Need advice on how to tool this

[Kustomizer]

So I'm working on a new seat and want to tool this lovely lady into it, but am not sure how to do the nose/eyes/lips area. I attempted this earlier this summer and the lips and nose came out looking like a pig kind of. So can you fine people give me a little advice on how you tool faces like this? Here are a couple of images of the lovely lady:

And a close-up of the area in question:

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated!

[dirtclod]

Have you tried just using modeling tools no cutting with a swivel knife or using a beveling tool ? That said i was guessing that you might of used a swivel knife and beveler. I think theirs some information in one of the Al Stohman books on doing faces. I think it's in the figure craving book.

[Kustomizer]

Yeah I did cut it and bevel it. I was going to try a few practice face pieces to see if I could get it to look right. I'll try to use just modeling tools. Anyone have any links to info on this?

[ClayB]

I've always found faces to be pretty difficult so I tend to stay away from them. Hammerhead here on the forum has done some that turned out nice. You might study some of his work to see if you can figure out how he did them.

[Storm]

Hi Man,

Well here with find the carving I did this morning and the complete pattern I created from the art I found.It took three tries. So remember to practice on some scrap first until you get it right where you want it. The first one ended in a Miss Piggy nose too! I carved it with a hollow ground 3/8" blade. The beveling was done with the smaller Figure Carving Bevelers. I used modeling tools to work the inside if the eyes ever so gently. I also used a very small seeder for the pupil pf the eye. After modeling I used a fine hair blade in a swivel knife for the hair. Also added a little definition with a small undercut beveler.

The problem is that it is small and that will make it more difficult. Not impossible but tricky and for that you need a little practice run or two and a gentle hand. I hope this helps you. If you need a larger version of the pattern let me know and I will get on for you.

Storm

Edited November 27, 2009 by Storm

[Kustomizer]

Storm, thanks! One question, did you use one continuous cut for the left eyebrow down to the top of the nose and if so, was it cut at the same depth? It looks like the same cut, but the eyebrow being cut a little deeper then the bridge of the nose?

[Storm]

Storm, thanks!  One question, did you use one continuous cut for the left eyebrow down to the top of the nose and if so, was it cut at the same depth?  It looks like the same cut, but the eyebrow being cut a little deeper then the bridge of the nose?

It is the same cut but the eybrow was just a bit deeper. The trick was to simplify a bit. The nostril was a touch of the side of my swivel knife. The side s small lightly cut curve. Glad I could help. It is a cool idea for a seat.

Storm

[Kustomizer]

Great, thanks for the info. I'm going to try a practice piece this weekend and hopefully it will turn out good enough to give me the confidence to try the seat again.

[TwinOaks]

The old anecdote goes something like this:

"When asked how he was able to make such beautiful sculptures of horses out of blocks of marble, Michaelangelo replied " Just remove everything that doesn't look like a horse.""

With that little inspiration in mind.... , it kinda applies to leather as well. The whole trick to getting the image you want is to push down (stamp, bevel, matte, background, etc..) everything that shouldn't show up. With the exception of decorative cuts, a swivel knife is predominantly used to cut the surface of the leather so you can get a very distinct line. That line is then beveled, et al., to get the desired effect. Sometimes, there is no call for a 'hard line', and the swivel knife should be kept in the rack. A common example of this is the flower petals in floral work. The impressions are visible, the effect achieved, but there's no cutting before tooling. Apply the same technique to faces- there are very few hard lines in facial work. Around the face? Certainly! It helps to 'lift' the face from the background. You can also lightly emboss (push from the back) to help give some depth to the faces.

For the pattern posted, work most of it with a modeling spoon/spade. The spoon is easier to keep lines fluid, and the spade really helps to get into small areas. If you don't have them, you can use a beveler like a pencil- just press and drag. All you're doing is compressing leather.

Regardless of the technique, you still need to go over every line and soften it by rounding over sharp edges.

Incidentally, there is no set rule that says leather MUST be cut with a swivel knife. If you need a very fine line, use a very fine blade. Most swivel knives have an angle on the blade designed to push leather to the sides- for thicker leather on saddles, you'd use a sharp angled blade to cut deeper (presuming deeper tooling). For thin leather like wallets, you'd use a fairly wide angled blade to keep from cutting too deeply, otherwise, you'd cut clean through the leather and donating to the scrap bin.

Look on the main page of this site (link at the top of the page), and you'll see a few tutorials on carving.

[swinewerx]

I don't know if this will help or not , I got all the finer tools at tandy for this type of project, they kind a look like dental tools and they work very well you just have to be careful and light on the pressure. The tandy stuff that looks like dental tools are red handled in the middle rubeer of course and the ends are pointed on one end and either a spoon or scoop or angled push. my tandy only has three and I had to get them all which is good, I use them quite a bit especially for very small details that are very detailed only noticeable when looked at very closely. So really it is a hidden feature for me to use for the general public.

[Kustomizer]

Alright, I didn't get a chance to read the last two posts before I tried this and there is a lot of great info there, thanks. So, I tried a couple more, the first I messed up the nose so I tried this attempt. I still feel I need alot of work around the eyes and nose, but it is better then my first attempt, let me know where or how I might improve:

In this attempt she looks a little upset.

[swinewerx]

Looking upset is cool, What I would do is get the background all textured as a fine unit no lines and if all else fails get it real wet on the tooling side flip over and untool what you can if you can and retool it. It can be done, looks to me as if you are doing a great job, keep in mind, I taught myself how to do this type of stuff and learned the very hard way, which most would drop out I chose the insanity rule, keep trying to get the result needed but kept getting the same results, eventually getting it and getting floored in the end with self satisfaction, which is very valuable to me. basically, never give up keep trudging

[Kustomizer]

Looking upset is cool, What I would do is get the background all textured as a fine unit no lines and if all else fails get it real wet on the tooling side flip over and untool what you can if you can and retool it. It can be done, looks to me as if you are doing a great job, keep in mind, I taught myself how to do this type of stuff and learned the very hard way, which most would drop out I chose the insanity rule, keep trying to get the result needed but kept getting the same results, eventually getting it and getting floored in the end with self satisfaction, which is very valuable to me. basically, never give up keep trudging

Thanks Swinewerx. I'm going to give it a couple of tries agin this weekend. Storm, I went back and looked at what you did and like the eyes and nose much better then mine and will try to follow your style a bit more and see what happens. Any other advice on the eyes/nose before I carve up another sacrificial piece of leather?