New woodspirit

[CarverFromNoWhere]

Just started this one last night, not sure if it's canadian plum or wild cherry. Was not able to fully identify the tree, still working on finding out though. You can see how big it is from my hand in the picture, this is the whole root ball that I have trimmed the roots short. I just dug the thing up and pressure washed the dirt off, made a bunch of spoon blanks and some other pieces for more spirits from the rest of the tree and one piece for a walking stick.
Carl

[Donsexton]

Re: New woodspirit

Looks good man, you got the scale right I always like to look at your carvings keep it up.

[Iowa Carver]

Re: New woodspirit

Nice work Carl, some good carving and I like what you chose to do on the piece. Real cool.

Corey

[bigarm]

Re: New woodspirit

Real nice work. I like the way you use the piece of wood (root) to compliment each detail. The root itself and the carving. Good job

[CarverFromNoWhere]

Re: New woodspirit

Once i'm further into the carving I will try for another side view the one I took is out of focus. I am planning to wrap the hair and beard all around the roots, still need to work a lot on the face. The pencil and marker lines are just to help me view which way the hair will flow.
I did the eyes way ahead of time, normally one of the last things I carve, not entirely sure why I did them now. I guess he wanted to aid me in his uncovering, I will however have to carve some pupils and glue them into the eyes. The wood is still very green just cut the tree two days ago so small detail is nearly impossible.
Carl

[Bill V]

Re: New woodspirit

Really looks good, I like the root.

Bill

[midnightcarver]

Re: New woodspirit

Looks great! You might not even have to add the beard! you already have the lips and chins defined well, Why hide them behind hair....then again, if you like making the swirly hair dancing on his chin....I guess that's part of the fun.

[toycarver]

Re: New woodspirit

Hi Carl - That is very cool! Very creative. Neat that you used other parts of the tree for spoons and things too. Good to see you finding more time to post here.

[chpster90bu]

Re: New woodspirit

Carl....what a different piece! I was really impressed with the way you carved this, and you're not even done yet!..... I'll be looking forward to the finished product.....a great idea and great execution! Bonnie

[CarverFromNoWhere]

Re: New woodspirit

Thanks for all the comments, I had planned to finish the carving (hopefully) tomorrow but I just found out I will be laying the rest of the laminate floor in my brothers house tomorrow.

I am going to finish the carving and let it dry for a couple weeks before I add the finish. I think I will wax his face and beard so it doesn't crack to bad.

It was either a woodspirit or a lamp for this chunk of wood this stuff is really hard too. I will take a picture of the tree rings it looks like it's around 70 years old.

Carl

[Mottles]

Re: New woodspirit

Good work Carl, will look forward to more updates when you have time.
Kathy

[TOEKNEE]

Re: New woodspirit

what a great piece, i really like your style and creativity!

[Merle Rice]

Re: New woodspirit

Looking real good Carl, looking forward in seeing it finished. Merle

[Sharon of the Dell]

Re: New woodspirit

Carl, what a great use of the root ball! You are doing it justice for sure! Have fun with that floor! My husband and I put down solid bamboo in our house. He cut and fit it and I nailed it, well I nailed quite a bit anyway.LOL

[CarverFromNoWhere]

Re: New woodspirit

I did some work on him today and last night changed the face a little and started to chunk out the bigger masses of hair. It has cracked even more i'm not to worried about it though, only a couple small ones have developed in the face. I have a picture tonight of the backside of this stump/rootball. The area when the beard wraps down the roots is getting a little tricky to carve because my tools both the Pfeil and Flexcuts don't fit very well to carve with the grain so it is screeching to a slow pace of working the hair and when I start to add the actual hair detail it will be even slower. Looks like it will take longer then I thought. If anyone has any suggestions or comments have at it, thanks everyone for your comments.
Carl