Other than a few woodspirits here and there, I don't see much figure carving here. I'd love to see more figure carving at BCUK. They are a lot of fun to carve and not as difficult as some folks might think. It's a grand outdoor tradition, from Boyscout neckerchief slides to tribal art. A good place to start is looking on youtube. Gene Messer has a TON of videos showing how to carve and paint simple figures from basswood. And he does 98% of his carving with a small carving knife. This page has links to his videos. A small chunk of basswood or similar carving wood and a $20 knife will do the job. Good campfire carving project.
One style I like is anri woodcarvings. Anri was founded in 1912 and sold carvings from local artisans in the Groden Valley of Italy. You can find a lot of their vintage carvings on ebay, from bottle stoppers to corkscrews. Most are fairly reasonablly priced. They are fun to copy and put your own twist on the design.
This is a toothpick holder I did based on an anri carving I picked up at an antique sale. Kinda shows the whimsical nature of anri carvings.
One style I like is anri woodcarvings. Anri was founded in 1912 and sold carvings from local artisans in the Groden Valley of Italy. You can find a lot of their vintage carvings on ebay, from bottle stoppers to corkscrews. Most are fairly reasonablly priced. They are fun to copy and put your own twist on the design.
This is a toothpick holder I did based on an anri carving I picked up at an antique sale. Kinda shows the whimsical nature of anri carvings.