"Pihoqahiak - The Ever Wandering One." This is the name given to the Polar Bear by the Inuit tribes of the Artic. The Polar Bear has been known to travel hundreds of miles across endless stretches of ice on a journey in search of food. The largest living land carnivore, some reaching weights of up to 1200 pounds, the great bear can eat up to 200 pounds of food at a time. Not bad considering they start out weighing a little more than a pound at birth.

   Follow along as we go on a different type of Polar Bear journey. A carving journey that takes us from a block of wood to a finished Polar Bear sculpture. Carving, inserting eyes, texturing and painting will all be covered.

 First off let me say this in no way is a carving class, tutorial, or lesson. This is the way I start and complete a carving. It may not be the best way, the right way or the only way, it's just the way this Old Bear has learned to carve. If you have any questions please ask and I will attempt to answer them as best I can. On the same note if you have any suggestions please share them. Learning to carve for me is a never ending task and I am always ready to try new and different ways of carving.
 

The first few pictures are of the rough cut out of the bear pattern. I always cut my patterns oversize to allow for any subtle changes along the way. As you can see the center line is drawn in and the basic outlines of the bear are shown.