Afro- Carribean Woman

[ragiarn]

This my fourth attempt at carving Ian Norbury's Afro-carribean woman. In his publication "Carving the Female Face" Ian presents 3 adult women and one female child.

In Chapter One- Introduction to Carving he Female Face Mr. Norbury's first sentence is " Carving a woman's head is very easy- if you lie to carve very ugly women".

My first 3 attempts ended in failures. This time I decided to follow Ian Norbury's instructions closely step by step and I am finally satisfied with the outcome so far.

This is also my first use of Butternut instead of basswood. I found Butternut easier to use and more beautiful because of the grain pattern.

I started with a block of Butternut 5"x51/2"x

Suggestions and advice gladly accepted.

Doc

[Irishman]

Re: Afro- Carribean Woman

Nice job Doc. Definitely have the right features for that ethnic population. Do you plan on sanding it as well?
Patrick

[cannuckcarver]

Re: Afro- Carribean Woman

Same here Doc, you sure captured the features of an Afro Woman.
Coming along good
Thanks for sharring

[ragiarn]

Re: Afro- Carribean Woman

Nice job Doc. Definitely have the right features for that ethnic population. Do you plan on sanding it as well?
Patrick

I am trying to get as smooth as possible just using my #3 gouge. I may do some sanding I am considering adding a walnut stain. Mr. Norbury's model was done using Walnut.

Doc

[CarverFromNoWhere]

Re: Afro- Carribean Woman

Hey Doc great job, I also have that book by Ian Norbury and was planing to do this exact project and in butternut lol.
If ya didn't know butternut is actually white walnut, so far your doing a great job. I am not sure if it's my place to say this because I have little experience carving female faces but her forhead looks to pronounced to me. Thanks for sharing this Doc, keep us posted on the progress.
Carl

[doris]

Re: Afro- Carribean Woman

hi doc, wonderful start, you are on the right track with this attempt, your persistence paied :-) ...

i dont know what your goal is, do you want achieve likeness to the fotoreference of norbury, or do you want achieve likeness to norbury´s carving, or do you want copy what you modeled in clay and i see in foto ? .. in either case, i think, contrary to what carl said ;-), that her forehead is just right for the state the carving is in.... the nose looks a tad bit short in depth, but to judge it a sideview would be more helpful. so i may be wrong with that,,so my suggestion is measure that again,,,, one point to watch out for is her ears... norbury carved them too small, compared with his reference, so be aware of their size (whatever likeness you want achieve)...the placement of ears , be careful to not pull them further to the front while shaping them...
the foundation you built is wonderful, i am looking forward to see her finished :-)

[Joy]

Re: Afro- Carribean Woman

Beautiful start! Persistence and practice....everyone keeps saying that and they must be right because it worked for you.

[ragiarn]

Re: Afro- Carribean Woman

Thank you for the comments. All suggestions are welcome. I am in the finishing phase. Sometimes the problem in finishing is knowing when to stop. I ruined one of my carvings because I did not leave well enough alone and ended up removing too much and ruining the entire project.

As for the profile. Doris I think you are correct in that Ian made the ears smaller- that might have been by design. I am trying to copy Mr. Norbury's finished carving and not the model shown in his book.

The clay model I made was to give me a better perspective of the relative depth of the various elements of the face.

Photos never give a proper perspective and depending on the angle at which the photo is taken individual features may seem longer or shorter than they really are.

I have taken two profile photos. The paper profile in both are the exact same size and the length of he nose is the same in my carving as it is on the paper profile. In the first photo the paper profile approximately 3" further away than in the second photo.

Doc

[DManning]

Re: Afro- Carribean Woman

She's coming along great. It seems that the grain is working well for you, especially on the cheek and jaw. My luck would have the grain make a sharp left turn in the middle of the nose (lol).
I've always been leery of trying detail in butternut for that reason. After seeing your piece, I just might have to give it a try.
Thanks for showing her. Can't wait to see her finished.
Dan

[doris]

Re: Afro- Carribean Woman

hi doc, i think i not formulated good in english... i meant the distance tip of nose to behind the wings of nose...and this does look a little short on your carving... good to see the sideviews... you are on perfect way, just not forget to look always all views, the sideview reveals you still have to go a little deeper around the nose, and the mouthcorners are not deep enough yet...there is a tip in norbury´s book, i think in his first carving how to rectify this... anyway, i really am amazed about the progress you are doing. keep going, she will be wonderful... and i should not interfere... thanks for showing sideviews and explaining your goals

[ragiarn]

Re: Afro- Carribean Woman

Doris, I noticed the same problem with the nose and the mouth corners after I took the photos of the side along with the original plan.

I will work on that some more. The biggest problem is always being afraid to cut deeper. That is one of the reasons that I make the clay model first. If I cut too deep in the clay model I can always put some clay back.

I appreciate any comments and you are not interfering. I am just a student trying to learn as much as I can from mistakes.

The reason for trying this same pattern 4 times was so that I could learn from the mistakes I made on the previous attempts.

Doris it might please you to know that I presented my rendition of your Michaelangelo at the NEWC Spirit of wood competition and was awarded a 3rd place in the expert category.

http://www.woodcarvingillustrated.com/forum/f38/newc-spirit-wood-annual-show-and-competition-19775/

Doc

[doris]

Re: Afro- Carribean Woman

congratulation, what a great achievement...and you did carve only or about half a year ! that makes it even more wonderful... :-) ... we do not have these kind of juried shows for carving...

see, you know already what do do, you noticed the problem yoourself, this is best what can happen. so you can work out how to improve upon it... and you will, you learned so much this summer

[ragiarn]

Re: Afro- Carribean Woman

The face is mostly finished (I never know when to stop). Some minor work for the ears. Beginning to work on the periphery- neck, bust and hair. Added the pony tail.

She is beginning to look like the Lady I envisioned when I started. I like to grain of the Butternut but the color is not what I would like. Ian Norbury used Walnut (English Walnut I presume). I will probably stain the piece using a Black walnut stain but with a light coating.

I have penciled in the hair details which can be seen in the first photo.

As always suggestions are welcome. At times it takes other eyes to see what I am missing.

My friends call me "Doc"

[Ron T]

Re: Afro- Carribean Woman

Hi Doc, you're doing a very nice job on this carving. She's definitely going going to be a beauty. I noticed that her hair around her ears is raised forms a crater for the ears. Since her hair is pulled tightly back against her head, I don't know if it would be that thick right above her ear.

[ragiarn]

Re: Afro- Carribean Woman

Hi Doc, you're doing a very nice job on this carving. She's definitely going going to be a beauty. I noticed that her hair around her ears is raised forms a crater for the ears. Since her hair is pulled tightly back against her head, I don't know if it would be that thick right above her ear.

Good observation. I am still in the process of finishing the hair.
As a matter of fact I have run into a dilemma. The next step would be to carve in the hair using veiner. However the grain in the butternut is very striking and almost looks like hair. I am considering leaving the hair smooth as it is now and letting the grain stand out. If I use the veiner to make the hair the grain will be lost. Any one have thoughts on this.

The two photos below will illustrate my point. (I am still working on the ear and the hair around it.


Doc