What should I try carving first as a beginner?

What should I try carving as a beginner to get started?-Basic Sculpting Activities

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What carving is best for a beginner?

Wood carving is easy to start. 

Each summer, I stayed with my grandparents in a small Russian village by the Volga river. I recall being six years old. I sneaked into my grandfather's workshop and discovered 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. Long story short, it was the start of my journey in carving. I didn't carve wood that day. I found a white brick and began to “chisel away”. I really didn't know what I was carving. I simply enjoyed the process. By the end of the day, I could identify a human face in that brick. I don't really remember what I felt, joy or frustration, but I know now it was the starting point of my lifelong journey as a carver.

Afterward, I worked with wood and enjoyed it more than brick. I decided. I'll carve wood, not brick anymore!

I didn't understand anything about wood types or carving styles. How chip carving differs from relief carving? All those complicated terms confused me. I had no knowledge of the basic principles of wood carving.

I felt very fortunate with both sides of my family. My grandfather owned a small shop and a couple of workbenches, and I could spend time with him and watch him work. For him, his shop was a “hiding place” from his wife, my grandmother. But naturally, she knew where to find him.My father's side of the family has a history of skilled woodworkers and furniture makers. One of my great-grandfathers crafted furniture for a royal house in Saint Petersburg, Russia.My Granny told me tales from when she was a kid in her father's woodworking shop.

She remembered the tunes her dad sang. He would sing as he worked with wood.My grandfather gave me my first chisel, and my grandmother gave me my first whittling knife. Actually, it was a pocket knife from the USSR, not a whittling knife. Pocket knives are good for simple carving. Those were my carving tools. I didn't have a gouge or any power tools. Not even a real chip carving knife. A basic pocket knife is enough to create 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.

What should I try carving as a beginner to get started?

I'm new to carving, what should I start with?

Ponder on what attracts you more: a spoon or relief carvings. A lot of beginners don't grasp the big difference between carving a wooden spoon and carving a 3-dimensional sculpture with a gouge and a mallet. This is also called carving in the round.

Nature itself moves through the ongoing exchange 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?

Ask another important question. What style of carving do I like? Yet, this isn't the only question to consider. Another question to think about is: what tools do you own? Do you own basic wood carving tools or just a knife? Some of you might only have a chainsaw :). You can carve with a chainsaw but not a spoon.

I suggest trying out different carving styles. Remember, what hand tools do you have? If you have only a chip carving knife you can't do “spoon carving”, but it does not mean you can't do something else.

 

Dopamine works like transmission fluid: if there’s not enough, as is the case in people with ADHD, attention can’t easily be shifted or can only be shifted all the way into high gear.

(John J. Ratey and Eric Hagerman, Spark)

Dopamine in woodcarving is like oil for your carving tools: if there’s not enough, like those with ADHD, your focus can either get stuck or suddenly become very sharp.

WOODCARVING – What should I try carving as a beginner to get started?-Basic Sculpting Activities

Here is a List of some ideas:

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

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