Thursday, September 20, 2012

Well I am finally back on track with the new polar bear. When I made the cutout, the head was out of proportion to the rest of the body. So I made the head smaller which is more is tune to the size carving I want. I have the nose carved in again and can now start laying out the eyes. In the pictures I have drawn in the eyes. By drawing in the eyes I can also see if I need to make any minor changes to area aroung the eyes. To me they aren't quite right, so once again I will keep drawing and erasing them until I get it right. Yup, I buy my pencils by the box. LOL
In the last picture I am satisfied with the eyes drawn in and have carved in the eye sockets.


  Now lets talk a little about the eyes, predators have eyes that are facing forward, in other words they can see the tip of their nose easily with both eyes. Prey animals have eyes that are more on the side of their head. Remember the old saying from eighth grade biology. Eyes in the front so I can hunt, eyes on the side so I can hide. As you can see the eyes are forward facing so he can hunt. Another hint on the eyes is that like humans, mammals eyes have a slight downward slant. It's hard to see here but the area directly under the eyes is carved in just bit more than the top. I don't get too carried away with it because I will make up the difference with putty when I set the eyes. I use glass eyes for all my animal carvings. I buy standard grade dark brown eyes in various sizes, I can then use them for all the bears,  moose or elk I carve.



In the pictures here I am happy with my eye placement and have predrilled a small guide hole in the sockets. I use a Karbide Kutzall bit in the shape shown. I don't go real deep because I can still make some minor adjustments here if needed. I also use my 60 degree theory to line up the eyes. In the next session I'll insert the eyes and start setting them with my wood putty.


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