What should I carve as a beginner?

Can I get a suggestion for a basic carving project suitable for beginners?-Simple Carving Plans for Newbies

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Which carving is good for a beginner?

Wood carving is easy to start. 

Each summer, I visited my grandparents in a tiny Russian village near the Volga river. I remember when I was six. I sneaked into my grandfather's workshop and saw a woodworking chisel. I didn't know what the tool was, but I knew it had a cutting edge and thought I could cut something with it. To make a long story short, it was the start of my journey in carving. I didn't carve wood that day, though. I found a white brick and began to “chisel away”. I really had no idea what I was carving. I just enjoyed doing it. By the end of the day, I saw a human face in that brick. I don't really remember if I felt joy or frustration, but I know now it was the start of my lifelong journey as a carver.

After that, I tried to work with a piece of wood and liked it a lot more than brick. I made the decision. I will carve wood and no longer the brick!

I was clueless about wood types and wood carving methods. How do chip carving and relief carving differ? Those specialized words didn't make much sense to me. I had no knowledge of the basic principles of wood carving.

I felt very blessed with both sides of my family. My grandfather had a small shop and a couple of workbenches, and I could spend time with him and watch how he worked. For him, his shop was a “hiding place” from his wife, my grandmother. But she knew where to find him.The other side of my family, my father's side, is known for their skill in woodworking and furniture making. A great-grandfather of mine was a furniture maker for a royal house in Saint Petersburg, Russia.My Grandmother shared stories of her childhood in her father's woodworking shop.

She remembered the melodies her father sang. He sang while working with wood.My first chisel came from my grandfather, and my first whittling knife came from my grandmother. It was actually a pocket knife made in the USSR, not a real whittling knife. Pocket knives are good for basic carving. Those two tools were all I had for carving. I didn't have any gouge or power tools. Not even a real chip carving knife. A simple pocket knife is enough to make something beautiful.

Back then, I had no idea that woodcarving would become a major part of my life. Nowadays, I carve for collectors globally and private homes. I never knew woodcarving could be so fulfilling.

Can I get a suggestion for a basic carving project suitable for beginners?

As a beginner, what should I carve?

Ponder on what attracts you more: a spoon or relief carvings. Many times, beginners don't understand the big difference between carving a wooden spoon and carving a 3D sculpture with a gouge and a mallet. This is also known as carving in the round.

Nature itself operates through the steady interplay of opposites—earth and fire, sun and moon, male and female, dark and light. 

(Based on Robert Greene, Mastery)

 

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Starting my first carving project. What steps should I take?

Consider another crucial question. What carving style do I prefer? However, this isn't the only question to ask. Another question to think about is: what tools do you own? Do you have basic carving tools or only a knife? Some might only have a chainsaw :). Chainsaw carving is possible but not spoon carving.

I advise experimenting with various carving styles. Think about it, what hand tools do you have? If you only have a chip carving knife, spoon carving is out, but you can still carve other things.

 

Dopamine behaves like transmission fluid: when it’s low, as in ADHD, attention can’t shift easily or it skips to high gear.

(John J. Ratey and Eric Hagerman, Spark)

Dopamine in woodcarving is like oil for your carving tools: if there’s not enough, just like people with ADHD, your focus can either freeze or suddenly become very intense.

WOODCARVING – Can I get a suggestion for a basic carving project suitable for beginners?-Simple Carving Plans for Newbies

Here is a List of some ideas:

• Carving spoons
• Old European Knife Carving
• Relief Carving
• Carving in the round
• Bird and Fish Carving

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