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Step 20
Bark carving is fairly easy, but takes a lot of patience and a soft touch, especially on the smaller branches. A consistent direction must be
maintained to give a realistic look. I generally start at the base of the trunk, where it meets the roots, and carve straight up, turning the
direction gradually when I come to a limb.
It’s necessary to make some of the strokes go a bit beyond the edge, but great care must be taken to protect
the tool in this process. The edge of a micro-carving gouge is somewhat fragile. I always carve with a piece of soft wood under the carving.
A plywood blank made of birch serves well for this purpose. If one of those stabbing strokes pierces the blank, little damage will be done to
the top of the gouge.
I usually put downward pressure on branches when I’m nearing the end of them. This gives extra support and
keeps the thin wood from breaking when I make an angled stroke. Care must be taken not to stab the thumb that’s applying the pressure.
Whittling thumb guards can help, but I keep a box of bandages on hand, just in case. I’ve rarely done a carving that did not requires some
sort of blood sacrifice, tiny as they may be.
 Before I started the bark carving, I created a few knot holes. I didn’t make them as pronounced on this
carving as usual because it is already very busy with all the twists and turns of the limbs. Elbows where the branch takes a turn of direction
are great places for knotholes. I simply left the area high when giving it the original shape and then used a round ball bit on a rotary tool
to make the hole. It’s just a little deeper than the bark carving and will cast enough of a shadow to distinguish it as a hole.
Step 1 | Step 2 | Step 3 |
Step 4 | Step 5 |
Step 6 | Step 7 | Step8 |
Step 9 | Step 10 |
Step 11 | Step 12 | Step 13 |
Step 14 |
Step 15 |
Step 16 | Step 17 | Step 18
Step 19 | Step 20 | Step 21 |
Step 22 |
Step 23 | Step 24 |
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