tooling a tiger's head

[Roger]

OK guys.. i would like to get a couple more tools to do this project and am interested in what you use for hairing ect.

any tips on technique would also be greatly appreciated.

here is the pic i will be working from

Edited August 7, 2008 by Roger

[rdb]

A beautiful cat!

IMHO

From the pose, and turn of the head, it might be hard to capture that one without some kind of selective fill from the back, all the fur levels would be hard to differentiate.

Looking at it, with those color lines, it might be a good candidate for part carving, part inverted.

I'm sure there will be lots of real suggestions from the rest of the crew, I already can't wait to see the progress on this one.

[Dale]

What size will it be?

[Roger]

What size will it be?

10" or so

[cem]

Not sure if you have seen it or not but there are quite a few pages on tooling tigers in the Al Stohlman Figure Carving Finesse book, shows what tools he used to use etc.

[TwinOaks]

F976 (craftool #) for layers of hair

Modeling tools

Hair knife

freehand stitching groover

v-gouge

Here's a pic of the lioness we did as a monthly challenge. I used only the first four tools listed- thought the v-gouge could be useful, so I added it. The f976 tool was pressed and dragged, and shoved for various looks, not hammered as is in tooling.

P.S. Obviously this is one of my early efforts- the pic is fine, I just carved it that blurry!

Edited August 8, 2008 by TwinOaks

[Dale]

10" or so

A small glover's needle or sharpened stitching needle ought to do it.

[Roger]

A small glover's needle or sharpened stitching needle ought to do it.

and how should i use it?

do you have any "in process" pics

[ClayB]

and how should i use it?

do you have any "in process" pics

Hi Roger,

Check out Dale's tutorial on the home page here at Leatherworker.net for to see how he carved and haired a mountain lion. Here is the link Dale has a kind of unique style and shared a lot of his tips in that lesson. You'll get a lot of ideas from it.

There are a lot of ways to cut in hair and I know we had a discussion on it a while ago. Hair blades, any lined tool, scalpel, multi blade knife, needles, sewing awl, dental picks, or even just the tip of a modeling tool can be used for hair. It mainly depends on how fine or realistic you want the hair to look.

If you are going to be doing more things like this, you really owe it to yourself to get Al's books Pictorial Carving Finnesse and Figure Carving Finesse. He go in depth on carving all kinds of animals and all kinds of scenery. You asked not too long ago about sand and water and he covers that in the pictorial book. I intended to recomend the books when you asked that question, but somehow must have gotten distracted and forgot. Sorry about that.

For any figure carving, all you really need are a couple figure bevelers, some pear shaders, something to draw on the hair, and a good modeling tool.

[Roger]

thanks clay! i checked out dale's tutorial and his site.

this will be going on a seat so i can't go as extreem as i would like.

i do have al's figure carving book. some of the tools he uses are not longer available. the couple he used on a tiger face look like a flat sided cam. i may order a couple different size cams and grind them off. i'm gonna sharpen up a needle and mount it in a handle of some sort and see what that does for me