Merely a Meerkat

[Whittling]

I had a commission a while ago that I took on impulse. One of my 'regular' carvings is a little wooden mouse that I market as a 'computer mouse'. A lady who recently moved to Australia from South Africa saw it and commented that what she really wanted was a 'computer meerkat'. After accepting the commission I put off commencing it feeling I was a bit out of my depth. Eventually I had to bite the bullet and start. Below are a few photos of the journey.

The mouse I carve is not a true to life carving but rather more of a caricature. I was after the same thing with the meerkat. The whole thing is only 130mm high so trying for a life-like image was going to make it pretty thin and subject to being easily broken. I decided to make it a bit 'stockier' than real life to make it more robust. This kept it in the 'caricature' vein while still being recognisable as a meerkat.

The first photo shows the pattern drawn free hand on graph paper to keep the two views in scale.


The next two photos show the weird and wonderful result of cutting out the pattern on a bandsaw! The wood is Jelutong.


The next few photos show progress. I used a knife principally with the occassional chisel and judicious use of a rotory burr when grain was proving difficult on some of the thin sections.


Here he is sanded and with the eyes fitted. This took a while as the round eyes had to be filed into a more realistic shape and then the sockets cut to match the modified eyes. (This is neccessary if you don't want him to look as though someone had a firm grip on his gonads).


Finally, the detail in the fur and other features such as the nose, mouth and claws have been carved and highlighted by burning with a pyrography pen where appropriate. The whole carving was then oiled with grape seed oil.



I was pleasently surprised at how he came out. Customer very happy. Hope you enjoy.

[RufflyRustic]

Wow!! it is amazing to see the little critter grow from a piece of paper to, to, well, him!!

[springwater]

Thoroughly enjoyed thanks Whittling, it's wonderful how you've made meerkat come to life, no wonder the ladie's happpy, it'd be a great little companion to have around

[Whittling]

Thanks guys. I must admit that it was interesting watching the expression on the faces of various friends when I unwrapped him to show them prior to sending him off. (I often do this when its a new work and I'm looking for feedback before I start asking for money from the client.) Many of them had a sort of stunned look which I took to mean approval..

[kcam]

Beautiful critter Whittling,appreciate your step by step posting,no wonder that your customer is very happy

[underfoot]

) Many of them had a sort of stunned look which I took to mean approval..

..Yeah I get that stunned look from my clients as well....for different reasons though..
..lovely piece Whittling and a great WIP as well

[Robson Valley]

Care 'em the way you see them. That little guy looks like he could raise hell in my study, poking into anything and everything. Looks real to me.

[dai sensei]

Thanks for the WIP, looks great

[STAR]

Thanks for sharing Whittling. That little guy is great. The W.I.P. is a great help for us newbie carvers. I have a heap of Jelutong and i never ever thought about using grape seed oil.

I also like the fact that you showed us that you drew him out on graph paper and how he evolved from there.

Pete

[Whittling]

Thanks Pete.
I'm glad if you found it helpful. I use a lot of Jelutong... Aussie basswood I call it. I look forward to seeing some of your work in the future.

Its forums where guys are willing to not only share the finished work but document some of the process that has helped me. I'm not all that experienced myself but what I do know I owe in large part to a number of very generous carvers who were willing to share their techniques.

[STAR]

Whittling.

I have finished a few carvings that hopefully I will be able to get photographed next week end.

The black Dexter Miniature cow on pasture is finished. Then I attempted a new area in making some cork bottle stoppers so had to learn some new techniques there and overcome some problems.

Two of the bottle stoppers were from a book I got from the online book store fishpond.com. They are in the form of an Oak wine barrel . A simple project but a few new techniques involved as well.

Then I attempted a Cowboy bottle stopper. I have a real interest in the Cowboys and country scenes so attempted something a lot more difficult. The cowboy hat came out ok but the cowboy head presented some real difficulties because I have no experience in either drawing or carving the human face and body.

Even though it is in the caricature style it has to resemble the human form. So, you have to start somewhere so I had a go and carved it to see where I had the most difficulties so I could work on those deficiencies next time.

Half way through I nearly gave up and decided i would never again attempt a human face but somehow after putting it down for a week picked it up and struggled through. I at least know now what areas I need to practice on.

My painting is very ordinary but fortunately i have two friends husband and wife who are oil and acrylic canvas painters and I had a good talk to them about painting faces and the wife really made me rethink my techniques when she showed and suggested some styles which were very close to what a lot of experienced carvers seem to use.

So, if all goes well maybe my painting might improve but I am starting behind the starting line for sure.

Thanks for your help and encouragement. it is good to see some different styles of carving other then the sculptured type in here. I could never do that and would not even attempt to start even though I admire the skill of the artisan's who do it. i do not have that talent.

Pete

[Whittling]

Hi Pete,
You sure sound as though you've been busy. I still have the first face I ever carved. I keep it to remind me that learning this stuff is a process and that the largest factor in becoming competent is not apptitude but persistency.

Faces are not that hard to learn to carve. I've taught hundreds over the years and it rarely takes more than a day. Learning to carve expression on the other hand is a MUCH more complicated process because it requires the carver to understand the facial variables and how they work together to produce specific expression. There are literally hundereds of possible combinations. Learning this for me was a lot of trial and error over about 3 years.

There is a thread on this forum which uses golf balls to practice carving caraciture faces. It's long but it may have some things which help you get a handle on the basic principles. Have a look if you want to (the golf balls make great bottle stops when carved too!).

Let me know what you think. Also waiting with some anticipation to see your work.
https://www.woodworkforums.com/f10/go...f+ball+carving

[CV3]

Nice job Whittling Thanks for sharing the steps!

[STAR]

I have bumped Whittling's Golf Ball thread mainly because I think it does not deserve to be hidden in the bowels where old threads go to die.

Pete

[JJF]

it is really pleasant to see