Follow My Carving - Gaia - Step 5

To celebrate Heartwood Art carvings being featured in upcoming issues of Woodcarving Illustrated and Scroll Saw magazines, the "Follow My Carving" series was created to give you a an insider’s view on how the art is made. This Gaia carving was requested by my dear friend who kindly took the pictures that will be featured in the magazines.

Shaping the back and sides is a really fun part of the process. Bigger gouges can be used and the chips fly off in bulk.

A thin pencil line is drawn down the vertical center of the back. This is used as a guide to help angle down toward the sides in a graduated manner.

Once the back is finished, the sides of the front are carefully rounded, leaving enough edge for the outside tree limbs to give the illusion that they are emerging from the body. Next, the tree and moon edges will be rounded.

The next installment is coming soon.

To see more carvings, please visit the Heartwood Art site.