# "Carving a Tree Spirit"



## mpounders (Jun 22, 2010)

*Face and Nose*

I took up carving because I was so impressed with a wood spirit I saw at a craft show, and I still work on them, even though other subjects have caught my attentions. Tree spirits and greenmen have been part of folklore and traditions through many ages and cultures. I have carved them as wall hangings, spoons, canes, and free standing pieces out of primarily found wood of different species. This tutorial will start with a small piece suitable for a cane or staff, but the techniques apply to a piece of any size. I will also do a little carving with some cottonwood bark toward the end.

So, this is a small piece of hickory about six inches long and about one inch in diameter. I am using a shorter piece for this demo, that I cut off a cane I just finished, and a small piece is certainly easier to practice on for your first pieces. You have to be really careful with longer canes and staffs, because you have to turn the wood upside down and in different directions in order to cut properly. This can be awkward with longer pieces and somewhat dangerous for lighting fixtures! Beware! I am using one of my favorite knives, the always sharp utility knife, and a couple of fmall gouges.










You want to remove the bark from an area sbout an inch tall and also remove the cambium layer underneath the bark. This thin layer underneath the bark is usually darker than the wide beneath, which can cause some undesirable effects with your carving. Since it would be the highest level, your carving would appear to have a brown nose and we certainly don't want that! I have did a few carvings where I have used a branch growing out for the nose, but you have to be careful since the center of that branch is usually a different color and will give you that brown spot again on the end of the nose. A nice carving can really look bad when a finish is applied if you are not careful to carve past some of these upper layers. You just get too much variation in the face. Sketch in the position of the nose and the eye brows and the mound of the mouth. I'll be cuttin off more later to make the beard and hair longer, but that will wait until we get some of the major details blocked in. I'm making the cleared area come to a slight point toward the location of the nose, in order to make it stand out. The Santa ornament I carved used the corner for this, so we are having to carve the corner for the nose into this round cylinder of wood. (but we won't have to round it off later!)










I carve out the chip below the nose and above the nose to give the basic shape. This hickory is a lot harder than the basswood I normally carve, but it is important to get it deep enough to make it stand out properly. Most beginners are a little afraid about cutting too much off….so be sure and get it deep enough to give a good profile.



















Draw your nose and eyebrows back in. Now, we'll cut the forehead back down to the nose making a big shallow V shape. Draw your eye brows and stuff back when finished.


















The low point of that V is where the center line of the eyes will eventually be. The area above that will be the upper eye lid and part beneath the brow. So now we will make the cuts on those lines. Stab the point of your knife deep at the corner of the eye and nose and keep the blade vertical as you make the deep to shallow cut from that corner to the bottom of the nose. You need to cut enough at the bottom so that the nose stands out good, but the cut at the corner of the eye and nose will be the deepest on the face. Slant the knife blade to remove the area above the eye to the corner of the nose. You'll cut out an arch shaped segment, kinda like a segment of an orange, to form the shape of the upper lid, as shown below. Don't be afraid to cut deeper in the eye/nose corner…..it will look better if you make it deeper!










Round of the tip of the nose to a ball like shape and slant the sides up a little for the wings of the nose. Round off the edges of the bridge of the nose and make sure that you have everything deep enough so that it stands out good from the face. Draw the top part of the wings of the nose and then remove a little v chip to define them. You can round the nose off and the thin the bridge a bit if it is needed. You can use a knife to cut the nostrils, but I used a little 2mm u gouge to take out a little semi-circle.


















Now I reduce and round off the mound for the mouth. I don't want it to look like the lips stick out past the tip of the nose, so I cut it back a bit. Now that I have some of the features defined, I decide to take off more bark around the bottom to give more of a definition for the area of the beard. More voluminous and flowing. I sketch in where I think I want the mustache and mouth, trying for somewhat of a wind-tossed look. I usually like just a buttom lip showing, more of a serious, pensive look. But this could change!



















That's all for now! I'll post some more soon, as I am off for the holidays and plan to spend a lot of time in th shop! Merry Christmas!


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## MShort (Jan 15, 2009)

mpounders said:


> *Face and Nose*
> 
> I took up carving because I was so impressed with a wood spirit I saw at a craft show, and I still work on them, even though other subjects have caught my attentions. Tree spirits and greenmen have been part of folklore and traditions through many ages and cultures. I have carved them as wall hangings, spoons, canes, and free standing pieces out of primarily found wood of different species. This tutorial will start with a small piece suitable for a cane or staff, but the techniques apply to a piece of any size. I will also do a little carving with some cottonwood bark toward the end.
> 
> ...


Thanks Mike !!! Looking forward to the rest of your blog.


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## Kentuk55 (Sep 21, 2010)

mpounders said:


> *Face and Nose*
> 
> I took up carving because I was so impressed with a wood spirit I saw at a craft show, and I still work on them, even though other subjects have caught my attentions. Tree spirits and greenmen have been part of folklore and traditions through many ages and cultures. I have carved them as wall hangings, spoons, canes, and free standing pieces out of primarily found wood of different species. This tutorial will start with a small piece suitable for a cane or staff, but the techniques apply to a piece of any size. I will also do a little carving with some cottonwood bark toward the end.
> 
> ...


very good Mike. nuttin like a lil carvin how-to fer Christmas. thnx. Merry Christmas to you & yours


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## decoustudio (May 4, 2006)

mpounders said:


> *Face and Nose*
> 
> I took up carving because I was so impressed with a wood spirit I saw at a craft show, and I still work on them, even though other subjects have caught my attentions. Tree spirits and greenmen have been part of folklore and traditions through many ages and cultures. I have carved them as wall hangings, spoons, canes, and free standing pieces out of primarily found wood of different species. This tutorial will start with a small piece suitable for a cane or staff, but the techniques apply to a piece of any size. I will also do a little carving with some cottonwood bark toward the end.
> 
> ...


looking forward the rest of the series, off to a good start.


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## nonickswood (Nov 12, 2011)

mpounders said:


> *Face and Nose*
> 
> I took up carving because I was so impressed with a wood spirit I saw at a craft show, and I still work on them, even though other subjects have caught my attentions. Tree spirits and greenmen have been part of folklore and traditions through many ages and cultures. I have carved them as wall hangings, spoons, canes, and free standing pieces out of primarily found wood of different species. This tutorial will start with a small piece suitable for a cane or staff, but the techniques apply to a piece of any size. I will also do a little carving with some cottonwood bark toward the end.
> 
> ...


Thanks Mike, Very nice!
Always wanted some good carving instruction.
Will be following.


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## doordude (Mar 26, 2010)

mpounders said:


> *Face and Nose*
> 
> I took up carving because I was so impressed with a wood spirit I saw at a craft show, and I still work on them, even though other subjects have caught my attentions. Tree spirits and greenmen have been part of folklore and traditions through many ages and cultures. I have carved them as wall hangings, spoons, canes, and free standing pieces out of primarily found wood of different species. This tutorial will start with a small piece suitable for a cane or staff, but the techniques apply to a piece of any size. I will also do a little carving with some cottonwood bark toward the end.
> 
> ...


thanks for the lesson. looks good so far,looking forward to the other lessons.


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## Rustic (Jul 21, 2008)

mpounders said:


> *Face and Nose*
> 
> I took up carving because I was so impressed with a wood spirit I saw at a craft show, and I still work on them, even though other subjects have caught my attentions. Tree spirits and greenmen have been part of folklore and traditions through many ages and cultures. I have carved them as wall hangings, spoons, canes, and free standing pieces out of primarily found wood of different species. This tutorial will start with a small piece suitable for a cane or staff, but the techniques apply to a piece of any size. I will also do a little carving with some cottonwood bark toward the end.
> 
> ...


Just found this thanks Mike


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## followyourheart (Feb 3, 2010)

mpounders said:


> *Face and Nose*
> 
> I took up carving because I was so impressed with a wood spirit I saw at a craft show, and I still work on them, even though other subjects have caught my attentions. Tree spirits and greenmen have been part of folklore and traditions through many ages and cultures. I have carved them as wall hangings, spoons, canes, and free standing pieces out of primarily found wood of different species. This tutorial will start with a small piece suitable for a cane or staff, but the techniques apply to a piece of any size. I will also do a little carving with some cottonwood bark toward the end.
> 
> ...


Cool… I'm behind on my reading online, so just found this and will try it out soon!
Thanks Mike.


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## carverdave (Mar 4, 2011)

mpounders said:


> *Face and Nose*
> 
> I took up carving because I was so impressed with a wood spirit I saw at a craft show, and I still work on them, even though other subjects have caught my attentions. Tree spirits and greenmen have been part of folklore and traditions through many ages and cultures. I have carved them as wall hangings, spoons, canes, and free standing pieces out of primarily found wood of different species. This tutorial will start with a small piece suitable for a cane or staff, but the techniques apply to a piece of any size. I will also do a little carving with some cottonwood bark toward the end.
> 
> ...


Excellent Mike!


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## mpounders (Jun 22, 2010)

*Beard and Eyes*

We left off with the mustache and lip sketched in. I use the knife to outline the mustache with a straight-up stop cut and then make angled cuts up to that cut, so that the mustache is higher than the beard. Then use the knife to round over the edges of the mustache.


















Draw the lower lip in again and then cut out a c-shaped section underneath. Make a deep shallow cut between the mustache and upper part of the lip. A shallow cut makes the mouth look slightly open, while a rounder shape gives a surprised or singing look.


















On each side of the face, I define the edge with a kinda reverse-3 shape. This will give a rounded shape to the cheeks and will establish the edge of the beard.










Now I use a gouge to make the beard by cutting a sort of sun-burst shape around the face. I try to stay outside the lines for the cheek and fore head I drew earlier. I make the hair swoop upwards from the area of the eyes on around the top of the face. And it swoops downward and swirls to the left for the beard. I used about a 1/4" u-gouge for this. Normally when I do beards and hair, I start with a large gouge for the basic shapes of the beard, follow with a smaller gouge to put in more complex patterns, and then follow with a few cuts in various places with a smaller gouge to add the final details. I might continue with decreasing sizes of v tools to add hair, but trying to add too many details on a small carving like this would not look quite right. Sometimes less is better!










As shown above, draw the eyes in. Just draw a line staright across from the low part of the nose to the corner of the "3" as shown. Slanting this line up or down can create a completely different look to the eyes.
Make a v shaped cut to outline the 3. I want to create ball shaped mounds for the cheeks and eyes. Remove a little triangle shape at the outside corners of the eye to define the top of the cheekbone. Round over the upper eye lid a bit to make a smooth flowing shape from the deep corner by the nose to the outside corner.










There are a lot of ways to do eyes, but we'll keep these simple. Not going too deep, cut along the line you drew in to establish the bottom of the upper lid. Very carefully cut from the bottom up to this stop cut to establish a slight overhang that is the upper eyelid. It doesn't have to be much to create a shadow. Now make that first stop cut deeper and a little wider. This makes a darker shadow that looks like an eye slit. You can make it look more like an eye by making a small c-shaped cut to indicate the pupil. If you put both pupils in the middle, he stares straight ahead. I have moved the pupils to one side on mine to make it look like he is peering over his shoulder at something.










Spend a little time cleaning up the carving by doing some cleaner cuts and cleaning up any little strings or fuzzies. I like to lightly sand hair and beards to give a softer, realistic look, but don't over-do it! The facets and other aspects of being hand-carved add to the facial features.










I finish the piece with satin polyurethane that I brush on and then immediately wipe off with paper towels. It really makes the colors of the bark and the details of the carving pop! You can see why I wanted to make sure the yellow-orange cambium bark didn't intefere with the features of the face. It looks better as part of the hair!


















That pretty much finishes up this guy. I hope you try carving some of these! I'm going to continue this series with carving a wood spirit in bark, so that you can see some similar and dirrerent techniques used with that material. Thanks for looking!


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## Pimzedd (Jan 22, 2007)

mpounders said:


> *Beard and Eyes*
> 
> We left off with the mustache and lip sketched in. I use the knife to outline the mustache with a straight-up stop cut and then make angled cuts up to that cut, so that the mustache is higher than the beard. Then use the knife to round over the edges of the mustache.
> 
> ...


Thanks Mike.

I have tried a couple of Santas. I really appreciate your work and your passing on the technique.


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## DanYo (Jun 30, 2007)

mpounders said:


> *Beard and Eyes*
> 
> We left off with the mustache and lip sketched in. I use the knife to outline the mustache with a straight-up stop cut and then make angled cuts up to that cut, so that the mustache is higher than the beard. Then use the knife to round over the edges of the mustache.
> 
> ...


well done Bud … photography is expert and fun to ready


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## jockmike2 (Oct 10, 2006)

mpounders said:


> *Beard and Eyes*
> 
> We left off with the mustache and lip sketched in. I use the knife to outline the mustache with a straight-up stop cut and then make angled cuts up to that cut, so that the mustache is higher than the beard. Then use the knife to round over the edges of the mustache.
> 
> ...


Thanks from all us wanna be carvers. You sure make it look easy.


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## flintbone (Oct 4, 2009)

mpounders said:


> *Beard and Eyes*
> 
> We left off with the mustache and lip sketched in. I use the knife to outline the mustache with a straight-up stop cut and then make angled cuts up to that cut, so that the mustache is higher than the beard. Then use the knife to round over the edges of the mustache.
> 
> ...


Good job Mike. I like how you do his eyes.
Thanks for sharing.

flint


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## helluvawreck (Jul 21, 2010)

mpounders said:


> *Beard and Eyes*
> 
> We left off with the mustache and lip sketched in. I use the knife to outline the mustache with a straight-up stop cut and then make angled cuts up to that cut, so that the mustache is higher than the beard. Then use the knife to round over the edges of the mustache.
> 
> ...


It's a nice carving, *Mike*. I'll try to follow this.

helluvawreck

https://woodworkingexpo.wordpress.com


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## Kentuk55 (Sep 21, 2010)

mpounders said:


> *Beard and Eyes*
> 
> We left off with the mustache and lip sketched in. I use the knife to outline the mustache with a straight-up stop cut and then make angled cuts up to that cut, so that the mustache is higher than the beard. Then use the knife to round over the edges of the mustache.
> 
> ...


very gooda


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## mpounders (Jun 22, 2010)

*Cottonwood Bark*

First, you need some bark! You can buy cottonwood bark by the pound and get some really great wood, that is much thicker and wider than what I found in my neighborhood. Or, you may find your own, if you live further north than I do! Look for a tree with thick ragged bark, or the cotton-like flowers(?) when it blooms. Look for dry bark that has fallen off or a tree that is dead. I collected several garbage bags full from a tree that was struck by lightning. I washed mine and scrubbed with a nylon brush to remove dirt and debris that could damage a tool and then left it out in the sun to dry.

I'm using a piece that is abought 17" long and maybe 2" thick. I'm primarily using my utility knife and a smaller detail knife on this one.










Pick a likely looking spot, something thick, and use the utility knife to clean off the upper (loose) bark in a space about 3" long. You will see the rich reddish color beneath the gray outer bark. Cut this into a pointed area so that the nose will really stick out. We are creating a corner to carve the nose on, just like we did in the previous carving and the Santa. Draw the line to define the top of the nose, a triangle shape for the nose and lightly sketch the moustache.










Cut out the notch below the nose and the slope of the nose up to the top line. Be very, very careful! The greatest thing about carving bark is that it is so soft! And the worst thing about carving bark is that it is so soft! It takes a sharp knife and a delicate touch. It's like carving styrofoam, almost.










Cut the forehead down to the top of the nose, making that long shallow V-shape. Draw in the eyebrows, eye slits, and nose again. Remember, the lowest part os that V, the top of the nose, will be the center-line of your eyes.










Make the cuts to define the nose and round them over. I use a small sharp detail knife, because a longer blade can easily cut areas that you don't want it to! Work slowly, taking small cuts. Bark can be very delicate and a mistake may require a design change….although super-glue can be helpful with really crumbly bark. Define the upper eyelids by making a slanting cut following the curved eyebrow down to the line for the eye-slit. Cut a deep triangle chip between the corner of each eye and the nose.










I try to follow natural crevices in the bark for the moustache. I used the crevice on the left side of this face and then just made a little notch on the right side of the nose (at the top) to kinda match it. Draw in the lower edge of the moustache and make a relief cut to make it stand proud and then round it over. Draw in the lower lip, make a c cut underneath it and then deepen the cut right under the mustache to make it look slightly open.










Draw in and carve the reverse 3's on each side of the face to define the temple and cheeks. Round them, but be careful!


















Now make a straight cut across for each eye. Undercut this a bit, so the upper lid hangs out over the lower. Carefully deepen and widen the cut to create a dark shadow for the eye. Then cut out a little half circle below each line to indicate the pupil. I centered these pupils to make him stare right at you!


















I round over the edges of the face slightly, to make it appear like he is peering out from the crevices in the bark. Here is another wood spirit in a different style, carved from a small piece of bark.










It only took about an hour to do this carving. I sometimes leave them unfinished, since the wood has a tendency to darken when a finish is applied. Sometimes I just wax the face or maybe spray a light coat of laquer. People carve houses and all sorts of things from bark. You can even flatten the back on a sander and then join two pieces to do an in-the-round carving. Have fun and thanks for looking!


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## Robin (Sep 19, 2008)

mpounders said:


> *Cottonwood Bark*
> 
> First, you need some bark! You can buy cottonwood bark by the pound and get some really great wood, that is much thicker and wider than what I found in my neighborhood. Or, you may find your own, if you live further north than I do! Look for a tree with thick ragged bark, or the cotton-like flowers(?) when it blooms. Look for dry bark that has fallen off or a tree that is dead. I collected several garbage bags full from a tree that was struck by lightning. I washed mine and scrubbed with a nylon brush to remove dirt and debris that could damage a tool and then left it out in the sun to dry.
> 
> ...


Awesome as usual!


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## Frizz (Oct 22, 2010)

mpounders said:


> *Cottonwood Bark*
> 
> First, you need some bark! You can buy cottonwood bark by the pound and get some really great wood, that is much thicker and wider than what I found in my neighborhood. Or, you may find your own, if you live further north than I do! Look for a tree with thick ragged bark, or the cotton-like flowers(?) when it blooms. Look for dry bark that has fallen off or a tree that is dead. I collected several garbage bags full from a tree that was struck by lightning. I washed mine and scrubbed with a nylon brush to remove dirt and debris that could damage a tool and then left it out in the sun to dry.
> 
> ...


Well done Mike!


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## wizzardofwood (Jul 18, 2010)

mpounders said:


> *Cottonwood Bark*
> 
> First, you need some bark! You can buy cottonwood bark by the pound and get some really great wood, that is much thicker and wider than what I found in my neighborhood. Or, you may find your own, if you live further north than I do! Look for a tree with thick ragged bark, or the cotton-like flowers(?) when it blooms. Look for dry bark that has fallen off or a tree that is dead. I collected several garbage bags full from a tree that was struck by lightning. I washed mine and scrubbed with a nylon brush to remove dirt and debris that could damage a tool and then left it out in the sun to dry.
> 
> ...


really nice job….........looks like your having toooooo much fun….....jim


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## superdav721 (Aug 16, 2010)

mpounders said:


> *Cottonwood Bark*
> 
> First, you need some bark! You can buy cottonwood bark by the pound and get some really great wood, that is much thicker and wider than what I found in my neighborhood. Or, you may find your own, if you live further north than I do! Look for a tree with thick ragged bark, or the cotton-like flowers(?) when it blooms. Look for dry bark that has fallen off or a tree that is dead. I collected several garbage bags full from a tree that was struck by lightning. I washed mine and scrubbed with a nylon brush to remove dirt and debris that could damage a tool and then left it out in the sun to dry.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the lesson it looks great.


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## Kentuk55 (Sep 21, 2010)

mpounders said:


> *Cottonwood Bark*
> 
> First, you need some bark! You can buy cottonwood bark by the pound and get some really great wood, that is much thicker and wider than what I found in my neighborhood. Or, you may find your own, if you live further north than I do! Look for a tree with thick ragged bark, or the cotton-like flowers(?) when it blooms. Look for dry bark that has fallen off or a tree that is dead. I collected several garbage bags full from a tree that was struck by lightning. I washed mine and scrubbed with a nylon brush to remove dirt and debris that could damage a tool and then left it out in the sun to dry.
> 
> ...


oh yesss gr8t spirit.. you really bring em out Mike


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