carving gnomes with tom wolfe

8/14/2019 Carving Gnomes With Tom Wolfe

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arving

Lower Valley Road. Atglen. P 19310

With om WolfeText written ith nd photogr phy

by Douglas Co ngdonMartin


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ContentsIntroduction . .. . .. . . 3The Gnome . .. .. .. . . .. . 4Carving the Gnome . . . . . . . . .. . 7Painting the Gnome . . .. 7Gallery of Gnome .. . .. .. . .. 5

Copyright I 1993 by Tom Wolfe.l ibrary of Congress Catalog Number: 9385229.All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproducedor used in any forms or by any means graph lc. electronic ormechanical ncluding photocopyt ng or Information storageand retrieval systems without written permission from thecopyright holder.Printed n the United States of America.ISBN: 0-88740-537-1

Published by SchllTer Publishing Ltd77 Lower Val ley Road

Alglen. PA 193 10Please write for a free ca talog

This book may be purchased from the publisherPlease [ndude S2 95 postage

Try your bookstore: firstWe arc Interested in hearing from authors

wit h book Ideas on related subjects


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ntroductionWhile they are experiencing a renewed popu-larity , Gnomes ha ve inhabited the humanimagination for hundreds of years. In the earliestwritten reference, over 5 years ago, Paracelsusdescribed them as beings whose element was theearth. They moved through it like fish moved throughwater or birds and animals move through the air.They are the guardians of the earth's treasures.

ccording to Norse mythology they cared for minesand miners. They dug gold and jewels from theearth, and made the shields and swords of theNorse gods.They were known for the mischief they created.

While they were confined to the earth during the day(sunlight would turn them to stone), at night theywere free to roam the surface. They tormented thewicked and aggravated the not so wicked with theirtricks.

ccording to legend the male gnomes were quiteugly and hunchbacked, while the females gnomeswere very good and beautiful. In these pages theyare aU charming, full of personality, with just enoughimpishness about them to make you wonder whatdevilment they are up toI hope you enjoy carving the figures in th is bookand creating your own gnomes


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The nome

All patterns are shownat 75 of original size. Torestore them to actualsize you must enlargethem 133 .

The finished gnome.


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arving the Gnome

Cut the pattern from 4 inch stockDecide which foot Is to be forward and m rk the one to beremoved I want the right foot forward

Mark a center line all around the pieceWith a coping saw or a band s w come between the legsto this poinl


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On the left side, mark the front of the blank to be removed.

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Mark the line from the tip of the hat to the shoulders. Mark the profile patterns on both sides.

t the corners of the hat. above the brim, cut a stopstraight in .

Use a band saw orcoping saw to give this rough shape tothe head. To remove the unwanted legs you c n use aknife and carve Itaway, but I often use a drill press, set tothe proper depth. to drill the excess wood. If you use adr ill press, do it before you cut the head so the piece willsit well on the drill table.


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When the corners are done continue the process in themiddle of each side.

With the brim somewhat defined continue trimming tothe peak of the cap. Keep the sides square for now. Ialways like to o from square to octagonal to round.

Decide on which side of the cap the feather is going to beand mark it

Mark its thickness on the back and darken the area to beremoved.

At the back. make a stop on the line of the feather


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Now we take the peak of the cap to octagonal. Begin onthe side by cutting a stop in the line of the feather and trimthe corner back t it.

Continue trimming the corner to the peak and repeat onthe other three corners.1

Begin work on the face by cutting stops in the corners ofthe underside of the brim ...

and trimming back to them from the face . The samemethod applies here. Do all our corners to take the faceto octagonal before rounding things off.


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When the corners are done use the stop and trim methodor the sides. The brim in the front was cut out with the

---. ----This should take you to this point with the brim definedand the head taking shape.

Draw in the beard and mark the area in front of theshoulder to be removed.

Pop off the excess any way you can.

I started with a knife and switched to a gouge wh ichseems to be working better.

I return to the knife to cle n up gouge marks and continuethe finer work.


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After th is trimming the basic shape of the head andshoulders is established.

Draw in the line of the shoulders and mark the area to beremoved.

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I removed the shoulder area with a knife though it couldhave been done more easily on a band saw. Oneshoulder on .2

After trimming the other shoulder the figure should bebasically symmetrical.

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Mark the lines of the arms in back. The ci rcle shape iswhere the hands wi ll be.


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Following the tine of the arm pop off the excess wood.

Continue to bout this point before repeating the processon the other side.

On the side cut a stop in the line of the arm .

and stice back to it to take out 8 long wedge.

Continue to deepen the cut...

to ab out th is point13


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want this fellow to be a little pigeon toed. so first drawth e basic line of the fooL.

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Draw the width of the leg from the center l ine and markthe area to be removed.4

You can use a coping saw to cut along the line of the coatto the side of the leg. This will make the reduction of thewood much easier. o It on both sides.

then cut down toward the foot.


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The legs reduced to square.

Use a gouge to clean up drill marks.

Knock the corners off the coat taking it to octagonal.

After shaping the bottom of the coat continue the sameplanes onto the front upper portions still keeping thingsoctagonal for now.

Pop down the sides to narrow the hips.

This brings the elbows ou t This is the advantage of usinga 4 inch piece of wood. You can get the extreme paintsthat give the figure character Do the same on the otherside.5


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Progress report. At this point the piece should be squarewith no real detai l Putting in detai l too soon is liable tocause the carving to move out of proporti on.6

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Mark the corners to be removed from the brim of the hatThe brim should be bout the same width all the wayaround.

Remove the corners of the face ..


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and beard.

You ll have to use a kind of curl stroke to remove thecorners at the back of the head under the brim.

This should take the face to this point.

Mark the width of the nose, keeping it in the center.

Come up the sides of the nose with a gouge to remov theexcess. -

With the same gouge work oul rom the br idge o the noseto create the eye sockets.7


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Continue to deepen the eye sockets.

-Next take your gouge up the side of the nose to thebridge.

Use a knife to knock the corners off the nose .8

Cut in at a 5 degree angle un er the nose to create thenostril.

Beside the nostril cut straight in for a stop.


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Follow the cheek line with a 45 degree cut.

Come back to the line from the moustache and pop outthe wedge.

The last three cuts have defined thecheek line, and the flare of the nostril.

Mark the center of the side of the head.

About h lfw y between the center and the eye s the lineof the sideburn, and the ear goes behind the line, itsbottom edge starting at a point about even with the end ofthe nose.

Run the gouge up in front of the sideburn line.

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Cut off the shaving with a knife.

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With the cup of a flatter gouge aga inst the face, mark theline of the cheek by pushing in.

Then with the cup out, come b ck to the cheek line andcut off the excess.

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With the half-round gouge come from the temple into th eeye socket, defining the top edge of the cheek.

With the cup of a gouge away from the nose, cut in toc rea te a nostril


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Come back with a kn ife and remove the excess.

With a veinerfollow the line of the top of the nostril to giveit the definition and flare it needs.

With the half round gouge create the separation in themiddle of the brow.

Pick a gouge with the sweep you want for the moustacheand push it in along the bottom edge to create a curvedstop. This will give it the turned up look you are seeking.

With the same gouge cut b ckto the stop from the beard.

Cut a nitch e tween the two sides of the moustache.2


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You can see the grin and moustache taking shape.

Trim the beard to create area of the chin.

The saw marks confuse the eye so take a few momentsto remove them and shape the beard some.

With half-round gouge go across the beard foll owingthe line under the bottom lip. This will bring out the lip.....

Cut a stop in the b ck edge of the sideburn.

Slice back to it from the ear.


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Cut a stop in the back line of the ear.

Cut back to it from the neck.

Leaving the h ir t the b ck of the neck, use a gouge toget down to the neck behind the beard.

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After cleaning the area with a knife it should looksomething like this.

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As I look at the figure I think I would like to have anarrower brim.

I want a little undulation in the front of the br im so II markit in now ..

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and cutaway the underside with a gouge cutting straightin.

Clean up the gouged area with a knife.

Use a knife to sha pe the top of the brim. Th is surface willbe somewhat concave with the brim lower than the band.4

The brim carved.

ark the bottom line of the hat band and cut a stop in it

Trim back t it from the brim.


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Draw in the buckle and the top edge of the hat band.

Make a stop all around the buckle.

Cut back to it from the band.

Draw the inside of the buckle cut stops around and trimb ck to them from the inside.

Cut stops around the top edge of the bandand trim backto them from the hat.

Bring out Ihe edge of the fealher by cutting a stop andtrimming back 1 il from the hat.5


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hen the hat band is set, go over the crown of the hat toredefine it and be sure it is proportional.

On the back, cut stops In the lines of the arm and hands.

With a gouge cut back to the stops to beg in removing theexcess wood from the back.6

After you have defined the edges, goacross the back withthe gouge. You need to visualize the depth of the coa tHaving the arms in the back makes it a little more difficu ltto get the proportions of the hands correct.

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Draw the pattern of the hands clasped behind the


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Cut a stop In the cuff.

Come back to the stop from the hands, beginning at thecorners.

The cuffs defined.

Begin defining the hand by bringing out the most forwardpart first. In this case It Is the thumb of the figure s righthand. Follow the line of the thumb with a veiner. Thisgi ves a line for the knife to follow when cutting a stop

Go over the same line with a knife and make a deeperstop.

Cut back to the stop from the other thumb.7


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Moving to the thumb of the left hand push a gougestraight In at the end of It up side down to define theshape with a stop.

With the same gouge cut back to thisstopfrom across thepalm of the right hand. This shapes the palm of handaround the end of that thumb.

Now use the veiner to set the line along the lower line 1the left thumbo8

Begin to define the back side of the thumb with a largeU-shaped veiner.


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the hands and the back with a

the cleaning with the knife.

flatter gouge.

This will remove your marks, so you ll need to go backand redraw them.

Cut a stop around the ends of the fingers.

Come k to the stop with a gouge. This gives thecupped look you re atter.9


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The thumb fth left hand is looking a little long so I markwhere I want to cut it off

Use a vainer to form the lines between th e fingers.3

Mark some character lines on the pa lm of the hand.

Sharpen the tines of the fingers with a knife.


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' -.

ll come back over it with the detaitsr later.

move to the feet. Following the line of the shoe,off the excess to bring the feet to their rough shape.

I began In the front...

and continued from the back. l i i want at this point is tocreate enough space to make the carving easier.

Cut a stop around the bottom of the boot s fur trim andcarve back to t from the boot. Remember to start at thecorners

and continue around.3


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Progress so far When the corners are done shape the overall upper leg3


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Knock off the corners of the cuffs taking them tooctagonal.

Go oller the cuffs with the knife rounding them off.

Now o back and thin the upper legs s they lookproportional to the boots.

Progress.

Make a major fold in the back of the knee by cutting aslice with your knife.

Three smaller slices radiate out from the fold at each end.


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The folds in the boots are on all foursides and follow thispattern. y the way I usually mark the piece with pencilnot pen because the pen can go deeper than the cut.

The legs and feet with folds.4

He needs to be a little bit narrower. Mark the area to bremoved. This is pretty much according toyour own tas tand perception.

After yo u get the body to the width you w nt knockcorners off.


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The reduced look. Carry the octagonal plane up the chestto the shoulder and leave it rough while you go back andadd some slope to the shoulders.

Trim the top of the shoulders.

Draw a line from the elbow to the new shoulder.

Trim the arm keeping the surface square or now.

After adjusting the shoulder. we need to go back andadjust the forearm. One of the lessons 1 carving is that ifyou change one th ing you always need to go back andchange five others to make everything balance again.

Now that all the proportions are set we can go back andround things up. Begin with the arms knocking off thecorners.5


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Round the arms.

Mark the notch on the inside of the arm and hip it out.

Cut from the th ree sides and it should come out easily.8

Clean out the back of the elbows with a gouge taking alittle bit at a time.

Th is curved knife with the edge on the outside is a great1 1 for cleaning some of the hard to get to places likehere between the arms.


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in the top line of the belt and the buckle. and the opening of the coat.

and carve back to it Contin ue the process around the topand bottom edges of the belt and buckle. Don t forget too the back.

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and trim back to it

Cut a stop in the line of the coat and trim back to t The slits need to o all the way to the legs8


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It should be aboutsame depth as the thickness of the belt.

\stops in the corners and take a little nitch out of each

ut stops in the two ends and take out slices byback to them. This leaves the middle portion

it

and come back to it with the gouge.

Thin the feather, starting at the back. With the headupturned the grain runs with the feather, which is adefinite advantage. We want to get the feather as thin as

I ll use a gouge to cup the inside of the feather. That helpsthe strength by leaving the thickness while making it lookthin.

Go over the whole piece cleaning it up, leveling it out,looking for saw marks, and fixing any other problems. Ivemissed the folds in the elbows.9


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To create the cloth of the coat and the hat I use a diamondimpregnated teardrop bit in a flexible shaft tool. this getsinto hard to reach places and cleans them up

and can also be used to sand surfaces. It leaves a clothlike appearance that I want on these figures. This tool willtake away kn ife marks adding realism to the piece. For amore folk - like appearance I do not use it

Add some folds to the front of the coat.

Continue with the hands.

You c n use the tool to add details as they occur to youlike these stress fo lds where the arms join the coat.

Grooves in the coat above the beftgive itthe appearanceof being gathered.4


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Under the eltdo the same thing. Some of these folds cango to the hem. Each person has to develop their owntechnique forth is There isn t any certain way you have todo it.

The finished coat.

Do the same thing on the hat...4

the pants .

and the boots. I ll go over the boots with another too l Igive it some texture,but this will take off some of the sh aredges.

Switch to a round bit to do the face.


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Go over the face, rounding every thing off. You may wishto create a few character lines.

Switch to a finer bit for the details of the face. The bit is inan adapter to fit the chuck.

Use this to clean out the mouth

add some hair lines like those in the eyebrows andmoustache.

It can also e used on the beard

but It s probably easier to do the major lines with a largeve iner and add detail with the grinder.4


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To make the inside of the ear, create a hole at the top andbottom then o around the Inside of the ear.

Bring out the quill of the feather. The flat end is what I m looking for so I can use the edge 1make the vanes of the feather.


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Use the same bit to go around the bottom of the bootwhere the furry upper changes to a smooth leather sole.

Create the fur with short jabbing motions. The fur shouldfollow the direction that water would drain off.

Pick the correct sized eye punch and push and turn itinto place to form the eye ball. I o the right eye first...

so when I o the left eye I have a clear view of thealignment.

the bottom5


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and across the Iris into the corner. Use a smaller eye punch to create the pupi l Because hes already looking up, the pupil should be centered in theiris.

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Use sandpaper to brush off some of the fuzz left by thegrinding 100 1 In the process of doing this you may findsome spots that you mi ssed earlier.


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Painting the nomeWhile painting seems to bring the Gnometo life itis not always necessary. A natural finish is veryeffective. But when I do I use Winsor and NewtonAlkyd tube paints. These are thinned with pureturpentine to a consistency that is soaked into thecarving giving subtle colors. What I look for is awatery mixture almost like a wash. n this way theturpentine will carry the pigment into the wood

giving the stained look I like. It has always been mytheory that if you are going to cover the wood whyuse wood in the first place. It should be noted thatwith white the concentrat ion of the pigment shouldbe a little stronger.

flesh tones on the face ears mouthThe paint I use for this is a mixture offlesh white and raw sienna.

I mix my paints in juice bottles putt ing in a bit ofpaint and adding turpentine. I don t use exactmeasurements. Instead I use trial and error addinga bit of paint or a bit of turpentine until I get thethickness I want.The juice bottles are handy for holding yourpaints. They are reclosable easy to shake and havethe added advantage of leaving a concentratedamount of color on the inside of the lid and the sidesof the bottle which can be used when more intensecolor is needed.

Add touches of red to the cheeks nose mouth ears


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and work it in to give him a ruddy rosy-cheekedappearance of someone who spends a lot of timeoutside.

A little red on the hand s a nice touch too.8

Continue the red on the coat.


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.

1 blue with a touch 1 purple for the

and the collar.

You may wish to rub off someolth excess paint from thissecond blue coat.9


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rogress and the hat band5


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. Ill leave the ends unpa intedow, so I can paint th em white later.

white paint from the cap where the pigments areconcentrated and do the ends of the feather.

the same concentrated pigment on the eye.

Mix a little wh ite in the blue for the iris.

Apply it with a small brush.

Use white pa int from the tube for dry brushing over thebeard, hair, and boots. se a flat brush with the bristlesut short and saturated with paint to do the dry brushing.

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A spot of black goes in the pupil of the eye5

A metallic pen finishes the buckle of the belt and the hatband


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allery of nomes

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If you want to have the bowl in her handsyou will have to move her arms up.


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carving gnomes with tom wolfe

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