I have no band saw, (yet), thus I am unable to cut out patterns, so all my carvings are either in the stick itself or as a topper from a 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" block of wood. I have a few pictures of wood spirits in a book describing how to carve those and I use reference videos from other carvers on the net for other pieces.
Also when I do decide on a topic I surf for images of what I want to carve and print out pics that I think might help with the piece.
I do photo and file pics of all pieces I make so I can go back for reference and to see if my work is improving.
Also when I do decide on a topic I surf for images of what I want to carve and print out pics that I think might help with the piece.
I do photo and file pics of all pieces I make so I can go back for reference and to see if my work is improving.