Hi Grant,
Hey guys, my hat's off to both you and Schaf. You should have seen my first golf ball!
You're right though, there really isn't any room on a golf ball for anything other than the face. I have reduced the size of the 'head' in the past by cutting away more material and reducing the size of the face, thus giving more room for other details. I once carved one for a water hazard trophy (the club awarded it to the guy who most often drove his ball into the water). It had a mask and snorkle.
I've also tried them 'sideways' where the ear is in the centre of the ball and half of the face is under the cover. I called that one 'The Hazards of Novice Golf Ball Carving'. The idea was that the cover had been taken off the side of the face and not on the face itself. I only ever tried one of those.
Where I find them invaluable is in practicing human expression. I use em for senior classes who already know how to carve faces but want to practice particular expression. As you pointed out, there's not much room for anything but the face so they don't waste time on anything else.
I photoed a few of the ones I've got here at the moment. You'll see what I mean about having fun with expression. This is one of my greatest carving joys (as you can probably tell!):U
I hope you and others will try more. I get some really good ideas that way.:;
I ment to ask you... what do you have attached to the bottom of your golf ball that you have clamped in the vice?