon black to create a warm (or “dirty”) white. Apply this to the edges of the wings and tail feathers. Then use the same color to paint the undersides of the tail feathers and tail coverts.

Paint the head and feather splits. Paint the top of the head carbon black. The black area of the head only touches the front top quarter of the eye. Paint the center of some wing feathers carbon black. Then add a few feather splits with carbon black.

Finish painting the bird. Mix cadmium red medium and cadmium yellow medium to make an orange, and paint the beak. Mix burnt umber and carbon black, and paint the dark tip of the beak. Mix white with the mixture and apply it to the edges of the wings and tail to brighten up these edges. Spray on a clear finish of your choice. Once dry, glue in the bead or glass eyes. Mount to a found wood base, if desired.

Advanced Carves

Baby Chickadee

Now that you’ve practiced the basics of professional bird carving, check this little guy out! While fairly small, this project incorporates a plethora of individual feather textures to try—not to mention realistic eyes, feet, and a textured stump base. Go to town!

Materials & Tools

Materials

• Wood, such as tupelo, 1 ¾″ (4.4cm) square: 3 ¼″ (8.3cm) long

• Wood, such as tupelo, ½″ (1.3cm) thick: 2 ½″ (6.4cm) square

• Pencil

• Transfer paper

• Tape: clear packaging

• Glue: cyanoacrylate (CA)

• Sandpaper: 240-grit

• Wood dowel: ⅛″ (3mm)-dia., ⁵/₁₆″ (8mm) long

• Glass eyes: brown, 2 each ³/₁₆″ (5mm)-dia.

• Brass rod: ¹/₃₂″ (1mm)-dia., 6″ (15.2cm) long

• Epoxy putty

• Finish: clear satin, such as Deft®

• Acrylic paints (see Paint Notes)

Tools

• Band saw

• Carving knife (optional)

• Drill with bits: assorted small

• Calipers

• Rotary tool

• Ruby bits: tapered, pointed

• Blue ceramic stone bit: cylinder

• Fluted carbide cutter: ball-shaped

• Carbide-point bit: cone-shaped

• White ceramic stone bit: tapered cylinder

• Woodburner with nibs: skew, bent, shader

• Stylus

• Locking pliers

• Dental tool

• Paintbrushes: assorted

Tip

To keep woodburning tips in mint condition, run them across a length of sandpaper after each use.

By Butch Clark
Pattern here

Getting Started

Transfer the patterns for the bird and base to the blanks. Use a piece of carbon or graphite paper. Cut the bird side view first using a band saw. Tape the pieces back together with clear packaging tape, and then cut out the top view. Separate and discard the scrap pieces from the cutout. Then cut the base.

Sketch a centerline starting at the beak, moving up and over the crown of the head to the tip of the tail. Draw the main landmarks, such as the head, beak, wings, and feet. Refer to the pattern, using a measuring scale or calipers for accuracy.

Rough shape the bird. Using a cone-shaped carbide-point bit, follow the lines you just made, thinning the neck and back areas to distinguish the wings and head from the torso. Switch to a tapered ruby bit. Round the head, moving from the beak to the crown. The crown should be noticeably smaller in circumference than the neck area. Make a small valley on either side of the head where the eyes will go, moving back from the brows to the nape of the neck until the valleys almost meet. Thin and round the tail.

Separate the wing parts. Use the same bit. Contour the head, cheeks, and beak. Add round wells for the eyes. Sand the entire bird with 220-grit sandpaper.

Draw feathers onto the wing parts and tail. Refer to the pattern. Then lay a cylinder-shaped blue ceramic stone on its side and cut individual feathers into each wing and on the top and bottom of the tail.

Fill out the feather texture. Lay a tapered cylinder-shaped white ceramic stone on its side and carve individual feathers on the cheeks, breast area, sides, and back of the bird. With the same stone, round each feather, and then carve the barbs. Add feather splits.

Draw and carve the individual head feathers. Use a narrow, pointed ruby bit. Start at the beak and increase the feather size as you work toward the back.

Round off and break the sharp corners of each feather. Use a sanding stick with a band of 220-grit sandpaper. Texture the head feathers with the tapered cylindrical white ceramic stone.

Burn the wing and tail feather texture. Use a bent shader tip in a woodburner. Don’t forget to add in the feather quills during this step.

Burn in the barbs. Use the point of a skew tip. Add feather splits where desired. Note: To keep the burner tip clean and sharp, lay a piece of sandpaper on a flat surface. Then lay the burner tip at a sharp angle and run it across the sandpaper to remove any grit or grime.

Set in the eyes. Make sure that the eye sockets are big enough to accommodate ³/₁₆″ (5mm)-dia. brown eyes. The eyes should sit far enough into the socket that when looking at the bird’s head from above, you see just a bit of each one. Using a dental tool, place some epoxy putty in the eye sockets to hold the eyes in place. Then form a small ribbon of epoxy and place it around the eyes to form the eye rings. Work the epoxy around the eyes and blend it into the wood as feathers.

Shape the feet. Cut six pieces of ¹/₃₂″ (1mm)-dia. brass rod into 1″ (2.5cm) lengths. Bend a radius on one end of each piece to form a nail shape, and then pound the nail flat. Hold the straight end of the brass rod with small locking pliers. Grind the nail to shape using a ball-shaped fluted carbide cutter bit. Wear eye protection when performing this step. Bend the toes to shape after grinding.

Attach the feet. Drill six holes ¹/₁₆″ (2mm) in diameter by ⁹/₃₂″ (7mm) deep in the bottom of the bird; refer to the pattern. Cut ¹/₁₆″ (2mm)-deep grooves from the outer body to the holes. Place a small amount of cyanoacrylate (CA) glue on the toe shafts and insert the toes into the holes. Drill a ³/₁₆″ (5mm)-deep hole in the bottom center of the bird to accommodate a ⅛″ (3mm)-dia. wood dowel.

Draw the bark lines. Sketch a circle ¼″ (6mm) in from the edge. Add spokes at regular intervals going out toward the edge, and carve along these lines using the tapered ruby bit. Make random vertical cuts all around the outside of the base to simulate bark texture. Drill a ³/₁₆″ (5mm)-deep hole in the center of the base for the wood dowel.

Define the rings. Cut around the inside and outside of each bark section with the pointed ruby bit. Add growth rings fanning out from the central dowel hole. Use the same bit.

Add more bark details. Burnish the sections of bark using a ball stylus. The bark should look rough and bumpy. Then glue the dowel in place.

Shape the bark pieces. Break sharp corners and remove rough edges in and around each bark section with a piece of 220-grit sandpaper. Slightly round the top of each bark section.

Spray the bird and base with clear satin wood finish. The project will be easier to finish if mounted on a paint stick. Paint the bird, referring often to the Paint Notes. (I use a #6 round brush to apply base coats and a ⅛″ (3mm) angular shading brush for drybrushing and detailing.) Once done, shade all feathers and feather splits by adding just a slight touch of black to the basecoat colors and apply around the bottom of each feather. Scrape the excess paint from the glass eyes with the knife. Do not use sandpaper. Let the paint dry, and then attach the bird to the dowel with cyanoacrylate (CA) glue. Attach the bird to the dowel in the base.

Paint Notes

Advanced Carves

Ruby-Throated Hummingbird

While carving a perching bird is challenging in itself, a bird in flight is an entirely different story. Here, you’ll practice creating realistic elements in separate pieces of wood and then seamlessly connecting them for a dynamic final piece that looks frozen mid-swoop. Homemade wire feet and some iridescent paint add a final layer of believability.

Materials & Tools

Materials

• Wood, such as tupelo, 1 ¼″ (3.2cm) thick: body, 1 ½″ × 3″ (3.8cm × 7.6cm)

• Wood, such as tupelo, ⅜″ (1cm) thick: wings, 2 each ¾″ × 2″ (1.9cm × 5.1cm)

• Pencil

• Sandpaper: assorted grits

• Glass eyes, ⅛″ (3mm)-dia.: 2 each brown or black

• Brass wire, 16 gauge: approx. 5″ (12.7cm) long

• Brass wire, 20 gauge: 12″ (30.5cm) long

• Epoxy putty

• Acrylic paints, such as Apple Barrel: bright red; such as Chroma Atelier: chromium green oxide; such as Delta Ceramcoat: black; such as Master’s Touch: lemon yellow, phthalo green, raw umber, white gesso

• Oil paint, such as Ronan Japan: white

• Pigment powder: iridescent gold

• Finish: clear spray lacquer, such as Deft

• Glue: cyanoacrylate (CA) gel

• Mineral spirits

• Modeling clay (marble-sized)

Tools

• Drill with bits: assorted small

• Scroll saw or band saw

• Calipers

• Pins, 2 each

• Rotary tool

• Carbide-point bits: medium-grit flame-shaped, fluted round-end taper

• Diamond bits: fine-grit ¹/₃₂″ (1mm), medium-grit ¹/₁₆″ (2mm) balls; flame; coarse-grit bull-nose

• White ceramic stones: fine-grit cone-shaped, small taper

• Woodburner with nib: skew

• Pointed pottery tools or an awl

• Hammer

• Pliers: needle-nose

• Hair dryer

• Paintbrushes: assorted

Tip

Use push pins to ensure that the eyes stay symmetrical.

By Sandy Czajka
Pattern here

Getting Started

You will be carving this bird in three pieces for added grain support. Draw on the top view patterns for the wings, making sure to label them so you don’t confuse the left with the right later. Do the same for the top and side views for the body. Cut the views carefully on a scroll saw or band saw. You will carve the wing side views later. Note: You’ll notice that the pattern doesn’t include the end of the bill; we will add that later.

Draw a centerline on all four sides of the body blank. Draw the upper and lower tail coverts. (Tail coverts are the fat triangles of feathers that cover the top and bottom of the tail.) Then draw the shape of the tail on the back, making sure it is at least ¼″ (6mm) thick.

Rough out the body. Using a fluted round-end tapered carbide-point bit in a rotary tool, smooth the corners between the head and tail. Do not remove any of the centerlines. Then carve the tail down to the curved line drawn on the end, leaving the top and bottom coverts untouched for now. Use the same bit, leaving a thickness of around ³/₁₆″ (5mm) at the end of the tail.

Prepare the eye area. To do this, use the pencil to draw a line from the middle of the bill to where the neck starts on each side. The eyes will sit just above this line. Then round the bill area using a bit of your choice; it should be approximately ³/₁₆″ (5mm) in diameter where it joins the body.

Carve the eye area. Mark a dot a little above the line you drew in Step 2, and about ⅜″ from the back of the head. Stick a pin in to mark the exact location of the eye. Repeat on the other side. Examine the bird from every angle to ensure that the eyes look even. Remove the pins and, using a ¹/₁₆″ (2mm) medium-grit ball-shaped diamond bit, open up the eyes where the pins were on both sides. Try to make the holes even, slightly bigger than the size eyes you have, and fairly deep. Using a flame-shaped diamond bit, follow the top of the line to the top of the bill to establish an eye channel. The area between the eyes should measure ½″ (1.3cm). Above the channel, remove a small amount of wood to give the bird a brow.

Refine the body. Use a small coarse-grit bull-nose diamond bit to deepen the eye holes made by the pins, rounding them into the face to give the bird distinctive, round cheeks. Check that the distance between the eyes still measures ½″ (1.3cm). Temporarily set the eyes by placing a small ball of modeling clay in each hole. Put the eyes in, pushing them far enough that they are slightly visible when viewed from the top and back. Remove excess clay around each eye. Further round the top of the head and emphasize the contour where the head tapers into the neck. Rough shape the tail coverts, being careful not to remove the centerlines. Then hand-sand the entire body with 150-grit sandpaper, moving up progressively through the grits until you reach 320.

Rough shape the wings. Keep in mind that they are mirror images of each other. Draw a gentle arc on each of the three sides so that the wing corners would rest on the table if laid flat. Thin the wings to these lines using the fluted round-end tapered carbide-point bit. The area where the wings attach to the body will be approximately ⅛″ (3mm) thick, tapering to around ¹/₁₆″ (2mm) along the bottom edge. With the pencil, mark the location of the coverts, and relieve the areas around them where the flight feathers (the long feathers that extend to the tip of the wing) will go. Do this on both the top and bottom. Then sand the entire wing to 150-grit. Draw around ten slightly curved lines from covert to wing edge, representing the flight feathers. Make divots along these lines on the bottom using fine-grit ¹/₃₂″ (1mm) and medium-grit ¹/₁₆″ (2mm) diamond ball-shaped bits. Then use the same bits to create divots along the top of the wing that alternate with those on the bottom, so that when viewed from the side, the wing has an almost scalloped effect. Sand to 320-grit.

Burn the feather details. Use a skew nib in a woodburner to lightly burn first the shafts (along the highest point of each peak) and then the barbs along each side of the shaft. Keep the machine at a low temperature. Take your time and use a light touch. Do both sides, being mindful of how the feathers overlap each other on each side. Carve two rows of increasingly smaller feathers using a small tapered white ceramic stone. Apply the same carving and burning methods to the tail feathers as you did for the flight feathers on the wings.

Add the body feathers. Draw them on first, giving those on the torso and top of the head a fanlike, fluffy quality. Then draw small, scale-like feathers on the area that will be the ruby throat. The bib directly below the ruby throat will consist of longer, hairlike lines. Define the outlines of all of the fanlike body feathers with the fine-grit ¹/₃₂″ (1mm) diamond ball. I suggest practicing the small feather texture on a piece of scrap first, as it can be challenging. Soften the edges of the feathers with 320-grit sandpaper. Then detail them with the small tapered white ceramic stone. Mark the location of the wings.

Add the throat and chest feathers. Follow the wispy, hairlike lines you made in Step 7 to detail the chest ruff, using the same stone. Then carve the ruby throat texture, or burn it in using the skew nib. If your eyes are too big, place some epoxy in the holes over the clay. Once satisfied, make a very, very fine roll of epoxy putty and lay a ring around each eye. Use pointed pottery tools or an awl to move the epoxy around the eye. Take your time; the face and eyes are the soul of the bird!

Shape the wire details. Drill a hole through the wooden length of the bill and into the head at a slight angle. Curve a piece of 16 gauge wire slightly and add it to the hole with a dab of cyanoacrylate (CA) gel. You won’t trim it until later; in fact, I like to keep it long until the very end because it gives me something to hold onto while painting. Smooth the transition between the wire and wooden parts of the bill with epoxy putty. Then shape eight talons from little pieces of 20 gauge wire. Bend both ends with needle-nose pliers, trim them to length, flatten them with a hammer, and shape the claw ends to a point with your choice of power carving bit.

Add the talons and wings. Drill holes for the feet at an angle into the lower belly, slightly higher than where the tail feathers begin. I drilled one hole for each foot. Add a single back claw to each foot first, securing it so the talon points outward. Use cyanoacrylate (CA) gel. Once dry, glue in the other three, with the talons facing inward. Let dry and cover any remaining gaps with epoxy putty. If desired, use the pottery tools to give the putty a feather texture. Drill small holes in the wings and the marked locations on the body, insert pieces of 20 gauge wire, trim the wire to length, and attach the wings to the back with cyanoacrylate (CA) gel when you are satisfied with the wing angle. Then smooth the transition areas with more epoxy putty, texturing it if desired.

Seal the bird. You don’t want to lose all your texturing, but you need enough of a sealer coat to make your paint stick. I used Ronan Japan white oil paint, thinned with mineral spirits. Alternatively, you could use a 50/50 mixture of lacquer thinner and Deft clear lacquer. Let dry overnight. Then put on a thin coat of white gesso. Dry with a hair dryer; unless otherwise stated, do this between every subsequent layer of paint. Mix a small amount of chromium green oxide with raw umber, white gesso, and lemon yellow to create a gray-brown color. This will give you a basic pattern for where the later colors will go. Thin with water and paint a wash over the wing coverts, tail flight feathers, back, and the top of the head. Blend this color gradually into the white of the stomach.

Add the final painted details. Thin a mixture of raw umber and black, and paint this on the wings, tail, and torso, with the exception of the throat and breast. You will need to do multiple washes, but only a few mottled ones on the underbelly area. Then add some thin coats of black on the head. Outline the feather separations on the wing coverts using the same raw umber-and-black mixture. Use a very fine liner brush to delineate the shafts. Then paint the throat with bright red mixed with gold iridescent powder. Mix phthalo green with a fair amount of gold powder and paint this mixture on the top of the head and the tail and wing coverts. Then begin to accent the feather areas on the torso, wing coverts, and top of the head with dots of chromium green oxide. Add a little gold powder, if desired. Blend any sharp transition areas. Paint the bill with black. Then use slightly thinned white gesso to paint the chest below the ruby throat if needed. Trim the bill to fit your chosen habitat.

Advanced Carves

Yellow-Rumped Warbler

This vividly colored bird offers plenty of useful challenges for the aspiring bird carver: the feather details are all meticulously power carved and then painted in several careful layers. Learn when and how to add glass eyes with epoxy, and enhance the carved texture with woodburning for added visual interest.

Materials & Tools

Materials

• Basswood, 2″ (5.1cm) thick: 2 ½″ × 4″ (6.4cm × 10.2cm)

• Spray adhesive: repositionable

• Pencil

• Glue: cyanoacrylate (CA)

• Epoxy: 5-minute

• Sandpaper: assorted grits

• Clear lacquer

• Lacquer thinner

• Gesso

• Glass eyes: ³/₁₆″ (5mm)-dia.

• Acrylic paints, such as DecoArt: black, raw umber, Payne’s gray, primary yellow, titanium white

• Finish: clear matte varnish

• Cast bird feet or wire

Tools

• Scroll saw or band saw

• Drill with bit: ¹/₁₆″ (2mm)-dia., ³/₁₆″ (5mm)-dia. eye

• Flexible-shaft tool

• Diamond bits: ³/₃₂″ (2.5mm)-dia. small fine-grit flame, ³/₃₂″ (2.5mm)-dia. medium fine-grit cylinder

• Woodburner with tip: skew

• White ceramic stone

• Carbide-point bits: coarse-grit cylinder, coarse-grit bull-nose, medium-grit bull-nose cylinder

• Calipers

• Paintbrushes: #2 round, #4 sable, wash, script liner

Tip

You can strengthen weak areas, such as the tip of the beak, with cyanoacrylate (CA) glue.

By Randy Conner
Pattern here

The yellow-rumped warbler is both fun and challenging to make. Note: The editorial staff has, in concert with the author, made changes to some of the terminology referring to bird anatomy throughout the project steps. This was done in order to make the steps clearer for the layperson to understand.

Getting Started

Attach the pattern to the blank using repositionable spray adhesive. Then cut the blank with a scroll saw or band saw. Draw centerlines on all sides.

Sketch the beak and the top and back of the head. Refer to the pattern. Note: Remember that the templates do not conform perfectly to how your finished carving will look.

Thin the head and beak. Use a flexible-shaft tool with a coarse-grit, cylinder-shaped, carbide-point bit to remove the flat planes on these areas of the blank. Rough shape it so that it tapers toward the front, remembering that the base of the head will be wider than the top. Then redraw all centerlines.

Lay out the top of the head. Refer to the pattern. With the same bit, lightly taper the head to the lines you just drew, again remembering that the base of the head will be wider than the top. Slightly round where the head and back meet, getting rid of all square cuts in the neck and torso area. Measure the base of the head for reference; it should be about 1″ (2.5cm) in diameter. Redraw all centerlines.

Add the eye channels. With a medium-grit, bull-nose, cylinder-shaped bit, cut a shallow eye channel from the beak toward the back of the head. Use the horizontal centerline on the head as the bottom of the groove cut.

Draw a centerline into the middle of the eye groove. Check from the front to ensure that both lines are of equal height. Then mark the eye areas so that each pupil will sit 1³/₁₆″ (2.1cm) back from the end of the beak tip. Referring to the pattern, draw the wing edges, keeping in mind that they will fall below (and almost appear to tuck under) the tail.

Taper the tops of the wings. They should curve down from the top to the end of the tail, ending at the height of the bottom of the tail. Use the medium-grit, bull-nose, cylinder-shaped bit. Round the shoulder areas down almost to the wing tips, avoiding the wing tips and tail area for now.

Draw the secondary wing details across the bird’s top, back, and sides. Refer to the pattern.

Define the wings and rump. Using a medium, ³/₃₂″ (2.5mm)-dia., fine-grit, cylinder-shaped diamond bit, cut under the bottom edge of the wings, slowly tapering the breast area back so it sits around ⅛″ (3mm) in from the sides at the rump.

Round and soften the tops of the first wing layer. Use the same bit. A bit of flatness here is okay.

Draw the wing shapes on the bottom and top of the tail. With a coarse-grit, bull-nose, carbide-point bit, round the belly and breast areas. When you are satisfied with the roundness, lightly sand with 220-grit sandpaper to smooth those areas.

Draw the curve for the tail. Using the same bit, follow those lines to cut and shape the top of the tail. Then thin and curve the bottom of the tail, stopping before the wing tip shapes you just drew. Clean up your work and refine the curve with the medium, ³/₃₂″ (2.5mm)-dia., fine-grit, cylinder-shaped diamond bit.

Define the secondary wing layer. Use a small, ³/₃₂″ (2.5mm)-dia., fine-grit, cylinder-shaped diamond bit. Cut the secondary wing layer down slightly on both sides so that the central body and upper tail section is higher. Then round and shape the shoulders to the belly and neck. Use the same bit. Redraw any feather details you carved off. Further refine the head until it is close to the final shape and size. Refer to the pattern.

Redraw all centerlines on the head, measuring for symmetry as you go. Mark the location of the eyes; they should fall in the center of each eye groove, 1³/₁₆″ (2.1cm) back from the tip of the beak. Inspect the head from the front and top to make sure the eyes are of equal height and depth from the beak.

Drill the eyeholes. Use a ³/₁₆″ (5mm)-dia. eye bit, drilling straight in (perpendicular to the centerline). Using the pattern, draw the final beak shape along the top and sides.

Detail the beak and eye areas. Use a fine-grit, flame-shaped diamond bit. Lightly draw the bit from the eyehole onto the beak, deepening the eye groove as necessary. Note: As you remove wood, keep in mind that the distance between the front edges of the eyes should be about ⁷/₁₆″ (1.1cm), and the distance between the back edges of the eyes should be about ½″ (1.3cm). Measure periodically with calipers. Draw and cut the final beak shapes around the beak and head.

Round the top of the head slightly without narrowing it. Use the medium, ³/₃₂″ (2.5mm)-dia., fine-grit, cylinder-shaped diamond bit. Then redraw the top of the head.

Round the beak. Then blend it into the head and eye groove. Draw the mouth feathers (where the head meets the beak) and cut them using the same bit. Blend under the beak into the throat, referring to the pattern often. Thin the neck area slightly, redrawing the feathers as you go. Measure and cut in the nostrils. With a skew tip in a woodburner, burn the separation between the upper and lower halves of the beak.

Smooth and finish the beak. Use 220-grit sandpaper to establish a slight undercut for the lower part. Note: Be careful not to shorten the beak by sanding. When you are satisfied with the beak, you can use a bit of thin cyanoacrylate (CA) glue on the tip to make it stronger. Keep the beak pointed down so the glue doesn’t run into the head.

Add the cheek details. Draw the cheek details. Then follow the lines with the fine-grit, flame-shaped diamond bit, cutting and narrowing the cheeks and back of the head to around 1″ (2.5cm) across, and blending them into the back and breast areas. Redraw the cheeks.

Cut the cheeks to their final width. Using the same bit, make a valley starting at the back corner of each eye, looping back and under until you reach the beak. Cut down the outside the perimeter of the cheek area slightly so the cheeks stand out. Carve a shallow valley under each eye as well as three small, parallel grooves in front of each eye to suggest feather groupings. Then install the eyes with epoxy and let dry.

Form the eyelids. Using the excess epoxy squeezed out when you inserted the eye, form a thin ring running around the perimeter of each eye. Let dry completely.

Shape the central wing sections that overlap the tail. Use the fine-grain, flame-shaped diamond bit.

Draw the tail details. Then cut them using the fine-grit, flame-shaped diamond bit, reducing the width if necessary. Add the final slope to the upper feathers, keeping the outside edges relatively straight. Cut the “V” into the tail and cut in the trailing edge of the top tail feather, so it appears to overlap the second feather.

Establish the three layers of wing feathers on the bird’s underside. Use the same bit, rounding the underside areas to their final shape. Thin the tail to its final thickness and then sand the entire underside smooth with 220-grit sandpaper.

Draw and cut the top and bottom tail feathers. Using the fine-grit, flame-shaped diamond bit, carve these areas to their final shape.

Define the individual feathers you just drew. Use the woodburner and skew tip to add more depth.

Add the shingled wing feathers. Using the small, ³/₃₂″ (2.5mm)-dia., fine-grit, cylinder-shaped diamond bit, marry them into the tail and lower wing areas. Then follow the lines with the woodburner and skew tip. Clean up the cuts with 220-grit sandpaper.

Shape and burn the next level of individual feathers. Use the same bits as before. Notice that this row of feathers moves in a direction opposite the ones before it.

Reduce and reshape the upper back and neck area to its final size. Use the small, ³/₃₂″ (2.5mm)-dia., fine-grit, flame-shaped diamond bit. Finish carving the top of the wing, leaving some of the breast feathers to overlap it. Note: The feathers in the shoulder blade areas should stand out slightly.

Draw and then carve the shingled undertail feathers. Use the same bit. Blend all hard edges, and then drill the leg holes with a ¹/₁₆″ (2mm)-dia. bit. The leg holes can move slightly depending on how you wish to display the project.

Draw barbs and central veins on each tail and wing feather. Follow the lines with the woodburner and skew tip. Lightly sand the breast, chest, belly, underside, and head areas with 220-grit sandpaper. If desired, after all burning is done, add a light coat of thin cyanoacrylate (CA) glue to the thin feather edges to strengthen them.

Redraw all shingled feathers from beak to tail. Then with a white ceramic stone, add small lines running the length of each feather, fanning out slightly from the center. Start with the lowest feathers and work up. Inspect the bird and make final tweaks for symmetry.

Before You Paint

Remember to keep your paint layers fairly thin; you can always add more coats if necessary, but if you make your initial coat too dark, there’s no going back! Washes are meant to settle into the grooves of the feathers to blend colors together. If you don’t make them thin enough, you may darken the details too much.

Seal the project with a 50/50 mix of lacquer and lacquer thinner. Once dry, paint the entire bird with gesso, and clean off the eyes once the gesso has dried. Then add light barring (plumage pattern) on the head, back, shoulders, and breast, avoiding the center of the area overlapping the tail; I used a #4 sable brush and nine parts thinned Payne’s gray mixed with one part black. Let dry and go over these bars once more with the same color if necessary.

34 Paint a base for the cheeks. Use washes of the same color. Then with a wash brush, add a thin mixture of four parts Payne’s gray, six parts titanium white, and a touch of black over the head, back, and wing areas. Let dry and then repeat until you achieve the desired color.

Paint the head, shoulders, and back. Switch to the #2 round brush and add strokes of a thinned mixture of nine parts Payne’s gray and one part black over the head, shoulders, and back. Add a mix of three parts Payne’s gray and seven parts titanium white over the feathers and barring, following the feather flow.

36 Paint the throat, eyebrow, and under-eye areas with thinned titanium white. Give these strokes a feathered look. Use a script liner brush. Clean the eyes once more. Then add a mixture of nine parts Payne’s gray and one part black to clean up the cheek area. Mix six parts primary yellow and four parts gesso and apply it to the rump, forehead, and breast areas.

Paint the first and second wing feather layers with a thinned mix of nine parts raw umber and one part black. Then add a mix of nine parts Payne’s gray and one part black to the next two feather layers and the tail. Thin the raw umber-and-black mixture significantly and paint a wash of it over all the feather layers you just painted. Let dry.

38 Paint the thinned mixture over the wing feathers and the edging on the tail feathers. Use a thinned mixture of titanium white with a touch of raw umber. Then dampen the dark feathers you just painted and apply a very thin mix of one part raw umber and one part black along the inside edge of each one to clean up the transition spots and establish shadowing. Edge each feather with a thin line of thinned titanium white. Thin primary yellow and add strokes over the existing yellow areas for depth of color and texture.

Paint the undersides of the tail and wings. Use a thinned mixture of nine parts black and one part white. Leave the central belly and breast section as is for now. Lighten the mixture slightly and paint the underside of the tail, stopping before the edges. Let dry and paint most of the lightened area with titanium white. Then add two thin washes of titanium white over the belly, breast, and under-tail areas, leaving the gray areas under the wings untouched.

40 Darken the underside barring. Use strokes of eight parts Payne’s gray, one and a half parts titanium white, and half a part black. Let dry and add strokes of one part gesso and one part titanium white over the whole underside. Add a touch of black to some thinned clear matte varnish and paint the beak and eye rings. Let dry and display as desired; I glued in painted cast bird feet from my local woodcarving supply shop, but you can fashion the legs from wire, if desired.

Advanced Carves

Shoveler Hen Walking Stick

The Northern Shoveler is one of the most outwardly distinctive ducks, thanks to its vibrant green feathers. The female’s coloring is much more subdued, but just as alluring. If you wish to delve further into the world of duck and decoy carving—a subgenre in itself—the head is a great first step in that direction.

Materials & Tools

Materials

• Hazel wood shank: sized for pattern

• Glue: epoxy; cyanoacrylate (CA) glue, such as super glue

• Epoxy putty

• Brass ferrule

• Sanding sealer

• Sandpaper: assorted to 400

• Glass eyes: 8mm-dia.: olive yellow

• Mineral spirits

• Varnish: matte, satin

• Gesso: titanium white

• Acrylic paint, such as Windsor and Newton: buff titanium, cadmium orange, cadmium yellow (light), Mars black, medium yellow, phthalo blue, raw umber, yellow ochre (Note: you will need sap green if you paint the eyes.)

Tools

• Band saw

• Rotary carving tool

• Carbide-point bits: coarse-grit cylinder; coarse-grit bull-nose cylinder; medium-grit flame and cylinder; ⁹/₃₂″ (7mm) ball

• Diamond bits: round-end; safe-end tapered cylinder; ⅛″ (3mm) tapered point; ¹/₃₂″ (1mm) and ¹/₁₆″ (2mm) balls

• Fluted carbide cutter: ³/₆₄″ (1mm) ball

• Ruby bit: flame

• Sanders: cushioned-drum and split-mandrel

• Drill with bit: ¹/₁₆″ (2mm)-dia.

• V-tool: ¹/₁₆″ (2mm)

• Blue ceramic stone: ¹/₁₆″ (2mm)-dia. cylinder

• Woodburner with tips: pointed and round-nosed skew

• Carving knife

• Scalpel

• Buffing wheel: 400-grit nylon, or Scotch-Brite® pad

• Paintbrushes: assorted sizes

• Thumbtacks

Tip

Use thinned gesso as a top-notch base for painted details.

By Paul Purnell
Pattern here

Getting Started

In the absence of a study cast, gather as much reference material as you can lay your hands on to ensure that your finished carving has an excellent degree of realism. Keep in mind that the length of a shoveler’s bill along the culmen, measured from the base of the nail to where the feathers begin in the midline of the notch, ranges from 2.4″ to 2.6″ (6.1cm to 6.6cm) in the US and up to 2.8″ (7.1cm) in the UK.

Use the pattern to cut out a cardboard template for the side and top views. You may have to adjust the scale to fit your piece of wood. The dimensions of my one-piece block-stick accommodated a life-size head.

Draw the outer extremities of the head. Cut away excess wood using a band saw. Draw a centerline around the head. Then using a coarse, cylinder-shaped, carbide-point bit in a rotary tool, carve the approximate shape of the head, using the templates as a guide. Start with the side view and then move to the top. At this stage, ensure that you leave plenty of extra wood to work with, especially on the bottom of the bill.

Alternate Attachment Methods

Can’t find the right type of stick? You could always carve the head separately, and then attach it to a stick of your choice. The following are the two main methods considered when joining a head to a shank.

Metal Rod

The easiest method to connect a separate head to a shank is with a screwed metal rod. These rods are available with smaller or larger diameters, and if you have one of a different size you will have to alter the diameter of the holes you drill in the head and shank. You need to decide from the outset if you are using a spacer, as this will affect the depth of holes to be drilled. Bone, horn, and antler spacers are available to buy, but it can be just as easy, and cheaper, to make your own from offcuts of wood.

Dowel

The second method involves carving the end of the shank to form a dowel that fits into a hole drilled into the bottom of the head. This is the traditional method used by early walking stick makers. In my opinion, it is the strongest and best way to join a head to a shank, as drilling the hole into the shank could weaken it.

Tip

Using Templates on a Block-Stick

When you have a blank cut from a block-stick of wood with square sides, it is easy to place the templates against the sides to marry up the features. However, during these initial steps working with a block-stick, the process is not so straightforward. Mark your side template in at least two places, and then match these up on the block-stick. This will give you reference points when drawing back the side view each time it is carved or sanded away.

Redraw the centerline and the side and top views. Using a coarse-grit, bull-nose cylinder-shaped carbide-point bit, shape the head to somewhere near its finished size, allowing plenty of room for sanding. Don’t round over the bill.

Sand the head. Use a cushioned-drum sander with 120-grit sandpaper. Redraw the centerline and both outlines. On the top of the head, draw the notch and crown lines. The crown on most ducks is about 50-60 percent of the widest measurement of the head. The width of the notch across the bill is about ½″ (1.3cm). Locate the approximate position of the eye by piercing through the side template with a scalpel. Draw on a line to represent the position of the eye channel. Use the medium-grit, cylinder-shaped, carbide-point bit to take the material from above the eye channel reference line up to the crown line.

Round the top of the crown and the top of the ledge at the eye channel. Use the same bit. The latter will form the top of the cheek. Draw reference lines on any feature you are working on at every ¼″ (6mm) from each side of the centre line; this will help with symmetry. Drawing a pencil line through each eye channel and viewing from the front will also help achieve symmetry and accuracy for the width of the head and bill. Use the cushioned-drum sander with 120-grit sandpaper to give the head, but not the bill, a rough sand.

Shape the bill. Draw the centerline, the notch, and the flat area that extends from the notch down to just past the nares. With the coarse cylinder-shaped bit, remove material on either side of the centerline; then remove material from the flat area, down to the lower margin of the upper mandible. Leave plenty of material where the nares will be carved later. Rough out the position of the nail. Sand with 120-grit paper on the cushioned-drum sander.

Shape the sides of the upper mandible. Use a safe-end, tapered-cone-shaped diamond bit. Blend the feather edge into the bill, and work down to the lower margin of the top mandible only. Depress the notch area and the flat space created in the previous step; use a ruby flame-shaped bit. Tidy up both areas using 240-grit sandpaper on the split-mandrel sander.

Sand the upper mandible. Use 240-grit paper on the cushioned-drum sander. Leave a ¼″ (6mm)-wide flat ridge along the center from nares to nail. Finalize the shape of the bottom of the bill. Refine the width of the nail with a carving knife, and then hand-sand with 240-grit paper. Draw on the double-ridged lip shape for the upper mandible. Use the knife to outline the bottom margin of the upper mandible. Define both ridges with a ¹/₁₆″ (2mm) V-tool. Lay the tool on its side so the side blade pares wood from the mandible surface, defining the ridge. Tidy with the knife, if necessary. Define the indentations that form the upper mandible ridge. This runs around the front of the mandible and joins the sides of the nail. At its upper end, it almost meets with the upper ridge of the lip but does not join it. Tidy everything with a round-ended diamond file and 240-grit sandpaper in the split-

Pare down the lower mandible. Use a medium-grit flame-mandrel sander. shaped carbide-point bit. Carve the recess around the inside front edge of the upper mandible so it clearly overlaps the lower one; use the same bit.

Sand the lower mandible. Use 120-grit sandpaper. Then draw the remaining features. Define the cuneate, which is the wedge-shape of head feathers, with the ¹/₁₆″ (2mm) V-tool. Depending on the wood shape, you will probably need to improvise; use any tool that will help you reach these difficult spaces. Sand with 120-grit sandpaper and the roundheaded diamond file.

Add detail to the mandible areas. Sand the bottom of the lower mandible to its final size. Define the lip with the knife, making a short ridge on its inside edge. Open the gap between the mandibles using the flame-shaped ruby bit, and sand with 240-grit sandpaper.

Making Repairs

There was a small knot along the lip of the upper mandible and a small hole of pith at the top of the head. I drilled these out with a 1mm carbide ball, filled with two-part epoxy putty, and sanded.

Define the cheeks. Use the flame-shaped carbide-point bit. Sand with 120- and 240-grit sandpaper, and then sand the rest of the head with 240-grit sandpaper.

Align the eyes. Use a couple of thumbtacks. View the project from the top and front, drill a pilot hole, and then use a ⁹/₃₂″ (7mm)-dia. ball-shaped carbide-point bit to open up the eye socket to just over ⁵/₁₆″ (8mm). Check each eye’s fit, as they can vary in size (I used plain glass eyes and painted them using a mixture of medium yellow, raw umber, and sap green). Handsand the whole piece with 240- and 320-grit sandpaper.

Draw the feather flow on the head and neck. Leave some wood unpainted around the bottom of the neck to show your project is a hand-carved duck and not a resin copy. Lay out the feathers along the flow lines using a ¹/₁₆″ (2mm) cylinder-shaped, blue ceramic stone. The feathers will get gradually bigger as they proceed from the front to the back of the head.

Go over the whole piece again. Using the same stone, fill in all the gaps. Add in the small feather texture around the eyes.

Fix the eyes with two-part epoxy putty. Apply the eye ring and lightly texture with offset lines using the blade of the scalpel. Apply a layer of super glue to the bill and nail; this will protect the nail and give a leathery look to the beak. When dry, hand-sand with 400-grit paper.

Apply three very thin coats of gesso. Only cover the area of the head to be painted, and the eyes. Mix to the consistency of skim milk. Apply a thin coat of buff titanium, medium yellow, white, and a hint of raw umber to the head and eyes. Follow this with a coat of buff titanium and raw umber. Add more raw umber to this mix, and apply a couple of washes to build up a darker area on the crown and back of the head.

Apply a third layer of texture. Use a rounded skew tip in a woodburner. Follow the feather flow laid down in the previous steps. Lay out the smaller feathers around the eye and the lamellae with a pointed skew tip. Use a nylon brush in a rotary tool to clean the carving. Wipe down with mineral spirits to remove any remaining dust, and seal the piece with two coats of sanding sealer.

Add the details. Following the feather flow, add flecks of dark brown with a mix of raw umber and Mars black. These become thicker and longer on the crown and back of the head. Add a few random flecks with Mars black to these areas. Use a light value of the buff titanium and raw umber mix to paint the front of the lores, the chin, and above and below the eyes. Then use a bit of mineral spirits to remove the paint from the eyes. Add a couple of random flecks to the head with this mix.

Undercoat the whole bill. Use a light mix of cadmium orange, cadmium yellow (light), and phthalo blue. Add additional phthalo blue to this mix until you achieve an olive green.

Add the finishing touches. Paint the central areas of the upper mandible with the olive green you just mixed. Use raw umber to add the blotches and darken the nares and nail. Add some white to cadmium orange to use as a wash over the lamellae; this will make them stand out. Apply a wash of raw umber to the underside of the lower mandible to dull the color. Add a brass ferrule to the stick bottom and apply a finish of your choice. I used three coats of Liquitex matte varnish on the head and a satin varnish on the bill.

Patterns

About the Authors

This book would not have been possible without our talented contributors. We are honored to showcase them here, and we hope you enjoy learning more about their creative journeys and distinct styles. Be sure to visit their websites and reach out to them as you embark on your own creative pursuits.

Al Groncki

The late Al Groncki spent most of his career in the field as a forester. Taking an interest in woodcarving in retirement, he taught carving at California’s College of the Siskiyous for ten years.

Bob Guge

A self-taught artist, the late Bob Guge was a carver since 1972. He was strongly influenced by his father, who made hunting decoys. Bob earned Best in Show honors across the country, and earned five Best in World awards at the Ward World Championship Wildfowl Carving Competition in Ocean City, Md. For more of Bob’s work, visit bobguge.com or gugeinstitute.com.

Butch Clark

Butch Clark lives in rural Darke County, Ohio, with his wife, Janie. He is a retired sales engineer and has been carving since 1992. For the past eight years Butch has been teaching songbird and habitat carving classes.

Chris Lubkemann

Chris Lubkemann of Lancaster, Pa., has been carving since age seven. Chris has carved some of the world’s smallest branch carvings, and his tiny branch rooster received a Guinness World Record Certificate in 1981. Chris has published several books with Fox Chapel Publishing, and he currently demonstrates whittling as the resident woodcarver at the Amish Farm and House in Lancaster, Pa.

Chris Pye

Chris Pye is a master woodcarver, instructor, and author. He offers one-on-one instruction in his home studio in Hereford, England, and maintains a monthly email newsletter and website at chrispye-woodcarving.com. Chris has written numerous carving books, available at foxchapelpublishing.com.

Frank Egholm

Frank Egholm lives in Denmark, where he taught woodworking in a school for several years. He’s the author of Snitte: The Danish Art of Whittling: Make Beautiful Wooden Birds and The Danish Art of Whittling: Simple Projects for the Home. He’s also organizing an annual “Snittefest″ whittling festival in Denmark. For more of his work, visit his website at snittesiden.dk.

Frank Foust

An experienced woodworker, the late Frank Foust built projects ranging from children’s furniture to his own home. As a volunteer, he helped repair and rebuild churches in the United States and Central America.

Glyn Cutts

Glyn Cutts lives in Tunbridge, Wells, Kent, U.K., with his partner, Pam. He has been a professional bird whittler for many years and has had the pleasure of bringing together working with wood and his hobby of bird watching, as well as teaching the art of bird whittling to all ages.

Greg Young

Greg Young is a chaplain with the FBI and a psychological debriefer for two Wisconsin police departments. He teaches courses around the country on crisis response and intervention, and responds to disasters locally and nationally. Teaching and practicing woodcarving is, in part, what Greg does to take care of himself.

Paul Purnell

Paul Purnell has been carving as a hobby for 15 years. While he carves mostly wildlife in the round, he has been known to make anything from tiny netsuke to owls in flight. He started making walking sticks, with either basic or fancy heads, following a request from the owner of his local gun shop, where his handiwork is now sold. Paul is retired and lives with his wife in a village near Lincoln in the United Kingdom. He is the author of Carving Creative Walking Sticks and Canes, available at foxchapelpublishing.com.

Randy Conner

Randy Conner began woodcarving about 20 years ago. He started carving and attending shows and competitions and has steadily progressed to open-level competition classes, winning many ribbons and awards along the way. Check out his work at CandorHillWoodcarvings.com or on Facebook at Candor Hill Woodcarvings.

Robert Stadtlander

Robert Stadtlander lives in Mantua, Ohio, and has spent most of life as a quality engineer. He discovered carving in 1989 and has won numerous awards. He exhibits widely in the Northeast and Midwest. Robert teaches woodcarving seminars and offers woodcarving tools and wood blanks, including a blank for this project. Contact him at 330-931-7847 or stadtlandercarvings.com.

Sandy Czajka

Sandy Czajka is an award-winning carver and a longtime lover of nature. She has chosen to express herself by combining her love of wood, birds, and art. Sandy has earned Masters level at the Ward World Championship, as well as several Best in Shows at woodcarving events around the United States.

Steve Tomashek

Steve Tomashek lives with his wife, daughter, and a menagerie of farm animals in a tiny village in the state of Thuringia, Germany. Prior to moving from the US in 2011, Steve sold his artworks at art fairs and galleries in the Midwest and along the East Coast. Find him on YouTube at Steve Tomashek, or order his new book, Scrap Wood Whittling, at foxchapelpublishing.com.

Steven Kulp

Steven Kulp was introduced to woodcarving by his uncle, Norris White, in 1983, and has been carving on and off ever since. Recently, he started competing in local and national carving competitions and has won a few ribbons. Steven lives in Souderton, Pa., with his wife, Elda, and son, Mike, and is a member of the Delaware Valley Wood Carvers. See more of his work on Facebook at S.G. Kulp Carving.