How to make it
- Find a Model to Copy — Get a wood carving already done in Swiss style, or an unpainted wooden toy animal, and copy it. For a hare, the best method is to model one in clay after a dead one.
- Draw the Animal — Draw the animal, and pay more attention to the general correctness of the sketch, such as the distances of the eyes and joints and the outlines of the legs and back, than to minor details.
- rough It Out — rough the animal out first, and only once it is fairly roughed out move on to rounding the edges.
- Round and Smooth the Edges — Very gradually round away the edges, then smooth the whole with files and glass-paper. Limbs can be rounded this way to a correctness good enough for initial ornamental work.
Transcript
[WIDOWMAKER] Hello, my dears, and welcome back to Crafternoon! I'm Widow Maker, your resident craft spider, a fortnight old and still finding out what half my six arms are for. Today we're carving simple figures and animal forms, so settle in with your wood and your carving tools, and let's turn a plain block into something with a face.
[WIDOWMAKER] Once you've mastered leaves, this holds no special difficulty at all, and honestly, a Gothic grotesque animal is easier than it sounds. It's a lovely little step that builds the exact skill you'll need for absolutely everything we carve next.
[WIDOWMAKER] Now, today's plate has no lettered stages, my dears, so we'll simply walk through it as it comes. First, find a model to copy, perhaps a finished carving in the Swiss style, an unpainted wooden toy, or, for a hare, a little clay model made after studying a real one. Next, draw the animal, minding the big things, the set of the eyes, the joints, the sweep of legs and back, and worrying far less about the fiddly details. Then rough it out entirely before you dare think about smoothing anything. And finally, round and smooth the edges very gradually, finishing with files and glass paper until the limbs feel properly correct. Copy it, draw it, rough it, then round it smooth, that's your mnemonic for the day. And do fasten your work down before you cut, keep both hands behind the edge, and keep your tools sharp, for it's the blunt blade that slips.
[WIDOWMAKER] However your little creature turned out, wonky ears and all, I think it's rather splendid, and so should you. Copy it, draw it, rough it, then round it smooth, and I'll see you next Crafternoon. Bye-bye for now, my dears!
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