Silly hill billy

 So as I wrote earlier I carved the hill billy from the Carving Magazine article. Since I had another piece of wood it would fit on I carved out two more. The difference was that the second one had to be modified due to the length of the wood. Once I was ready to carve I decided to carve this one first since there would be some changes in its design. I basically carved it in the same way I would carve the other one just with minor modifications. I gave him a vest and a shirt and pants opposed to the overalls.

Some of the problems I have had are dealing with getting clean cuts in tight areas. Some of it could be after carving for awhile that the blade is dulling out. Some of it I believe is the technique I use to cut out areas (or lack of that is). I will look through my magazines and see if anyone ever addressed these issues and how to deal with them. I know some carvers use different systems to brush away the fur balls from the wood once they are done carving. I will try to share a few of those in the upcoming segments.

There are so many wonderful carvers out there and most of them teach either through magazine articles, videos or actual classes. Most of these carvers have been carving for years and have a wide array of tools in their arsenal, so they teach from that perspective. This can be hard for the beginner or the intermediate carver trying to get a foot hold on carving.

The answer to this is to take a class or two when ever available. Many carvers post their teaching schedule on their websites. Some magazines have carving clubs listed in the back of their magazines as well. If possible find and join a carving group so that you can feed off of each other in knowledge and skill. Unfortunately in my area there are no carving groups that I have found. As I research and find answers to my questions I will post what I have found here. Any time you have a link or an article that addresses questions being brought up forward them on and I will post them as well.   

So here are a few pictures of my latest attempt at a carving, more to come, same carving time, same carving channel.