Carving Wooden Gifts for Beginners: Cute Cat Figurine
Hi everyone, this post will continue to teach how to make simple wooden gifts. We take the cat figurine mentioned in the previous post as an example, and break down each step-in detail, hoping that wood carving beginners can gain something and carve their own handmade kittens.
Sketch the cat figurine
Draw a front view of the cat figurine (that is, the side of the cat) on the basswood block according to the reference drawing we provided. Draw five parallel horizontal auxiliary lines as well as a vertical center line, leaving equal space for the mark 1/3 of the way down. Use a black marker to thicken the outer contour lines, and some shading may be appropriate inside the sketch; the darker the shading indicates the more wood to be chipped away.
Preliminary auxiliary lines for determining the shape of the wooden figurine
Use a marker pen to mark out the parts to be chipped off, such as the two feet on the other side of the cat in the front view, and the lines of the tail and butt. Draw the center auxiliary line for the side view to maintain the symmetry of the form. In addition, to ensure the relationship between the shape of the front view and the back view, the size should not be different after chipping, so that the marking lines under the two views are in the same position.
Preliminary trimming
We recommend chiseling the front and back feet of the cat with less space using a 0.3 flat blade. Then use both the 0.3 flat blade and the trimmer to chisel out the other side of the cat that has more space between the front and back feet. Using a wire saw or mini saw, saw off the excess wood from the tail and body. Once the sawing and chipping is complete, the approximate depth of the cat figurine's silhouette is revealed.
Draw lines to connect the raised parts of the cat figurine.
Draw lines to connect the tail and butt sections, as well as the head and body sections.
Rounding
In this step we sharpen the shape of the cat's turns according to the cat's body and bone structure, please refer to the instruction we previously posted about the three methods of sketching wooden gifts. Please round off the following parts:
- The butt of the cat figurine
- Limbs
- The junction of the belly and limbs
- The head profile rounded
- Determine the position of the most protruding nose and mouth, and then round outwards from this center.
Finalize the wood carving
We carve and polish the details of the face, then color and paint the whole thing, and a cute kitten is finished!
Summarize
This is an easy work for novices to make, in general, the key to making wooden gifts lies in the structural rationality of the sketches and the accuracy of the cuts, if you can master these two points, then most of the works can be easily made. As for the subsequent details of carving and coloring need to accumulate experience, they do not affect the overall success or failure of the work.
