Batman Chip Carving

I decided to teach myself to chip carve so that I have some woodworking to do while I go on vacation. I’ve been using Wayne Barton's Complete Guide to Chip Carving, and after going through a lot of the practice exercises and trying out some of the cuts, I decided to try a “real” project. At least, try to make something that looks like something.

I thought about it for a while: do I want to do this geometric pattern, that geometric pattern, this floral scene, or that floral scene? Hmmm…. none of those are really my style. If I’m going to carve something, it might as well be something I like.

So I set about to recreate this classic Batman pose from Jim Lee:

The wood I chose is basswood, finished with some Minwax rub-on poly.

I’m actually very happy with the results, considering it is a first try. There are certainly some things to work on: my deeper chips are quite rough, for one thing. Also, in the future, I may have to work out some other technique for the larger black areas, since I don’t think the huge chips look very good, even had I done them well.

Nevertheless, this is going up on the shop wall – I need some decoration in there. I can’t decide what superhero to try next, though. I’d love to get some input on this – who would you choose?

Thanks for looking.

-- Brian