It is important to plan out your design by first sketching it out on paper.
Wood carving can be done with a few simple tools and patient work. Most of the carving tools you'll need can be purchased from your local arts and crafts store. Buying an artist's blade and a few different sizes of gouge tools is a good place to start. After you have your tools, creating a design pattern is the first step in wood carving. It is also helpful to use some of the softer woods available for carving such as basswood, aspen or butternut.
Instructions
Carving Patterns into Wood
1. Create a design pattern, preferably on paper first, and then trace it onto the wood using a pencil. Do not worry about pressing too hard along the outline of the piece on the wood, because you will eventually have to create a stop, or traced indentation on the wood's surface.
2. Using your artist's knife you will now create the stop around the perimeter of the sketch by making an indented outline. Remember that the actual image will be raised and the wood around it will be gouged out, so be careful not to scratch the wood within the image outline.
3. Carefully remove, or rough out, the wood around the image with one of your gouge tools to create the background. Take care not to gouge too deeply, keeping the carving as level and even as possible. Once the background has been gouged evenly you can take the gouge and shave the background to a smoother finish.
4. Take your artist's knife and round off the entire edge or any specific edges of the image necessary to the design. Take care not to cut too deeply and damage the edge. Using one of the gouge knives you can now lightly remove any of the recessed details within the image. The subtle curves and indentations of the image should be carefully worked so as not to damage the image.
5. Use sandpaper to lightly sand over the image and the background, smoothing it out to a satisfactory finish. Fold the sandpaper twice in order to create a corner that will allow you to sand inside the grooves of your details.
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