BOOK REVIEW

3363 Views 13 Replies 3 Participants Last post by cobalt, Aug 29, 2014

cobalt

Discussion Starter · Jan 21, 2014 (Edited by Moderator)

Just back on line, itching to see whats new here,Seems the bad weather and poor light detering everyone, it has me .

Just had some christmas pressys well just had a resonable look at them, some of you may be interested.

Thers 4 books just love books there called

carving faces byHarold Enlow

Sculpting the female face and figure by Ian Norbury

Carving gargoyles by Shawn Cipa , think i mentioned already

The hand made music factory thought JJireh would like this one

Carving faces- A well presented book with some interesting detail in,

The details are good regarding facial expresions aimed at the ameriican market. and would suit stickmaking The photo step by step guide would be useful for beginers .The paper quality is nice

Harold Enlow is a prominet carver and is well known for his charicature in style,He gives informaton and photos on the eyes,lips,hair,nose and ears

ths complete faces he has done are very american consisting of a female face,cowbao, native american chief, santa, witch, ugly face and of cours the wood spirit

Although the book is ideal for a new carver and would make suitable hiking pole ,i found the subject matter very twee and of putting and would like to see seriuos work from him but as my daughte only paid abou $6 plus postage from amazon i think for it it was a good buy but i think once its glanced at it will probally stay on the bookshaelf.It was nice of her to look for something i am interested in so dont mean to sound critical. just wanted to give a honest opinion

will post a few photos for example when i find the camera cant even find my glasses

post the next one tommorow if interested

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gdenby

· #2 · Jan 21, 2014

Thanks for the review of the Enlow book. As you mention, he is a caricature artist. I can't find anything from him on the web that is not a caricature carving. But I see that his work is quite competent. Good clean cuts, and just enough to add some nice detail. Not so much nuance, tho'.

I see on the web he is using basswood. Does he mention in the what his tool preferences are?

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cobalt

Discussion Starter · #3 · Jan 21, 2014

No mention of his preferance but uses what looks like palm chisels and carving knifes.The wood he used was bass(after seeing the diferance between lime wood and bass i suppose bass would be the best description for the wood)

i assume you can get it on the amazon site there.It does give you a preview on amazon here.

But would think that most stickmakers here wouldnt find this much of a challlange to do.

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cobalt

Discussion Starter · #4 · Jan 21, 2014

One thing i should have mentioned he uses micro gouges as well

I MUST FIND MY GLASSES OR NEED TO ENLARGE THIS TYEFACE DAM THINGS

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cobalt

Discussion Starter · #5 · Jan 22, 2014 (Edited by Moderator)

Sculpting the female face and figure in wood

Described as a referance and techniques manual

Does as says on the tin

Good quality book if your into carving a traditional female form this is 1st class

It has both drawings and photos of the subject .A few hints on photographing the female form and detailed drawings

the photos are excellent lots of then from all angles

He do`snt describe the tools he uses but uses mostly gouges and roary tools.

The forms are cut out on a bandsaw 1st so those without may struggle a bit

table of contents cover a lot of info from taking photos drawings making plans.other chapters includeThe photos cover all the model from all positions of the body and are of good quality.So the same pose is used in the round

also included

carving a classic european womans face

carving a classic Afro Caribean womans face

carving aS Samburo Girl

Carving a girls face

Carving a torso in limewood

carvingatorso in walnut

There are quite a few photos on his work on line also a utube video on cutting out a girls face on a band saw

The book is available from amazon

if you a intermiadte carver even a beginer this book is great useful referance material.

he also gives a brief out line on his finish

Not sure if the subject will be useful for stickmaking but will give it a go when i have scaled it down

but he is worth looking at on line

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cobalt

Discussion Starter · #6 · Jan 22, 2014

another couple of books here

1STICKMAKING A COMPLETE COURSE

By Andrew Jones and Clive George

Probably more suited for the english market but a good book

Well presented deals with Horn and wood toppers several patterns and projects to go at

176 pages

Covers a few woods in stickmaking.Advice on cutting storingand finding sticks.

Has some good advice on on manipulating /shaping ram, antlerand buffalo horn with descriptions of shaping horn. Also making jigs for the purpose

Handy book to have on the shelf

2ND BOOK

Carving Animal Canes & Walking sticks with power by Frank Russel

A Schiffer book for carvers

Gives quite a lot of info on tools neededand bitsseveral patterns are includedwith some alteratives on subject plcesment , (shows a elephant shead in 5 different positions on a walking stick)

Expaination of joinery and hardware and wood burning.Describes how to carve eyes and insert glass eyes.with 14 patterns in it

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gdenby

· #7 · Jan 22, 2014

cobalt said:
One thing i should have mentioned he uses micro gouges as well

I MUST FIND MY GLASSES OR NEED TO ENLARGE THIS TYEFACE DAM THINGS

I bought some micro gouges early on. At the time, I was mostly working w. beech, and various maple woods. The gouges I had would not hold an edge long enough when working w. those woods. I've kept them around for cleaning up the ends and edges of cuts made by larger tools.

I have a pile of cheap "reader" glasses, cost $15 - $25, that I keep on a corner of my desk, because I inevitably misplace my preferred glasses. An old friend of mine has at least one set of "readers" in every room in his house.

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cobalt

Discussion Starter · #8 · Jan 22, 2014 (Edited by Moderator)

Sound like the solution

Do you think it was the wood you used or the tools themselves?

Was thinking of getting some micro gouges myself,just thought they would be handy on finishing of things like the eyes noses etc of some of my stuff i plan.The rotary tool is pretty good though.Problem is with some of my carvings being used as toppers thave pretty small detail work so may be worth looking into

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gdenby

· #9 · Jan 22, 2014

cobalt said:
Do you think it was the wood you used or the tools themselves?

Was thinking of getting some micro gouges myself,just thought they would be handy on finishing of things like the eyes noses etc of some of my stuff i plan.The rotary tool is pretty good though.Problem is with some of my carvings being used as toppers thave pretty small detail work so may be worth looking into

I was able to find that most of the micro gouges I bought have a hardness of Rc 58. That is about as hard as a decent kitchen knife. I suppose I should not have been let down that a tiny gouge no harder than a knife that dulls when slicing a squash skin would be disappointing when used against fairly hard wood. The price range was $10 - $12 per gouge. I have found a few gouges about 3 times more expensive that are around Rc 62 - 64. For my work, it is less expensive to buy diamond needle files to clean up details, and shave away any wood fiber remnants with a kind of craft knife commonly called an "X-acto" in the US. They also have an Rc around 58.

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cobalt

Discussion Starter · #10 · Jan 22, 2014

That was useful to know the hardness .tool people dont tell you that so you cant compare tools other than price?

I like you use anything at hand from a scraper thats been sharpend to files .The rotary diamond cutters work well , but as its for cutting small shapes was just womdering about them

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JJireh

· #11 · Jan 23, 2014

Strop regularly on hardwoods with small tools, but a nice hardness helps for sure

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cobalt

Discussion Starter · #12 · Jan 28, 2014

Have another book

Carving figureheads & other natical designs By Alan & Gill Bridgewater PUBLISHED BY STERLING PUBLISHING CO. NEW YORK

Not a bad book Paper quaility could be better would have prefered colour phots althought there are some good ones.Explains tools techniques, materials and terms . If your interested in nautical carving its not a bad book, some useful hints amd tips

Deals with 8 projects although i am not taken by them them .They is 176 pages ,dealing with carving rope boarders ,lettering scrolls etc .Good section on painting and some hint on trouble shooting and modification

The drawings are good giving lots of detail

Not a bad book dont think its suitable for stickmaking although a few figure heads could be modified for a topper.

Overall wouldnt rave about it bit of a me too book nothing special

Dosnt have the qaulity of Ian Norbury

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cobalt

Discussion Starter · #13 · Feb 12, 2014

Another book just dropped through the letter box

Carving fantasy & legend figures in wood by Shawn Cipa

Must say his books give a lot of detail with some great photos anyone interested in carving would probaly enjoy it.

There are 10 patterns in the book well explained with pretty easy to follow details

I usually modify his designs to suit my own ideas but for detail on the textures and eyes very good .

The info on painting i think most people will find useful overalla good book well woth looking at.and printed on good quality paper unlike some books

the details of the hands and facial expression is very good and always useful for referance

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cobalt

Discussion Starter · #14 · Aug 29, 2014

purchased a book rom a charity shoop by IAN NORBURY always a fan of his,.Although the book is a bit old fashioned all black and white photos he has some stunning work in them and as soon as i saw a walking stick with a drangons head on it had to get it,

There was also some carving from "ALICE IN WONDERLAD " in there jusr reminded me reading it to the girls , and now my daughters are reading it to there children could nice peice of art work The book is called "projects for creative carving" publihed in 1986 pretty old but good

a couple of designs from it i thought was worth showing. pitry there black and white. the cane is carved from hawthorn with a ebony cane